Bøker av Nathan Morley

The first ever biography of legendary British film actor Jack Hawkins. From cult classics 'The Cruel Sea' and 'Lawrence of Arabia', to 'Bridge on the River Kwai', Hawkins became one of the most bankable stars of the 1950s. This gripping story of a true cinema great tells his tale and his long brave fight against throat cancer.

The first ever English language biography of Erich Honecker, covering his entire life and career. Never before published details of Honecker's first marriage, his exotic private life and fractious relationship with Walter Ulbricht.

Holidays with Hitler tells the story of German leisure time and state-sponsored fun under the Nazi regime. Nathan Morley looks at consumerism, entertainment and travel in German society, and offers a vivid portrait of what it was like to visit as a foreign tourist seeking fun in a totalitarian state. An important part of Nazi policy was the vast Strength through Joy programme, headed by Dr Robert Ley - a brash and fanatical party member. Although Strength through Joy is best remembered for introducing the Volkswagen Beetle, it also allowed fourteen million people to enjoy annual vacations at bargain basement prices while improving the health of the population by encouraging running, hiking, swimming, and active family holidays. With millions of working people paying monthly dues, the organization amassed a hefty fortune. On the island of Rgen in the Baltic Sea, a vast resort capable of accommodating 22,000 holidaymakers began construction in 1937 - the same year the Wilhelm Gustloff, the first Strength Through Joy vessel, was launched in Hamburg. With the arrival of the Second World War, the organisation adapted, the goal being the 'cultural caretaking of the bomb-battered population and our soldiers'. Nathan Morley, employing meticulous research, tells the story not only of the Strength through Joy programme but also the efforts to organise the Olympics and disguise anti-Jewish sentiments from the thousands of visitors; the way millions of Germans spent their free time; and what it was like to be a foreign tourist as the thin veneer of a disintegrating Reich peeled away to reveal an ugly and evil interior.

Radio Hitler follows the life of Deutschlandsender, the Nazi equivalent of BBC Radio 4, and its sister stations that transmitted to Germany and the world at large. Using first-hand interviews, archives, diaries, letters and memoirs, this book examines what Nazi radio was and what it stood for. Detailed here is the vast 'fake news' effort, which bombarded audiences in the Middle East, Africa, the United States and Great Britain. A light is also shone on the home service stations that, with their monumental announcements including Stalingrad, the assassination attempt on Hitler and the invasion of France, provided the soundtrack to everyday life in Nazi Germany. Details of entertainment shows and programmes designed to lift morale on the Home Front are abundant and offer a fresh insight into the psyche of the nation. The book also looks at Nazi attempts to develop television throughout Germany and in occupied France. A rich cast of characters is featured throughout, including Ernst Himmler, brother of Heinrich, who worked as technical chief at Deutschlandsender, and Lord HawHaw, the infamous British mouthpiece of the Nazi propaganda machine. Nathan Morley had unlimited access to former Reich radio studios and transmitter sites in Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna, as well as to a vast archive of recordings and transcripts. The result is a fascinating and revealing portrait of propaganda, communication and media in Nazi Germany.