SIX MONTH IN 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman--from World War to Cold War by Michael Dobbs

Vintage Books & Anchor Books

On this day in 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta, in the Crimea, to discuss and plan the postwar world—

"Prior to FDR’s arrival in the Crimea on Saturday, February 3, 1945, no serving U.S. president had set foot in Russia, much less the Soviet Union. None would do so again for nearly three decades."
--from SIX MONTH IN 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman--from World War to Cold War by Michael Dobbs

When Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Yalta in February 1945, Hitler’s armies were on the run, and victory was imminent. The Big Three wanted to draft a blueprint for a lasting peace—but instead they set the stage for a forty-four year division of Europe into Soviet and Western spheres of influence. After fighting side by side for nearly four years, their political alliance was beginning to fracture. Although the most dramatic Cold War confrontations such as the Berlin airlift were still to come, a new struggle for global hegemony had got underway by August 1945 when Truman used the atomic bomb against Hiroshima. Six Months in 1945 brilliantly captures this momentous historical turning point while illuminating the aims and personalities of larger-than-life political giants. READ an excerpt here:http://knopfdoubleday.com/book/41413/six-months-in-1945/