From the most fascinating characters to the bloodiest battles and decisive turning points of the Second World War, We Have Ways of Making You Talk: New Histories of The Second World War brings the energy and insight of James Holland and Al Murray's chart-topping podcast to the page.

From El Alamein to Barbarossa, from the war in China to the ruins of Stalingrad, this book draws on the latest pioneering academic research to rethink how the war was fought - and why it unfolded the way it did. This is World War II as you haven't read it before: vivid, forensic and alive with debate.

Composed from James and Al's detailed show notes, this is essential reading for anyone who thinks they know the Second World War - and for those who want to know it better.

Experience the darkest hours and narrow escapes of Dunkirk, the perilous Arctic convoys of the North Cape, the devastation of Hamburg, and discover the one thing that genuinely terrified Winston Churchill. As with the podcast, the focus is on the overlooked, the misunderstood and the rarely told - the details that change how we understand the conflict as a whole.

Composed from James and Al's detailed show notes, this is essential reading for anyone who thinks they know the Second World War - and for those who want to know it better.

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including most recently The Savage Storm and Cassino '44, he is also the author of ten works of fiction and a dozen Ladybird Experts. He is the co-founder of the annual Chalke Valley History Festival which is now in its twelfth year, and he has presented - and written - many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic and the History and Discovery channels.

Al Murray's alter ego, The Pub Landlord, is one of the most recognizable and successful comic creations of the past twenty years, and Murray, who has won numerous awards and accolades, continues to fill arenas and theatres around the world. He is also the author of many successful books including Watching War Films with My Dad and Command, a sharply entertaining analysis of the key allied military leaders in the Second World War.

Goalhanger is the UK's largest independent podcast producer and the biggest outside the US - creating chart-topping, story-first shows across history, politics, sport, business, entertainment, culture, and audio drama.
Goalhanger's shows include The Rest Is History, The Rest Is Politics, Empire, The Rest Is Entertainment, The Rest Is Politics: US, Leading, The Rest Is Money, Journey Through Time, The Rest Is Football, Sherlock & Co., The Rest Is Classified, The Rest Is Football: Daly Brightness, and We Have Ways of Making You Talk.

Goalhanger reach tens of millions each month across long-form audio, video, and live events - with over 400 million downloads in 2024, and more than 1 billion lifetime streams.