Garrett M. Graff – författare

Eighty years on, D-Day The Oral History is a fresh and significant new history of arguably the most important day of the 20th Century.On 6th June 1944, the Allied invasion began. For hours, wave after wave of soldiers, sailors, and airmen crossed the channel and stormed the Normandy coast, fighting to gain a foothold in Nazi-occupied Northwest Europe. It was the largest combined air and seaborne invasion ever, involving over 150,000 Allied troops on the ground, and its eventual success became a critical turning point in the war, spelling the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.As the events of that day fade from living memory, it's more important than ever to understand what it felt like to be there and to live through it, on both sides. In this definitive work, Garrett M. Graff, the bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky: The Oral History of 9/11, compiles over 600 US, Canadian, UK, French and German voices to tell the full story of exactly how that historic day unfolded, in visceral detail - as well as the weeks and months leading up to it. From paratroopers to fighter pilots to nurses, generals, French villagers, German Defenders to Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, this is the most intimate re-telling of D-Day published to date. Praise for THE ONLY PLANE IN THE SKY: "The most moving and chilling oral history you will read." The Times"Incredibly evocative and compelling." The Washington Post"A hugely powerful new book." Dan Snow"Astonishing book about an astonishing, terrifying atrocity, relived in real time by those who were there. I read it in one sitting & was utterly gripped from start to finish." Piers Morgan

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA LANDMARK NEW ACCOUNT OF THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT DAY OF WW2, IN THE WORDS OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED IT**** ''Comprehensive... from a large and wide range of witnesses on both sides'' -The Telegraph''A sprawling history of D-Day from the point of view of participants on both sides.'' -Kirkus''A masterpiece of oral history. Stirring, surprising, grim, joyous, moving and always riveting.'' -Evan Thomas''A new, complete portrait in time for the 80th anniversary [...] Graff uses a wide array and diversity of voices that give a fuller picture of the lead-up to the invasion, as well as the fighting itself.'' -Associated PressOn 6th June 1944, the Allied invasion began. For hours, wave after wave of soldiers, sailors, and airmen crossed the channel and stormed the Normandy coast, fighting to gain a foothold in Nazi-occupied Northwest Europe. It was the largest combined air and seaborne invasion ever, involving over 150,000 Allied troops on the ground, and its eventual success became a critical turning point in the war, spelling the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.As the events of that day fade from living memory, it''s more important than ever to understand what it felt like to be there and to live through it, on both sides. In this definitive work, Garrett M. Graff, the bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky: The Oral History of 9/11, compiles over 600 US, Canadian, UK, French and German voices to tell the full story of exactly how that historic day unfolded, in visceral detail - as well as the weeks and months leading up to it. From paratroopers to fighter pilots to nurses, generals, French villagers, German Defenders to Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, this is the most intimate re-telling of D-Day published to date.** This book was originally published as D-Day The Oral History, and the contents are the same. **

THE ''MASTERPIECE'' COMPLETE ORAL HISTORY OF THE ATOMIC BOMB - BY A PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST''Magisterial...A stunning account that brings to the fore the nuclear saga''s surreal combination of ingenuity, fate, and terror.'' -Publishers Weekly (starred review)''If you are an intelligent person, or at the very least think you are, you have to read The Devil Reached Toward the Sky...This period in history has never been more relevant and frightening than it is today.'' -James Patterson ''Comprehensive and engrossing...Excellent oral history.'' -Kirkus ReviewsFrom the New York Times bestselling author of When the Sea Came Alive and The Only Plane in the Sky, a sweeping and comprehensive oral history of the atomic bomb''s creation and deployment, marking the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.April 12, 1945. Less than three months into his vice presidency, Harry Truman is catapulted into the Oval Office following the sudden death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. As he recites the oath, he learns a chilling secret known only to a select few: the United States is on the verge of deploying a weapon of unimaginable power. This weapon could end the war but also herald a new age of global fear and uncertainty.Drawing from over twenty-five oral history archives across the US, Japan, and Europe, Graff has masterfully blended the memories and perspectives from key figures like Harry Truman and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the crews of the B-29 bombers, Enola Gay and Bock''s Car, the rescuers who bravely faced the destruction, and the haunting stories of those at ground zero in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including the experiences of the hibakusha - the ''bomb-affected people''.Enriched by memoirs, diaries, letters, official documents, and news reports, this is an immersive and deeply human account of the Manhattan Project through the end of World War II and the dawning of the Cold War, offering a vivid, multi-dimensional view of events that reshaped the world forever.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Incredibly evocative and compelling." The Washington Post"A hugely powerful new book." Dan Snow"The most moving and chilling oral history you will read." The Times"Astonishing book about an astonishing, terrifying atrocity, relived in real time by those who were there. I read it in one sitting & was utterly gripped from start to finish." Piers Morgan"An American academic has meticulously pieced together testimony from those who were there, using declassified documents and having conducted hundreds of new interviews. The resulting book is a harrowing picture of a day that changed history." The Sun"Although many years have passed since 9/11, this book, told with such immediacy, brings so vividly back to mind the shock of that day, and why it continues to shape the tragic history that has followed."Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower"The Only Plane in the Sky is a stunning and important work-chilling, heartbreaking-and I cannot stop thinking about it. To hear the voices of those who survived, and those who did not, it is so moving and powerful. I learned so much and am so thankful for this book."Anderson Cooper, Anchor, CNNOf all the books about 9/11 one has been missing until now - a panoramic narrative from the men and women caught up in the unprecedented human drama of that terrible day.The Only Plane in the Sky is nothing less than the first comprehensive oral history of 9/11, deftly woven and told in the voices of ordinary people grappling with extraordinary events. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, new and archived interviews from nearly five hundred people, historian Garrett Graff skillfully tells the story of the day as it was lived. It begins in the predawn hours of airports in the Northeast, where we meet the ticket agents who unknowingly usher terrorists onto their flights. In New York, first responders confront a scene of unimaginable chaos at the Twin Towers. From a secret bunker beneath the White House, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice watch for incoming planes on radar. In the offices of the Pentagon, top officials feel the violent tremor as their headquarters come under attack.We hear the stories of the father and son working on separate floors in the North Tower; the firefighter who rushes to the scene to search for his wife; the telephone operator who keeps her promise to share a passenger''s last words with his family; the chaplain who stays on the scene to perform last rites, losing his own life when the Towers collapse; the teachers evacuating terrified children from schools mere blocks from the World Trade Center; the generals at the Pentagon who break down and weep when they are barred from rushing into the burning building to try and rescue their colleagues.The Only Plane in the Sky is a unique, profound, and searing exploration of humanity on a day that changed the course of history, and all of our lives.

"Boken är gastkramande. Att Graff lyckas foga ihop detta myller av röster till en kronologisk berättelse är en bedrift."SvD"Ett storslaget körverk … Det är skicklig journalistik som återkallar skräcken, förtvivlan och kärleken bland alla dessa oskyldiga människor som inte förstår vad som händer dem." Sydsvenskan

För första gången får ögonvittnena säga sitt om 11 september-attackerna 2001. Över 500 olika röster hjälps åt att slussa läsaren genom dagen, ibland sekund för sekund. Det blir ett väldigt panorama över ett av historiens mest dramatiska dygn, som tog fram både det sämsta och det bästa i människan.

Det börjar före gryningen, då intet ont anande personal hjälper terroristerna till planen, varefter New York-borna färdas till jobbet under en vacker, klarblå himmel. Slag i slag kommer sedan attackerna, återberättade av räddningstjänst, ministrar, civila och flygplanens svarta lådor. Allt medan president Bush, i brist på bättre strategier, placeras i Air Force 1 som får cirkla över nationen som det enda planet på himlen.

Det enda planet på himlen är fylld av oförglömliga ögonblick – brandmannen som rycker ut i vetskap om att frun jobbar i Twin Towers, läraren som evakuerar sin skolklass medan skyskraporna rämnar ovanför, telefonisten som lovar att framföra en flygpassagerares sista hälsning, pappan som hämtar sitt barn från förskolan – för första gången som änkling.

"Bokens röster sänder chockvågor genom en, för mellan dessa sidor registreras allt."Expressen

"I boken Det enda planet på himlen har Garrett M. Graff, journalist och historiker, skickligt samlat ca 500 korta ögonvittnesskildringar, ofta fasansfulla, skakande och gripande, från människor som på många olika sätt drogs in i händelserna denna dag. I ett 60-tal kapitel följs händelseutvecklingen kronologiskt från tidig måndagsmorgon, incheckning, arbetsdagens början i skyskraporna, kapningarna, skräcken i flygplanen, telefonsamtal till nära och kära, krascherna och massakern i byggnaderna och räddningstjänstens arbete. Författaren lotsar skickligt läsaren fram genom händelseförloppet."BTJ

"Med en mästerurmakares precision konstruerar [Graff] en berättelse av alltsammans, lika fasansfull som sann. Det är bitvis ohygglig läsning och ibland är det svårt att hålla tillbaka tårarna."Hudikvalls Tidning

”Läs inte den här boken på offentlig plats. Den väcker minnen som kommer att överväldiga dig.” Washington Post

”Varenda rad är hisnande och hjärtskärande.” Newsweek

”En ovärderlig gåva till allmänheten.” Wall Street Journal