An account of one of the most dramatic episodes in twentieth-century history. In August 1944, Warsaw presented the last major obstacle to the Red Armys triumphant march from Moscow to Berlin. When the Wehrmacht was pushed back to the Vistula River, the Polish Resistance poured forty thousand fighters into the streets to drive out the hated Germans. But Stalin halted the Russian offensive, allowing the Wehrmacht to regroup and destroy the city. For sixty-three days Soviet troops and other Allied forces watched from the sidelines as tens of thousands of Poles were slaughtered and Warsaw was reduced to rubble. [Viking Books]
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Boston Globe Michael Kenney
Powerful and compelling...Davies provides a gripping account of the Rising, interspersing his narrative with many first-person accounts that detail moments of heroism and of tragedy.
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Outstanding
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Daily Telegraph Max Hastings
Davies knows more about Poland than any other historian in the West, and possesses a deep romantic love for the Polish people. Both his knowledge and his passion - reflected in rage towards the Allies who betrayed the Rising - are displayed in this notable book. His research among Polish and Soviet sources is exhaustive.
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Outstanding
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Library Journal Edward Metz
This elegantly written work is manifestly born of a profound passion for the subject and draws upon learned and careful research. Highly recommended for all military history collections. [15 Apr 2004, p.99]
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Outstanding
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New York Review Of Books Simon Sebag Montefiore
Davies starts with a dedication that catches the complexity of the tragedy he describes so brilliantly: "To Warsaw and to all who fight tyranny regardless." In that last hopeless word lies the essence of his story.
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Favorable
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Publishers Weekly
An enthralling, impressionistic account of the uprising, highlighted by vivid reminiscences from Polish and German participants.
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Favorable
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The Guardian Angus MacQueen
Rips away at many of our lazy assumptions about the outcome of the second world war: that the Allies won an absolute moral victory and that evil was defeated by good.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Book Review Carlo D'este
In the post-9/11 world, Rising '44 is both a morality tale and an unforgiving illustration of what can happen when oppression and terror replace freedom.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
A thorough recounting of what the author considers to be "one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century"--and surely one of the most shameful betrayals in the world annals.
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Favorable
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Booklist Jay Freeman
Davies uses many newly available sources, and the result is a stirring, emotionally draining saga of heroism, betrayal, and tragedy as the Nazis slowly squeezed the life out of the rebellion while reducing Warsaw to rubble. [1 May 2004, p.1538]
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Mixed
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London Review Of Books John Connelly
Davies distributes blame among the major powers, including the United States and Britain. But he does not explore the culpability of the Polish leaders who decided to launch the insurgency.
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Mixed
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Washington Post Mark Lewis
Davies writes as an impassioned partisan, determined to force the world to remember the betrayal of the Poles.
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Mixed
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Los Angeles Times John Lukacs
Rising '44 deserves to be read by people who know little or nothing about it (so many of them, including important chiefs of state visiting Poland, have confused it with the siege of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943.) But there is more to ponder about Warsaw 1944 than may be found in this massive book.
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