The Devils Will Get No Rest

FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War

James B. Conroy

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781982168698
• eBook ISBN:
  9781982168704
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Written with “a cinematic sense of urgency and realism” (Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author), this is the first full account of the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, the secret ten-day parlay in Morocco where FDR, Churchill, and their divided high command hammered out a winning strategy at the tipping point of World War II.

The Devils Will Get No Rest is a “vivid and engaging” (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize­­–winning author) character-driven account of the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, an Anglo-American clash over military strategy that produced a winning plan when World War II could have gone either way. Churchill called it the most important Allied conclave of the war. Until now, it has never been explored in a full-length book.

In a secret, no-holds-barred, ten-day debate in a Moroccan warzone, protected by British marines and elite American troops, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton Jr., Sir Alan Brooke, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Sir Harold Alexander, and their military peers questioned each other’s competence, doubted each other’s visions, and argued their way through choices that could win or lose the war. You will be treated to a master class in strategy by the legendary statesmen, generals, and admirals who overcame their differences, transformed their alliance from a necessity to a bond, forged a war-winning plan, and glimpsed the postwar world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Maps
• Dedication
• The Allied Military Cast at Casablanca
• Prelude
• Chapter One: Sibling Rivals
• Chapter Two: The Road to Casablanca
• Chapter Three: The Birth of the Casablanca Conference
• Chapter Four: The Gathering of the Tribes
• Chapter Five: Anfa Camp
• Chapter Six: Day One: Thursday, January 14
• Chapter Seven: Day Two: Friday, January 15
• Chapter Eight: Day Three: Saturday, January 16
• Chapter Nine: Day Four: Sunday, January 17
• Chapter Ten: Day Five: Monday, January 18
• Chapter Eleven: Day Six: Tuesday, January 19
• Chapter Twelve: Day Seven: Wednesday, January 20
• Chapter Thirteen: Day Eight: Thursday, January 21
• Chapter Fourteen: Day Nine: Friday, January 22
• Chapter Fifteen: Day Ten: Saturday, January 23
• Chapter Sixteen: The Denouement
• Chapter Seventeen: Marrakech
• Chapter Eighteen: Homeward Bound
• Aftermath
• Photographs
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Abbreviations and Short Titles Used in the Notes and Bibliography
• Notes
• Bibliography of Works Frequently Cited
• Index
• Photo Credits
• Copyright