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The Ariadne Objective
ISBN/GTIN

The Ariadne Objective

Patrick Leigh Fermor and the Underground War to Rescue Crete from the Nazis
PaperbackPaperback
EUR25,00

Product description

"Wes Davis' fast-paced tale of wartime sabotage reads more like an Ian Fleming thriller than a mere retelling of events."
Wall Street Journal

"The story unfolds with the rich characterization and perfectly calibrated suspense of a great novel. It can be hard at points to remember the book is actually a work of nonfiction."
Christian Science Monitor

The Ariadne Objective is the extraordinary story of the Nazi occupation of Crete told from the perspective of an eccentric band of British gentleman spies. These amateur soldierswriters, scholars, archaeologistsincluded Patrick Leigh Fermor, a future travel-writing luminary; John Pendlebury, a pioneering archaeologist whose walking stick concealed a sword; Xan Fielding, who would later translate books like Bridge over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes into English; Sandy Rendel, a future Times of London reporter; and W. Stanley Moss, who would write up his account of their exploits in Ill Met By Moonlight (Paul Dry Books, Inc.).

Alongside Cretan partisans, these British intelligence officers carried out a daring plan to sabotage Nazi maneuvers, culminating in a high-risk plot to abduct the island's German commander. Wes Davis presents the scintillating story of these legends in the making and their adventures in one of the war's most exotic locales.

Includes 17 black and white photographs.
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Details

ISBN/GTIN978-1-58988-188-4
Product TypePaperback
BindingPaperback
FormatTrade paperback (US)
Publishing date14/05/2024
LanguageEnglish
SizeWidth 140 mm, Height 214 mm, Thickness 28 mm
Weight476 g
Article no.26830942
CatalogsLibri
Data source no.A47153588
Product groupBU949
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Author

Wes Davis is the author of American Journey: On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs and editor of An Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry. He served for two years as an assistant to the director of excavations at Kavousi in Eastern Crete, not far from the plateau where Patrick Leigh Fermor parachuted onto the island during WWII. He holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from Princeton University and is a former assistant professor of English at Yale University. Davis has written for many publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and The Nation. He lives outside New York City.

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