andrew lownie literary agency

Prisoner of War
Adrian Gilbert

Prisoner of War

Just under 300,000 Allied servicemen from Britain, the Commonwealth and the United States were captured in Europe and North Africa between 1939 and 1945. POW goes beyond the escape stories made so familiar by films like The Great Escape to reveal what life was really like for these men: from the shock of capture and transit, the rigours and pursuits of daily life, to liberation and homecoming. Larger-than-life characters from POW lore – such as the Australian escaper John Peck and legendary RAF camp leader Dixie Deans – are all here, while the stories of eleven individual prisoners are woven through the narrative, making it a personal as well as collective history. From the challenges of day-to-day life to the high drama of secret organisations, sabotage and escapes, POW provides a compelling window onto a crucial aspect of the Second World War.

Book Details:

  • Author: Adrian Gilbert
  • Published Year: 2006
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: John Murray
Adrian Gilbert

Adrian Gilbert

Adrian Gilbert has written several books on military history, most notably on the First and Second World Wars and sharpshooting. His most recent book, POW: Allied Prisoners in Europe 1939-1945, was published by John Murray in October 2006 and was acclaimed by The Sunday Times as one of its books of the year .Adrian Gilbert is also an authority on combat sniping. His best-selling works on the subject include Sniper and Stalk and Kill, published on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of his other books include The Imperial War Museum Book of the Desert War, published in 1992 to coincide with the...
More about Adrian Gilbert

Book Reviews

  • "Compelling."
    Scottish Legion News
  • "…this excellent account."
    Good Book Guide
  • "…fascinating study of the prisoner of war experience."
    Military Illustrated
  • "Adrian Gilbert’s comprehensive history is a sobering corrective to the Hollywood version."
    Mail on Sunday
  • "...a comprehensive and worthwhile examination.."
    Daily Mail
  • "Spellbinding and overdue."
    Western Daily Press
  • "...this excellent history...a valuable record...Gilbert is to be congratulated; with verve and scholarship he has illuminated a murky area of the Second World War, and evoked both pity and, occasionally, grim comedy."
    Daily Telegraph
  • "...a depressing, uplifting, funny and tragic account, probably the most comprehensive story of the life and fate of British prisoners of war to be committed to paper."
    Navy News