A new history of the hitherto inexplicable Dieppe raid of 1942 and its true purpose.
Professor David O'Keefe, a former officer in the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment of Canada) is an award-winning historian, author, film-maker and leading authority on Canadian military historical research. He currently teaches history at Marianopolis College in Quebec.
A fast-paced and convincing book ... that clears up decades of
misinformation about the ignoble raid
*Toronto Star*
A lively and readable account
*The Spectator*
Magnificent and engrossing, this is a deep dive into one of the
most fascinating and clandestine mysteries, which O'Keefe has
cracked open. With extensive research, he produces a captivating
and revealing narrative full of intricate detail and written in an
accessible and flowing manner. Much of the information is new and I
can safely say this will appeal to those interested in history, in
particular, that of WWII, and those who find strange and enduring
mysteries compelling. A compulsive, informative and eminently
readable book, One Day in August is a multilayered and deeply
thrilling expose.
*The Book Doctor*
[A] fine book ... well-written and well-researched
*Washington Times*
Simply put - One Day in August is a game-changer. David O'Keefe
makes a bold claim about the real purpose of the Dieppe raid but
does so with eloquence and clarity. Through his masterful analysis
of thousands of pages of documents and sources, he builds a
compelling case that finally answers our questions about the events
of August 1942.
*Paul Woodadge, WW2TV*
A must-read if one is to really understand the Dieppe raid.
*Julian Thompson*
Based on extensive original research ... O'Keefe's landmark new
book presents a new and original explanation of what happened on
that fateful August day in 1942.
*The Globe and Mail (Best Book)*
Highly original and bracingly revisionist, One Day in August is
that rare book that is able to say something new about something so
familiar. Based on extensive research in official records in Canada
and Britain, many of them previously undiscovered or
long-forgotten, One Day in August is historical writing at its
best: engrossing, revealing, and enlightening.
*Citation, RBC Taylor Prize*
O'Keefe has definitely made the biggest breakthrough of the last
twenty years in our understanding of the raid ... His principal
research achievement is to have kept digging in the British
archives with such persistence that the keepers of the British
code-breaking secrets conceded that there was no point holding back
the remaining records linking Bletchley Park, Ian Fleming and the
Dieppe raid.
*Peter Henshaw, Dieppe scholar and intelligence analyst, Privy
Council Office*
In the same way that intelligence in the Second World War had to be
based on multiple sources rather than a single thunderclap moment
or dramatic source, David has built this case through a whole
series of small pieces of evidence ... [He] has certainly changed
our view of Dieppe into the future; he has added a new dimension
that we really weren't aware of before.
*Stephen Prince, Head, Naval Historical Branch, Royal Navy*
The most important work on the [Dieppe] raid since it occurred in
1942.
*Rocky Mountain Outlook*
O'Keefe tells a masterful story of the intrigue and cryptology
behind the fighting forces ... I will be among the first to say
that any subsequent book on Dieppe or Ultra intelligence will have
to take into account his stunning new research and bold claims ...
For years, popular histories were derided, especially by academics,
as all story and no analysis, and for offering few new
contributions to understanding the past. But that seems to be
changing in recent years, as the best popularizers find new hooks
and angles for their histories, and employ new evidence - usually
oral histories, or, in O'Keefe's case, deep archival research - in
innovative and revealing ways.
*The Globe and Mail*
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