«Excellent on all the technicalities of the conflict... full of lively pen portraits and unusual insights»

Spectator

«Stuffed with personal accounts that drive the narrative along at a cracking pace»

Patrick Bishop, Mail on Sunday

«Ambitious and comprehensive... the pace never flags as the narrative ranges effortlessly from the cockpit of the Spitfire to the gallery of the House of Commons»

Saul David, Daily Telegraph

«Holland is excellent on telling detail... This is a notable account of an epic human experience, told with the informality and enthusiasm that distinguish Holland's work... If the story is familiar, Holland tells it with authority and exuberant panache»

Max Hastings, The Sunday Times

«Holland is one of a new generation of historians who were born long after the war but who bring to the subject a freshness and proper spirit of enquiry. A great achievement»

John Sergeant, Sunday Express