«The best, most dispassionate story of the battle I have read and I say that even though the book destroyed many of my illusions and, indeed, attacks the validity of some of what I wrote as an eyewitness.»

Drew Middleton, New York Times Book Review

«[We learn] that British anti-aircraft fire was ineffective, that some R.A.F. ground personnel fled under fire, that the Admiralty provoked costly skirmishes ...The book resounds with exploded myths.»

Leonard Bushkoff, Washington Post

«Deighton has shown himself to be the most protean of British best-sellers.»

John Sutherland, London Review of Books

«Revolutionised thinking about the Battle of Britain in a way that has not been seriously challenged since.»

Robert Dawson Scott, The Times

«Must surely rank as the most honest attempt yet to tell how the Battle of Britain really was.»

Andrew Wilson, Observer

«The research was so meticulous that his conclusions, chiefly that the Few were very brave but their leaders were daft, could not easily be set aside. Indeed, they are now part of the orthodoxy.»

The Independent