Dimensions
140 x 214 x 25mm
In February 1945, three of the twentieth century's towering figures-Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin-met at Yalta, a resort town on the Black Sea, as their armies converged on Berlin. Each came with sharply different views of what the world should look like after the war. Over the course of eight fateful days they partitioned Germany, approved the most aggressive aerial bombing campaign in history, redrew the borders of Eastern Europe, and created a new international organization to settle future disputes. Two months later, Roosevelt was dead, Stalin was strengthening his grip on Poland, and Churchill was on the cusp of a humiliating electoral defeat.
For sixty-five years, opinion has been bitterly divided on what they achieved. Did Yalta pave the way to the Cold War? Did an ailing FDR give too much to Stalin? In this groundbreaking book, S. M. Plokhy draws on newly declassified Soviet documents to lay to rest the myth of Yalta and paints an original and surprising portrait of FDR as a wartime leader.
'Like Munich, Yalta is shorthand for a pivotal historical event with all the loaded emotional baggage of its consequences . . . Plokhy brings the players to life, making a familiar story feel lively and fresh.'
- THE WASHINGTON POST
'A wonderful work of history: brilliantly researched and judiciously argued.'
- Robert Dallek, author of AN UNFINISHED LIFE: JOHN F. KENNEDY
