Sinclair McKay – författare

The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, brought to by Penguin and published for the 75th anniversary''Powerful . . . there is rage in his ink. McKay''s book grips by its passion and originality. Some 25,000 people perished in the firestorm that raged through the city. I have never seen it better described'' Max Hastings, Sunday TimesIn February 1945 the Allies obliterated Dresden, the ''Florence of the Elbe''. Bombs weighing over 1,000 lbs fell every seven and a half seconds and an estimated 25,000 people were killed. Was Dresden a legitimate military target or was the bombing a last act of atavistic mass murder in a war already won?From the history of the city to the attack itself, conveyed in a minute-by-minute account from the first of the flares to the flames reaching almost a mile high - the wind so searingly hot that the lungs of those in its path were instantly scorched - through the eerie period of reconstruction, bestselling author Sinclair McKay creates a vast canvas and brings it alive with touching human detail.Along the way we encounter, among many others across the city, an elderly air-raid warden and his wife vainly striving to keep order amid devouring flames, a doctor who carried on operating while his home was in ruins, novelist Kurt Vonnegut who never thought that his own side might want to unleash the roaring fire, and fifteen-year-old Winfried Bielss, who, having spent the evening ushering refugees, wanted to get home to his stamp collection.Impeccably researched and deeply moving, McKay uses never-before-seen sources to relate the untold stories of civilians and vividly conveys the texture of contemporary life. Dresden is invoked as a byword for the illimitable cruelties of war, but with the distance of time, it is now possible to approach this subject with a much clearer gaze, and with a keener interest in the sorts of lives that ordinary people lived and lost, or tried to rebuild.Writing with warmth and colour about morality in war, the instinct for survival, the gravity of mass destruction and the importance of memory, this is a master historian at work.''Churchill said that if bombing cities was justified, it was always repugnant. Sinclair McKay has written a shrewd, humane and balanced account of this most controversial target of the Anglo-American strategic bombing campaign, the ferocious consequence of the scourge of Nazism'' Allan Mallinson, author of Fight to the Finish''Beautifully-crafted, elegiac, compelling - Dresden delivers with a dark intensity and incisive compassion rarely equalled. Authentic and authoritative, a masterpiece of its genre'' Damien Lewis, author of Zero Six Bravo''Compelling . . . Sinclair McKay brings a dark subject vividly to life'' Keith Lowe, author of Savage Continent''This is a brilliantly clear, and fair, account of one of the most notorious and destructive raids in the history aerial warfare. From planning to execution, the story is told by crucial participants - and the victims who suffered so cruelly on the ground from the attack itself and its aftermath'' Robert Fox, author of We Were There© Sinclair McKay 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Brought to you by Penguin.Built by slave labour in the early years of the eighteenth century, Saint Petersburg was Peter the Great’s so-called ‘window on to Europe’, a city that would outdo all of Europe in its splendour. But a window works both ways, and as bestselling historian Sinclair McKay writes, St Petersburg has always been a city that has drawn Westerners who wanted to see into Russia. It is also a city where much has happened. It was St Petersburg until 1917, Petrograd after the revolution, Leningrad after Lenin’s death in 1924, and St Petersburg once again from 1991.This biography of a city stretches from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin, who was born and made in St Petersburg. The story centres the ‘900 days and nights’ of the Siege of Leningrad, 1941–44. Unlike Paris or Prague, the Nazis weren’t trying to take over, they wanted to wipe it off the map. According to some, this siege of 1.5 million people – including Putin’s mother – was an attempted genocide. Based on first-hand and many unpublished accounts from figures from all walks of life – irascible authors, factory workers, bakers, furriers, dancers, sailors, grandparents, children – this masterpiece reveals the central importance of St Petersburg over the centuries. This is the story of the city told from the perspective of the people who lived there.''One of my favourite historians'' Dan Snow© Sinclair McKay 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Bestselling Bletchley Park Brainteasers continues to delight hundreds of thousands of devoted puzzlers with its fiendish puzzles, riddles and enigmas. It''s never to late to join the code breakers of Bletchley Park in their enjoyment of a devilish challenge!Would you love to master morse code? Could you have have outsmarted an enigma machine? Would your love of chess have seen you recruited into the history books?When scouring the land for top-level code breakers, the Bletchley Park recruiters left no stone unturned. As well as approaching the country''s finest mathematicians, they cast their nets much wider, interviewing sixth-form music students who could read orchestral scores, chess masters, poets, linguists, hieroglyphics experts and high society debutantes fresh from finishing school. To assess these individuals they devised various ingenious mind-twisters - hidden codes, cryptic crosswords, secret languages, complex riddles - and it is puzzles such as these, together with the fascinating recruitment stories that surround them, that make up the backbone of this book. The code breakers of Bletchley Park were united in their love of a good puzzle. If you feel the same, why not dive in, put your mental agility to the test and discover: Would Bletchley Park have recruited YOU?

You''ve already broken codes in Sinclair McKay''s bestselling Bletchley Park Brainteasers, now it''s time to pit your wits against the secret heroes of MI5 and MI6 and find out if YOU have what it takes to be a spy!If you cracked the GCHQ Puzzle Book and followed the Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book, you MUST show off your James Bond credentials with Secret Service Brainteasers. . .Whether you have linguistic flair, an instinct for technology or good old common sense, pit your wits against some of the greatest minds of our time with ingenious brainteasers including secret languages, sabotage themed brain bogglers, deadly countdowns and hidden codes.Weaving astonishing stories of the men and women who operate from the shadows, the secret heroes and heroines of MI5 and MI6 who have faced extraordinary and terrifying challenges and a wide range of mind twisting puzzles, Secret Service Brainteasers will test your mental agility to discover: Do YOU have what it takes to be a spy?

Pit your wits against the brilliant minds of Scotland Yard, from the bestselling author of Bletchley Park Brainteasers, Sinclair McKay. If you cracked the GCHQ Puzzle Book and tore through the Ordnance Survey Puzzle Book, you MUST show off your brainteaser abilities and prove that you have what it takes to be a detective at the Yard...How can a man be in two places at once? How might a murder be committed when no one is seen entering or exiting the house? Can an entire crime be solved with just a suitcase of empty beer bottles?It''s time for you to tackle the conundrums that confounded the best detectives over the years.Since it opened its doors in 1829, Scotland Yard has used the science of detection to solve the most macabre of murders and catch the most audacious of thieves. The Scotland Yard Puzzle Book takes a look through the history of this famous institution and recreates some of the most complex puzzles its detectives have ever faced. Technology can now shine a light on some of the most difficult cases, but the analytical mind needed to crack the clues remains as essential as ever. Do you have what it takes to be a Scotland Yard detective?