During the Second World War the Royal Navy was the most powerful of Britain's armed forces. Its sailors fought across the globe in vast battleships and claustrophobic corvettes, makeshift minesweepers and silent submarines. They endured nerve-wracking convoys, fought epic gun battles, carried out deadly secret missions, rescued armies and landed the largest invasion force in history. Naval power was the foundation of Britain's war effort, and sailors shaped the nation's destiny. Drawing on hundreds of contemporary diaries and letters, Glyn Prysor's original and gripping narrative evokes the triumph and tragedy, horror and humanity of the war at sea, bringing to life the sailor's war as never before.
Glyn Prysor was educated at Oxford University, where he completed a doctorate and taught modern history. He lives in Sussex. This is his first book.
Title: Citizen Sailors: The Royal Navy in the Second World War
Author: Glyn Prysor
ISBN: 9780141046327
Binding:
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication Date: 2012-04-26
Number of Pages: 592
Weight: 0.4809 kg
Marvellous...a fine addition to the literature on the Second World War * Sunday Telegraph *
Prysor does for the sailors of the Royal Navy what Patrick Bishop did for the RAF in Fighter Boys...He reminds us of their extraordinary contribution to our survival. * Daily Express *
A moving and evocative story of the war at sea -- Professor N.A.M. Rodger, author of 'The Command of the Ocean'
This impressive human history of the Royal Navy begins the long overdue process of putting it back at the heart of the war effort -- Book of the Week * Independent *
Full of terrific stories * Sunday Times *
An absorbing read...a fine memorial * Literary Review *
Excellent. Captures the soul of the men who were there...their humanity and, occassionally, inhumanity * Navy News *
Skillfully weaves together a coherent 'people's history of the sailors' war'...Fresh and compelling * Times Literary Supplement *
Breathtaking skill...freshness and force...Prysor makes the Navy of the Second World War intensely personal, vivid and vital * Military Times *
Reads extremely well, with a gripping narrative that explains the unfolding of the war whilst weaving in moving and vivid personal accounts...This is a book that manages to fuse the strategic with the human and the social with consummate skill, and in so doing it delivers a multifaceted understanding of the war at sea as well as a poignant reminder of the way in which society has lost its 'sea vision' * Nautilus International Telegraph *
