 |
 First edition | |
| Author | Upton Sinclair |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Lanny Budd |
| Genre | Historical |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 1946 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 627 pp |
| Preceded by | Dragon Harvest |
| Followed by | Presidential Mission |
A World to Win is the seventh novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1946, the story covers the period from 1940 to 1942.
In Vichy France, maintaining his cover as a dilettante sympathetic to the Nazis, Lanny insinuates himself among French pro-Nazis Philippe Pétain and Pierre Laval. Lanny urges Raoul that the French underground should support the capitalist English for now, and return to the class struggle after Hitler is defeated. Back on the Riviera, which is overrun by oblivious vacationers, Beauty wants Lanny to marry the heiress Lizbeth Holdenhurst; she suspects Lanny is in love with Lizbeth's poor cousin, the writer Laurel Creston.
Lanny travels to Spain to gather information on Franco and the Nazis' plans to take Gibraltar. Back in London under the bombing, Lanny updates Rick, who observes that the economic masters in all countries fund criminal thugs to eliminate dissent; Rick says England will fight to the end. Irma and Ceddy say the upper class want an accommodation, leaving Hitler to attack Russia. Rick's son Alfy is flying Spitfire planes defending London; the Budd fighter models have gone out of date, he says, and the outlook is uncertain. Lanny says improved Budd fighter planes will be arriving, if the RAF can hold out.
Lanny reports to FDR on the English and French collaborationists. In New York, he meets with Nazi operatives, who believe William Randolph Hearst may be willing to back a coup against FDR. Lanny thinks about Lizbeth and Laurel on his way to San Simeon, where he observes the degeneracy of Hollywood; Hearst is cautious. Back in D.C., Lanny helps FDR write his "Arsenal of Democracy" speech. FDR wants a report on Hitler's plans as to Russia. In Geneva, Monck says the invasion on a 1,100-mile front is imminent. Lanny asks Kurt and Rudolf Hess to get him an appointment with Hitler; meanwhile he goes to Toulon to learn more about the French fleet and to contact the underground. French resistance agents mistake Lanny for a Nazi spy and abduct him, but he buys his way out. In Germany Hitler confirms the plan to invade Russia; he claims Germany will leave the British Empire alone if England settles for peace. They discuss how Germany can support a coup against FDR. Meanwhile Hess, tricked by English intelligence, flies to England to negotiate a peace; he is arrested.
Lizbeth's father becomes a major investor in Budd airplanes. Laurel is writing political fiction articles against the Nazis. Laurel suspects Lanny is doing undercover work but discretely asks no questions. FDR assigns Lanny to contact an anti-Nazi physicist working on a German atomic bomb. Lanny prepares for this task with the help of Albert Einstein in Princeton. Lanny is badly injured when his plane from Newfoundland to England crashes in a violent storm. Rescuers discover Lanny is traveling on two passports; his cover is blown.
FDR furloughs Lanny, who needs months to recuperate. Lanny agrees to take a cruise to the South Seas and Hong Kong with Lizbeth and her family. On departing, he discovers that cousin Laurel is also on board. Lizbeth suffers a breakdown when she learns that Lanny and Laurel had known each other previously. In Hong Kong, war breaks out with Japan when the group is separated; Lanny and Laurel had been visiting the widow of Sun Yat-sen while Lizbeth and her father were at a British Officers' ball. Under bombing, Lanny and Laurel miss the hurried departure of the yacht. In a trance, Laurel channels Lizbeth, who says all were lost when a Japanese warship sunk the yacht. Lanny and Laurel marry, and make their way through China, where Lanny meets with Mao Zedong in his cave headquarters. The pair travel to Moscow, where Uncle Jesse helps Lanny meet with Stalin, who pledges to fight Hitler to the end.
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Henning Hermann Karl Robert von Tresckow was a German military officer with the rank of major general in the German Army who helped organize German resistance against Adolf Hitler. He attempted to assassinate Hitler on 13 March 1943 and drafted the Valkyrie plan for a coup against the German government. He was described by the Gestapo as the "prime mover" behind the plot of 20 July 1944 to assassinate Hitler. He committed suicide at Królowy Most on the Eastern Front upon learning of the plot's failure.
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Ernst Franz Sedgwick Hanfstaengl was a German American businessman and close friend of Adolf Hitler. He eventually fell out of favour with Hitler and defected from Nazi Germany to the United States. He later worked for Franklin D. Roosevelt and was once engaged to the author Djuna Barnes.
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Dragon's Teeth is a 1942 novel by Upton Sinclair that won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1943. Set in the period 1929 to 1934, it covers the Nazi takeover of Germany during the 1930s.
Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi regime engaged in resistance, including attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler or to overthrow his regime.
The following events occurred in May 1941:
Wide is the Gate is the fourth novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1943, the story covers the period from 1934 to 1937.
Presidential Agent is the fifth novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1944, the story covers the period from 1937 to 1938.
Dragon Harvest is the sixth novel in Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series. First published in 1945, the story covers the period from 1939 to 1940.
The War That Came Early is a six-novel series by Harry Turtledove depicting an alternate history of World War II. As is typical of Turtledove's alternate histories, the narrative follows a large cast of both fictional and historical characters.
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position until 1941, when he flew solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate the United Kingdom's exit from the Second World War. He was taken prisoner and eventually convicted of crimes against peace. He was still serving his life sentence at the time of his suicide in 1987.
The following events occurred in June 1934:
The following events occurred in September 1934:
The following events occurred in September 1938:
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