The courageous volunteer pilots of three obsolete British biplanes nicknamed Faith, Hope, and Charity engaged enemy raiders in combat over Malta in June 1940.
Scientists became political activists in the debate over control of atomic energy.
Mack Fitzgerald discusses taking part in the 1 August 1943 bombing raid on the oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania.
Ben Bederson discusses his time at Los Alamos developing components for the plutonium bomb that that was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
"They didn’t have a chance. God I miss them now—and it brings tears to my eyes."
Join us for Songs of Ascent: Music from the Victims of World War II, featuring live performances and immersive visuals from composers impacted by World War II. Hear the stories of Holocaust victims Viktor Ullmann and Carlo Taube, both musicians and composers, French organist, composer, and soldier Jehan Alain, and composer, conductor, and Nazi sympathizer Anton Webern.
Join us for Songs of Ascent: Music from the Victims of World War II, featuring live performances and immersive visuals from composers impacted by World War II. Hear the stories of Holocaust victims Viktor Ullmann and Carlo Taube, both musicians and composers, French organist, composer, and soldier Jehan Alain, and composer, conductor, and Nazi sympathizer Anton Webern. This performance will be the world premiere of American composer Patrick Dittamo’s contemporary work based on poetry from the only official survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs, Tsutomu Yamaguchi.
Following this performance, Songs of Ascent will be featured at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, in 2019.
Can’t make it to the Museum? Livestream the event.
James Holland presents The Allies Strike Back, 1941-1943: The War in the West, Volume Two
James Holland presents The Allies Strike Back, 1941-1943: The War in the West, Volume Two
5:00 p.m. Reception | 6:00 p.m. Presentation | 7:00 p.m. Book Signing
James Holland’s The Rise of Germany, the first volume in his War in the West trilogy, was widely praised for his impeccable research and narrative skills. As The Rise of Germany ended, the Nazi war machine looked to be unstoppable. Germany had taken Poland and France with shocking speed. London was blitzed by the Luftwaffe, and U-boats harried shipping on the Atlantic. But Germany hadn’t actually won the Battle of Britain or the Battle of the Atlantic, and it was not producing airplanes or submarines fast enough. And what looked like victory in Greece and Crete had expended crucial resources in short supply.
In The Allies Strike Back, while Germany’s invasion of Russia unfolds in the east, in the west, the Americans formally enter the war. In North Africa, following major setbacks at the hands of Rommel, the Allies storm to victory. Meanwhile, the bombing of Germany escalates, aiming to destroy Nazi industry and crush civilian morale. A captivating book by a supremely skilled historian, The Allies Strike Back is a perfect successor to The Rise of Germany.
James Holland is the author of the bestselling Fortress Malta, Battle of Britain, and Dam Busters, as well as numerous works of historical fiction. Holland regularly appears on television and radio and has written and presented the BAFTA-shortlisted documentaries Battle of Britain and Dam Busters for the BBC, among others. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has his own collection at the Imperial War Museum.