1941: Politics, Espionage and the Secret Pact between Churchill and Roosevelt

(Paperback, Main)

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Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, America had long been involved in a shadow war. Winston Churchill, England's beleaguered new Prime Minister, pleaded with Franklin D. Roosevelt for help. President Roosevelt concocted ingenious ways to come to his aid, without breaking the Neutrality Acts. Conducting espionage at home and in South America to root out Nazi sympathizers, and waging undeclared war in the Atlantic, were just some of the tactics with which America battled Hitler in the shadows.

President Roosevelt also had to contend with growing isolationism and anti-Semitism as he tried to influence public opinion. While Americans were sympathetic to those being crushed under Axis power, they were unwilling to enter a foreign war. Wortman tells the story through the eyes of the powerful as well as ordinary citizens. Their stories weave throughout the intricate tapestry of events that unfold during the crucial year of 1941.

Combining military and political history, Wortman tells the eye-opening story of America's journey to war.

Reviews

Engrossing... an absorbing world-wide epic... Wortman's brisk narrative takes us across nations and oceans with a propulsive vigor that speeds the book along like a good thriller. * Wall Street Journal *
1941 has the sweep and intimacy of an epic novel and the pace of a military thriller. -- Debby Applegate * Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for THE MOST FAMOUS MAN IN AMERICA *
Like the rumble of thunder before a storm, Marc Wortman's 1941 creates a mesmerizing sense of ominous and terrifying foreboding. This is the fascinating story of the global war that most Americans know almost nothing about -- Nathaniel Philbrick * Bestselling author of IN THE HEART OF THE SEA *
Told with such verve and delightful panache -- Paul Kennedy * J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History at Yale University *

Author Bio

Marc Wortman is an independent historian, an award-winning freelance journalist, and the author of two previous books, The Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power and The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta.