James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently Brothers In Arms and Normandy '44, he is also the author of nine works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts. He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year, and he has presented - and written - many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels. With Al Murray, he has a successful Second World War podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk, which also has its own festival, and is a research fellow at St Andrew's University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940 and on Instagram as @jamesholland1940.
James Holland is now our foremost authority on the Italian campaign. He knows the ground intimately and expertly. In this gripping, beautifully written book, Holland breathes fresh life into the grim story of Cassino. Told from the perspectives of all the participants, packed with new insights and quality scholarship, Cassino 1944 makes a major contribution to our understanding of the fighting in Italy. Highest recommendation! -- John C. McManus, James Holland has given us another gripping historical narrative. This one unfolds from the grandeur of a palace turned wartime headquarters to a soon-to-be infamous Italian abbey that came to symbolize the complexities of the often-overshadowed Italian campaign. Holland writes with eloquence and power about the harsh realities of a brutal battle that grabbed the world’s attention and helped to decide the future of Italy -- Professor Michael S. Neiberg