Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch
Non-fiction
From the New York Times bestselling authors of The First Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy comes the little-known true story of a Nazi plot to kill FDR, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill at the height of World War II.
In 1943, as the war against Nazi Germany raged abroad, President Franklin Roosevelt had a critical goal: a face-to-face sit-down with his allies Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. This first-ever meeting of the Big Three in Tehran, Iran, would decide some of the most crucial strategic details of the war. Yet when the Nazis found out about the meeting, their own secret plan took shape—an assassination plot that would’ve changed history.
A true story filled with daring rescues, body doubles, and political intrigue, The Nazi Conspiracy details FDR’s pivotal meeting in Tehran and the deadly Nazi plot against the heads of state of the three major Allied powers who attended it.
With all the hallmarks of a Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch page-turner, The Nazi Conspiracy explores the great political minds of the twentieth century, investigating the pivotal years of the war in gripping detail. This meeting of the Big Three changed the course of World War II. Here’s the inside story of how it almost led to a world-shattering disaster.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.
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My Opinion
(5 / 5) Do you see those five stars? Me, rating a non-fiction book five stars? I don’t even know who I am anymore!
A triple assassination plot is planned and Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill are all targeted.
I was gripped within the first few minutes. Right off, I notice it does not read like non-fiction, it reads like fiction. While I love history, I don’t read it much because most non-fiction to me is very dry and uninteresting. Fiction just doesn’t cover all the story so I’m left feeling underwhelmed. Not with this one! I felt like I got the full story for the time period.
“For without victory there is no survival.” Winston Churchill
This focused more on the political side of the war. We hear about the “mass atrocities” and many horrible events but it doesn’t go into much detail. It focuses on the leaders and their meetings and their decisions. We see the information given to them and the intellect and background used to make the choice. It may sound dull but it was truly fascinating. So much of the information was new to me.
One of my favorite aspects of the book was that it wasn’t heavy on one country or another. It showed Nazi achievements as well as others. It didn’t “take a side” as most history does. I loved this. I loved getting to know Nazi and British leaders, as well as American, and what must have been their view points throughout. We hear their reasoning and conversations that led them to joining the war. Much of it was quoted from actual correspondence.
AUDIO REVIEW: Most of the time I base my ratings on how much I enjoyed the novel; how entertained I was. This was definitely that. I don’t know if all the info is true, but the story and delivery kept me glued. What made it even better was the narrator, Scott Brick. I will be finding more of his audios because I believe his voice played a huge part in my enjoyment. From the first chapter, his voice was engaging. I’m not sure it would have read like fiction in my head but it definitely did with him as the narrator. I couldn’t stop listening. I just stopped, sat and listened. I didn’t want to miss a single word. I couldn’t have people in the room or any noises to interrupt. I just needed to listen. I tried to decipher what it was about him that was so good, and I decided it felt like him telling me the events second-hand. That he knew what happened and was keeping me updated.
Can I request a portion of history for Meltzer and Mensch to write? I’d love to learn more about Hiroshima and choices that lead to it. Anyone? Anyone?
General content summary: It’s a book about WW2 so it’s obvious there are going to be details that are difficult to read. However, I feel there were few details. You are given just enough information that you understand the situation but don’t get many of the gory details; little to no language, “mass atrocities,” references to genocide and killing “undesirables” (Jews, mentally ill, Poles, Slavic, Roman’s, xenophobia, and more), references to many (mostly women and children) tortured or worked to death or killed, assassination attempt, details of what happened in Pearl Harbor (bombs, ships going down, many deaths), violence (multiple), mass rape during an invasion with mass killings (few details, adults and children, multiple), soldiers beheading civilians (no details), cigarettes and alcohol (multiple), naked man seen by multiple (no details), some details of bomb destruction in villages, homelessness, orphans, death due to starvation and famine (no details), soldiers shooting their hands to be sent home, amputation, starvation that lead to cannibalism, mass killings of villages, families and children (mass graves, some details), when babies survived gas chambers the soldiers would crush skulls, civilian plane shot down, genocidal death camps, car bomb (death), suicide when SS soldiers find a few people (no details), plane shot down to kill, typhoid sickness and death, cutting up a body for transport and burial (no details), glider crash landing (injuries), many shot and killed, starved or killed in gas chamber (few details, all ages), Normandy beach battle (some details), suicide (some details, gun, pill), mother and children murder/suicide (pills, few details), death (few details, grief).
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy!
The book releases January 10, 2023.
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