BOOK CELEBRATION OF VICTORY V-E DAY OF 1945 (BOX49)

 COURTESY OF GIBSONS TACTICAL TAVERN                                                                       MILITARY SURPLUS LISTING INDIVIDUALLY PICTURED

CELEBRATION OF VICTORY: V-E DAY OF 1945 

AUTHOR: RICHARD CONNAUGHTON

PUBLISHER: BRASSEY'S   WASHINGTON

COPYRIGHT: 1995 BY BRASSEY'S (UK) LTD.

FIRST EDITION 1995

ISBN: 1-85753-181-7

    CELEBRATION OF VICTORY IS A RECORD FOR POSTERITY OF ONE OF THE MOST MOMENTOUS DAYS OF THIS CENTURY, V-E DAY ON 8 MAY 1945.                                              WHAT WERE WE, OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS CELEBRATING THEN AS WE CHEERED WINSTON CHURCHILL AND THE KING AND QUEEN, , DANCED IN THE STREETS, SHOUTED AND KISSED, AND DRANK WARM BEER AND TEA AT THE THOUSANDS OF BUNTING DECORATED STREET PARTIES?  WAS IT SIMPLY THE END OF THE WAR, THE DEFEAT, HAND IN GLOVE WITH THE EMPIRE,  UNCLE JOE STALIN AND GUM CHEWING YANKS, OF A GREAT AND EVIL MENACE! OR WAS IT ALSO THE ARRIVAL OF A BETTER WORLD, A WORLD IN WHICH ALL WOULD BENEFIT FROM THE CREATION OF GREATER SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE, A REWARD FOR THE SUFFERING DURING THE DEPRESSION AND WAR?                                                                                         IN THIS EVOCATIVE AND SIMPLY WRITTEN BOOK , THE AUTHOR BRIEFLY DESCRIBES THE CAUSES AND CONDUCT OF THE WAR AND GIVES US A MOVING ACCOUNT OF         V-DAY ITSELF.  THEN WITH ANECDOTES AND WITH THE HELP OF THREE FAMOUS MEN WHO FOUGHT IN THE WAR AND WHO ALL WENT ON TO HOLD HIGH POLITICAL OFFICE, INCLUDING DEFENSE, HE ANALYSES THE VISION OF THE FUTURE PEOPLE HAD IN  1945 AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH THAT VISION WAS SUBSEQUENTLY FULLED.  THOSE THREE MEN ARE ARE NOW LORDS CARRINGTON, HEALEY, AND PYM.                          WRITTEN TO COINCIDE WITH THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF V-E DAY, AND YET WITH A RELEVANCE FAR BEYOND THAT ONE OCCASION, THIS IS NOT ONLY A BOOK OF WORDS, BUT ALSO ONE OF PICTURES.  THIS IS THE PERFECT BOOK WITH WHICH TO REMEMBER THE END OF THE WAR IN EUROPE.