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Title details for The Great Escape by Kati Marton - Available

The Great Escape

Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World

by Kati Marton
Anna Fields
Audiobook
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The stunning story of the breathtaking journey of nine extraordinary men from Budapest to the New World, what they experienced along their dangerous route, and how they changed America and the world.


In a style both personal and historically groundbreaking, acclaimed author Kati Marton (herself born in Budapest) tells the tale of their youth in Budapest's Golden Age of the early twentieth century, their flight, and their lives of extraordinary accomplishment, danger, glamour, and poignancy.


Marton follows these nine over the decades as they flee fascism and anti-Semitism, seek sanctuary in America and England, and set out to make their mark. The scientists Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner enlist Albert Einstein to get Franklin Roosevelt to initiate the development of the atomic bomb. Along with John von Neuman, who pioneers the computer, they succeed in achieving that goal before Nazi Germany, ending the Second World War, and opening a new age.


Arthur Koestler writes the most important anti-Communist novel of the century, Darkness at Noon. Robert Capa is the first photographer ashore on D-Day. He virtually invents photojournalism and gives us some of the century's most enduring records of modern warfare.


Andre Kertesz pioneers modern photojournalism, and Alexander Korda, who makes propaganda films for Churchill, leaves the stark portrait of a post war Europe with The Third Man, as his fellow filmmaker, Michael Curtiz, leaves us the immortal Casablanca, a call to arms and the most famous romantic film of all time.


Marton brings passion and breadth to these dramatic lives as they help invent the twentieth century.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    November 1, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400123094
      • File size: 270678 KB
      • Duration: 09:23:54

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      THE GREAT ESCAPE is the story of nine Hungarians--scientists Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner; computer pioneer John von Neuman; photojournalists Robert Capa and Andre Kertesz; film industry giants Alexander Korda and Michael Curtis; and author Arthur Koestler--who left Budapest to avoid the Nazis and individually and collectively changed the world. The book is a testament to these men and to their determination. Anna Fields is an ideal reader, who demonstrates her versatility by using an elegant style and pacing the material so that the reader can share in Marton's admiration for these extraordinary men. Fields also brings out the personalities behind these geniuses with deft use of inflection and tone. D.J.S. 2007 Audies Award Finalist (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 28, 2006
      Noted journalist and bestselling author Marton (Hidden Power
      ) offers a haunting tale of the wartime Hungarian diaspora. The nine illustrious Hungarians she profiles were all "double outsiders," for, as well as being natives of a "small, linguistically impenetrable, landlocked country," they were all Jews. Fleeing fascism and anti-Semitism for the New World, each experienced insecurity, isolation and a sense of perpetual exile. Yet all achieved world fame. The scientists Leo Szilard, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner, along with game theorist and computer pioneer, John von Neuman, spurred Albert Einstein to persuade Franklin Roosevelt to develop the atomic bomb. Robert Capa and Andre Kertesz became legendary photojournalists. Alexander Korda was the savior of the British film industry, and Michael Curtiz directed Casablanca
      . Arthur Koestler penned the monumental anti-Communist novel Darkness at Noon
      . Marton intricately charts each man's career in the context of WWII and Cold War history. Herself Hungarian-born, the daughter of journalists who escaped Soviet-occupied Hungary in 1957, Marton captures her fellow Hungarians' nostalgia for prewar Budapest, evoking its flamboyant cafes, its trams, boulevards and cosmopolitan Jewish community. Marton writes beautifully, balancing sharply defined character studies of each man with insights into their shared cultural traits and uprootedness. 16 pages of photos, map.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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