Citizen Sailors

'The deck and the bridge were pointing to the sky at an alarming angle and our thoughts were to get the devil out of it and into the water. Almost in unison we shouted "for God's sake jump boys".' "Citizen Sailors" is a groundbreaking people's history of the Royal Navy in the Second World War. Drawing on hundreds of contemporary diaries and letters, along with memoirs, oral history and official documents, Glyn Prysor tells the human story of Britain's war at sea. The sailors of the Royal Navy fought from the very first day of the war until the very last. They played a vital part in a truly global war, from America to Australia and from the Arctic to South Africa. They fought in every conceivable vessel: vast aircraft carriers and cramped corvettes, fast motor boats and rickety minesweepers, Swordfish biplanes and ageing submarines. Seen through the eyes of sailors themselves, this is a compelling account of life in the wartime Royal Navy: humanity and horror, triumphs and tragedies, nerve-wracking convoys and epic gun battles, devastating aerial bombardment and swashbuckling amphibious landings. "Citizen Sailors" puts the Royal Navy and its sailors back at the heart of the story of Britain's Second World War.

ISBN 0670918547   Pages 576 ISBN13 9780670918546 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 799 Publisher Penguin Books Ltd   Published in London Imprint Viking   Height (mm) 240 Format Hardback   Width (mm) 162 Publication date 25 Aug 2011   Spine width (mm) 39 DEWEY 940.545941   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

A moving and evocative story of the war at sea -- N. A. M. Rodger, Author Of The Command Of The Ocean This impressive human history of the Royal Navy begins the long overdue process of putting it back at the heart of the war effort Independent, Book of the Week Prysor does for the sailors of the Royal Navy what Patrick Bishop did for the RAF in Fighter Boys... He reminds us of their extraordinary contribution to our survival Daily Express An absorbing read Literary Review Full of terrific stories Sunday Times This excellent book... captures the soul of the men who were there Navy News Skilfully weaves together a coherent "people's history of the sailor's war"... Fresh and compelling TLS Breathtaking skill... freshness and force... Prysor makes the Navy of the Second World War intensely personal, vivid, and vital Military Times Reads extremely well, with a gripping narrative that explains the unfolding of the war whilst weaving in moving and vivid personal accounts... This is a book that manages to fuse the strategic with the human and the social with consummate skill, and in so doing it delivers a multi-faceted understanding of the war at sea as well as a poignant reminder of the way in which society has lost its "sea vision" Nautilus International Telegraph

 Be the first to write a customer review