In the Library: A Conversation with Professor Brendan Simms

Hitler’s American Gamble - Professor Brendan Simms

On the 7th of December at 7pm, and on the eightieth anniversary of Pearl Harbor, join us in the relaxed setting of the University Arms Library, where Professor Brendan Simms will be in conversation with eminent historian, David Reynolds, taking us through a riveting account of the five most crucial days in twentieth century diplomatic history.

By early December 1941, war had changed much of the world beyond recognition. Nazi Germany occupied most of the European continent, while in Asia, the Second Sino-Japanese War had turned China into battleground. But these conflicts were not yet inextricably linked—and the United States remained at peace.

Drawing on his book, co-written with Charlie Laderman, we will see how these were the five days that upended everything: December 7 to 11, tracing the developments that show how Hitler’s intervention was not the inexplicable decision of a man so bloodthirsty that he forgot all strategy, but a calculated risk that can only be understood in a truly global context.

"History at its scintillating best ... hard-hitting, revelatory and superbly researched" Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

"A rare achievement ... sure to become an instant classic" John Lewis Gaddis, Yale University