In the last winter of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin arrived in the Crimean resort of Yalta. Over eight days of bargaining, bombast and intermittent bonhomie they shaped the landscape of the post-war world.
Diana Preston chronicles the fraying of the once 'special' relationship between Churchill - determined to preserve the British Empire - and Roosevelt - committed to its dissolution - as they faced their cunning ally and adversary. But Stalin monitored everything they said and only three months later, less than a week after the German surrender, Roosevelt was dead. This, together with Soviet military gains, would soon result in the imposition of Communism throughout Eastern Europe.
Meticulously researched and vividly written, Eight Days at Yalta is a remarkable work of intense historical drama.
'"Yalta", like "Munich", has become a synonym for the cynical betrayal of the weak by the strong. It is an oft-told, well-documented and controversial story. Diana Preston retells it fluently, perceptively and with meticulous scholarship. Her judgements are admirably sensible.' Rodric Braithwaite, Spectator
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