Alex Kershaw

General George Patton needed a miracle. In December 1944, the Allies found themselves stuck. Rain had plagued the troops daily since September, turning roads into rivers of muck, slowing trucks and tanks to a crawl. A thick ceiling of clouds had grounded American warplanes, allowing the Germans to reinforce. The sprint to Berlin had become a muddy, bloody stalemate, costing thousands of American lives. Patton seethed, desperate for some change, any change, in the weather. A devout Christian, he telephoned his head chaplain. ''Do you have a good prayer for the weather?'' he asked. The resulting prayer was soon printed and distributed to the 250,000 men under Patton''s command. ''Pray when driving,'' the men were asked. ''Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle... Pray for victory... Pray for Peace.'' Then came the Battle of the Bulge. Amid frigid temperatures and heavy snow, 200,000 German troops overwhelmed the meager American lines in Belgium''s Ardennes Forest, massacring thousands of soldiers as the attack converged on a vital crossroads town called Bastogne. There, the 101st Airborne was dug in, but the enemy were lurking, hidden in the thick blanket of fog that seemed to never dissipate. A hundred miles of frozen roads to the south, Patton needed an answer to his prayer, fast, before it was too late.

A Park Könyvkiadó 2006-ban jelentette meg Robert Capa Kissé elmosódva című, több mint 100 képet tartalmazó regényes önéletrajzát, mielőtt a magyar állam megvásárolta volna a fotográfus mestergyűjteményét. Ezután John Steinbeck Orosz naplója és Irvin Shaw Izraeli riportok című kötete következett Capa 70, illetve 94 fotójával. A rövid életű, de sokat megélt fényképészről számos életrajz született, a Vér és pezsgő című kötetében ezúttal Alex Kershaw tesz kísérletet arra, hogy megfejtse a 20. század egyik legendás alakjának titkát. Alex Kershaw (1966) író, újságíró Angliában született, tanulmányait az Oxfordi Egyetemen végezte. 1994 óta az Egyesült Államokban él. A The Guardian, a The Sunday Times Magazine és az Observer rendszeres szerzőjeként számos híres fotóriporterrel állt közeli munkakapcsolatban. Fő érdeklődési területe a második világháború története, erről a témáról eddig 9 sikeres dokumentumregényt publikált.

The best-selling author of The Liberator brings to life the incredible true story of an American doctor in Paris, and his heroic espionage efforts during World War II The leafy Avenue Foch, one of the most exclusive residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, was Paris's hotbed of daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy collaborators. So when American physician Sumner Jackson, who lived with his wife and young son Phillip at Number 11, found himself drawn into the Liberation network of the French resistance, he knew the stakes were impossibly high. Just down the road at Number 31 was the "mad sadist" Theodor Dannecker, an Eichmann protégé charged with deporting French Jews to concentration camps. And Number 84 housed the Parisian headquarters of the Gestapo, run by the most effective spy hunter in Nazi Germany. From his office at the American Hospital, itself an epicenter of Allied and Axis intrigue, Jackson smuggled fallen Allied fighter pilots safely out of France, a job complicated by the hospital director's close ties to collaborationist Vichy. After witnessing the brutal round-up of his Jewish friends, Jackson invited Liberation to officially operate out of his home at Number 11--but the noose soon began to tighten. When his secret life was discovered by his Nazi neighbors, he and his family were forced to undertake a journey into the dark heart of the war-torn continent from which there was little chance of return. Drawing upon a wealth of primary source material and extensive interviews with Phillip Jackson, Alex Kershaw recreates the City of Light during its darkest days. The untold story of the Jackson family anchors the suspenseful narrative, and Kershaw dazzles readers with the vivid immediacy of the best spy thrillers. Awash with the tense atmosphere of World War II's Europe,Avenue of Spies introduces us to the brave doctor who risked everything to defy Hitler. From the Hardcover edition.