The Barbed-Wire University
The Real Lives of Allied Prisoners of War in the Second World War
Inspired by meeting the actor and singer, Will Young and her visit to Stalag Luft III, as part of Who Do You Think You Are, Safe Haven has reissued The Barbed-Wire University.
Sadly, all the men interviewed for the book are no longer with us but Midge is proud to capture their stories here and to share some of the after-life of the book: seeing at first hand the skills that magician Fergus Anckorn used to help keep himself alive on the Death Railway, realising that her father was right after all about the Vatican Radio’s part in conveying news of captured Prisoners of War and considering how new generations learn about POWs through Richard Flanagan’s brilliant Question 7 and Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ astonishing Masters of the Air. The reissued book contains a substantial afterword and new images.
Feature films have created the stereotype of the Second World War Prisoner of War (POW) . . .
You can order the new edition in your local bookshop or via the publisher, Safe Haven Books.
Praise
“A brilliant book! If you liked the programme on my grandpa on BBC1 this book is a must” Will Young on Instagram
“a valuable, fascinating and moving book … this is a riveting collection of stories about incredible resourcefulness,” The Guardian
“Brilliantly researched…Gillies has weaved her findings into a fascinating and deeply moving piece of social history,” Mail on Sunday
“What the reader is most likely to take away from this rich and well-researched book is a sense of the extraordinary ingenuity and resourcefulness so many POWs displayed,” Sunday Times.
“Midge Gillies has tackled a colossal subject with calm professionalism and a lightness of touch which makes it a great joy to read. An outstanding piece of scholarship which is as readable as it is informative,” BBC History Magazine
“Every facet of this epic story is covered with sensitivity, restraint, and a leavening humour…full of unforgettable stories…Such stories illuminate a great subject in engrossing detail,” The Spectator.
“Rich and insightful panorama of POW life. Every one of the pages hums with human interest and the whole enterprise is conducted with the highest standards of scholarship,” Daily Express
