Eight Days in May

''Superb'' David Aaronovitch, The Times ''A punchy account that is a proper page-turner'' Financial Times ''The last days of the Third Reich have often been told, but seldom with the verve, perception and elegance of Volker Ullrich''s rich narrative'' Richard Overy, author of The Bombing War 1 May 1945. The world did not know it yet, but the final week of the Third Reich''s existence had begun. Hitler was dead, but the war had still not ended. Everything had both ground to a halt and yet remained agonizingly uncertain. Volker Ullrich''s remarkable book takes the reader into a world torn between hope and terror, violence and peace. Ullrich describes how each day unfolds, with Germany now under a new Führer, Admiral Dönitz, based improbably in the small Baltic town of Flensburg. With Hitler dead, Berlin in ruins and the war undoubtedly lost, the process by which the fighting would end remained horrifyingly unclear.