James Holland’s The Rise of Germany, the first volume in his War in the West trilogy, was widely praised for his impeccable research and narrative skills. With a wealth of characters from across the western theatre of World War II, Holland told a captivating story while calling on new research to challenge our assumptions and reframe our understanding of this momentous conflict. As The Rise of Germany ended, the Nazi war machine looked to be unstoppable. Germany had taken Poland and France with shocking speed. London was blitzed by the Luftwaffe, and U-boats harried shipping on the Atlantic. But Germany hadn’t actually won the Battle of Britain or the Battle of the Atlantic, and it was not producing airplanes or submarines fast enough. And what looked like victory in Greece and Crete had expended crucial resources in short supply.

In The Allies Strike Back, while Germany’s invasion of Russia unfolds in the east, in the west the Americans formally enter the war. In North Africa, following major setbacks at the hands of Rommel, the Allies storm to victory. Meanwhile, the bombing of Germany escalates, aiming to destroy Nazi industry and crush civilian morale. A captivating book by a supremely skilled historian, The Allies Strike Back is a perfect successor to The Rise of Germany.