“From the very first sentence, this is a gripping tale that illuminates the critical transition from World War II into the Atomic Age. Exhaustively documented, this book is a treasure for the amateur and professional historian alike.”

—David Wood, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist

“A textual Bayeux Tapestry, Philip Padgett’s panorama is a mesmerizing tale of how in 1943 Franklin Roosevelt rebuffed Winston Churchill’s passion for an exclusively Mediterranean campaign and authorized instead the Anglo-American amphibious assault on Normandy of June 6, 1944, meanwhile limiting British participation in development of the atomic bomb.”

—Kenneth J. Hagan, professor of history and museum director emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy

“Padgett has provided us with an excellent, extremely insightful study of the pivotal negotiations during 1943 that determined whether and how the fledgling Anglo-American alliance would solidify to make a significant contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany and go on to provide the basis for post-war western security.”

—Richard H. Harding, professor of organizational history at the University of Westminster and coeditor of Naval Leadership in the Atlantic World: The Age of Revolution and Reform, 1700–1850

“Even those well versed in the history of the war will find much to ponder here, including the entanglement of Operation Overlord, the American effort to exclude the British from participation in the building of the atomic bomb, and the final transformation of America’s international role, away from ‘hemispheric defense’ and toward enduring global engagement.”

—Daniel Moran, professor of international and military history in the Department of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and coeditor of Maritime Strategy and Global Security

“Philip Padgett has provided a novel roadmap for tracing this familiar story. His Advocating Overlord is evocatively written and grounded in authoritative research in British and U.S. sources; it offers an intriguing thesis regarding the nexus of issues that led to Operation Overlord.”

—Theodore A. Wilson, professor emeritus of history at the University of Kansas

“Very well written and very well researched in British and American archival and manuscript materials as well as published works, Philip Padgett’s Advocating Overlord provides a detailed analysis of the Anglo-American disagreements over both European strategy and atomic sharing during World War II. In doing so it offers a provocative, fascinating reinterpretation of the relationship between the two disputes.”

—Mark A. Stoler, editor of the George C. Marshall Papers and professor emeritus of history at the University of Vermont