FROM THE BOOK JACKET:
Great Britain, summer 1940. The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Adolf Hitler's powerful armies control Europe. England stands alone against this juggernaut, the whole world knowing it is only a matter of time before Nazi Germany unleashes its military might on the island nation. And in London, a new prime minister named Winston Churchill is determined to defeat the Nazi menace, no matter the costs.
Luckily for Churchill, one quirky Englishman has seen the future. Air Vice-Marshall Hugh Dowding is head of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command. He has spent years preparing his nation's aerial defenses, utilizing the new technology of radar, training hundreds of hand-picked young pilots, and overseeing the design and purchase of the world's most up-to-date fighter aircraft. In time, the names "Spitfire" and "Hurricane" will become iconic, these airplanes synonymous with a David versus Goliath struggle between the RAF and German Luftwaffe. For the first time in history, the battlefield will not be on land or in water but entirely contested in the skies above. Nazi victory depends upon their overwhelming air power, and the fate of not just the British people but all of Western Civilization hinges on a small group of elite pilots stopping this onslaught—a band of brothers who will go down in history as the Few.
Taking London puts the reader inside the action, bringing to life the personal sagas of Churchill, Dowding, and legendary fighter pilots like Peter Townsend, Geoffrey Wellum, Richard Hillary, and American Billy Fiske, all set against the defiant backdrop of wartime London. Told in fast-paced, you-are-there fashion, this third book in the epic Taking series is an indelible portrait of the moment the tide of WWII was turned, and the incredible heroes who made it happen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Martin Dugard is the New York Times #1 bestselling author of the Taking Series — including Taking Berlin (2022) and Taking Paris (2021).
He is also the co-author of the mega-million selling Killing series: Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, Killing Reagan, Killing England, Killing the Rising Sun, Killing the SS, Killing Crazy Horse, and Killing the Mob.
Other works include the New York Times bestseller The Murder of King Tut (with James Patterson; Little, Brown, 2009); The Last Voyage of Columbus (Little, Brown, 2005); Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone (Doubleday, 2003), Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook (Pocket Books, 2001), Knockdown (Pocket Books, 1999), and Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth (McGraw-Hill, 1998). In addition, Martin lived on the island of Pulau Tiga during the filming of Survivor's inaugural season to write the bestselling Survivor with mega-producer Mark Burnett.