Being that this year (2025) marks the 80^th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II, and just days ago, we recently surpassed the 80^th anniversary of the Japanese surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri on September 2^nd, 1945. Across the United States and the World, commemorations of these important milestones have been underway to honor the sacrifices of the past and reaffirm the enduring legacy of the struggle to overcome the imperial ambitions of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan. Not to be outdone in this effort, scholars, journalists, and historians have been hard at work drafting, editing, and publishing new articles and books to offer the public fresh insights at a moment when many are searching for meaning.

Among the most recent contributions is Victory ’45: The End of the War in Eight Surrenders, released on April 24, 2025, by acclaimed historians James Holland and Al Murray. Their work provides a meaningful interpretation of the war’s closing chapters, arriving just as anniversary commemorations began and public appetite for historical reflection grew. The purpose of this review is to examine the authors’ backgrounds, outline their thesis, consider the book’s structure and presentation, and evaluate its overall contribution to the literature.

In terms of background, the authors bring very different backgrounds to their collaboration. The backgrounds of both authors can be described as being as diverse as their shared goal to interpret the surrender of Germans, Italians, and Japanese from eight separate stories. James Holland appears to represent the traditional heavyweight, as James Holland is “an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster.”[1]

According to Victoria Brown, Holland’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts in History from St. Chad’s College of Durham University, which he earned in 1992.[2] Holland’s repertoire of published works includes such titles as Casino ’44: The Brutal Battle for Rome, Big Week: The Biggest Air Battle of World War Two, and Normandy '44: D-Day and the Battle for France, to name but a few of the several titles he has published. Holland has also appeared on television and radio, and “has written and presented the BAFTA-shortlisted documentaries, Battle of Britain and Dam Busters for the BBC,” as well as “the Battle for Malta, Cold War, Hot Jets, and Normandy 44.”[3]

Al Murray’s background, by contrast, differs immensely, as Ciara Fitzgerald noted he was “a stalwart of British comedy, and is best known for his stage persona ‘The Pub Landlord,’ a satirical character that has become a staple of UK entertainment over the past 30 years.”[4] Yet his background is not without historical credentials, as he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from St Edmund Hall, Oxford, which he earned in 1987. As to Murray’s historical literary background, it includes Arnhem: Black Tuesday.

Lastly, another notable aspect of Murray’s historical background is that he is also a co-host on a popular World War II podcast, "We Have Ways of Making You Talk," with James Holland.[5] While Murray brings a more unconventional approach, his training and collaboration with Holland position him as a bridge between rigorous scholarship and popular accessibility.

In terms of backgrounds, where Holland represents the traditional “heavyweight” military historian, with award-winning books and documentaries to his name, Murray approaches the subject from an unconventional angle as a comedian and satirist. Yet both share formal training in history and a passion for making the Second World War accessible to broad audiences, as demonstrated by their joint podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Together, Holland and Murray combine two different strengths: academic rigor and public engagement. This makes their joint effort in Victory ’45 both unusual and potentially powerful, particularly for readers seeking meaning in the lead-up to and in the wake of the major 80^th anniversaries of 2025.

Concerning the work under review, the authors’ thesis is presented in the Prologue on pages 11 and 12. Holland and Murray argue that the Allied insistence on unconditional surrender was the defining principle of the war’s conclusion. While debates have long continued over whether this policy prolonged the conflict, both during and long after the conflict, they contend that it offered moral clarity and forged unity among the Allies, in a time when just the opposite had already occurred in the wake of the complicated surrender of Vichy France. As it stood in the wake of the Casablanca Conference, the message was stark: Italy, Germany, and Japan must yield completely, leaving the terms of peace entirely in Allied hands.[6] By framing victory through this lens, the authors set the stage for their exploration of the war’s end not as a single event but as a sequence of eight distinct surrenders, each embodying the Allies’ demand for total capitulation.

In terms of the surrenders they cover, the book opens with the surrender in Berlin on May 2^nd, 1945, and this story is covered in a single chapter. The next surrender they write about spans the length of two chapters and focuses on the surrender in Italy on May 2^nd, 1945. These two chapters follow the rivalry between two high-ranking Nazi SS officers, Karl Wolff and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, as they both attempt to save their own skins in the post-war atmosphere and be the one to negotiate a German surrender with Allen Dulles, the Allies' peace envoy in nearby neutral Switzerland. The subsequent three surrenders follow the German surrender to General Montgomery on May 4^th, 1945, the German surrender in Southern Germany on May 5^th, 1945, and the German surrender to General Eisenhower in Reims on May 6-7, 1945. Each surrender receives its own chapter, and another two chapters are dedicated to a follow-on surrender in Berlin on May 9^th, 1945.

The book then shifts from the six battlefield surrenders and pauses to take in the celebration of the victories in Europe on the home front. It does this by devoting separate chapters to VE Day in London and VE Day in America, and contrasts the public celebrations with the political ceremonies of Winston Churchill and President Truman. After this pause, the book returns to the battlefield surrenders, but this time with a focus on the Pacific, with the initial Japanese surrender on August 15^th, 1945, and the formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri on September 2^nd, 1945.

The structure and presentation of Holland's and Murray’s narrative provide the reader with a clear, event-driven framework that is easy to follow and emphasizes the numerous surrenders that occurred. The narrative benefits from its presentation of the political and military actors, as well as the common individuals on the ground, from a young female translator in Soviet military intelligence to a liberated Jewish-Czech teen and Jewish-American combat infantrymen of the American military. Each one of these stories are masterfully woven into the overall narrative and helps provide a moment of relevance and tenderness to the wider events. In short, Holland and Murray had managed to succeed in their overall goal of providing the reader both meaning and depth, and illustrating how each of these surrenders embodied the Allies' demands for unconditional surrender.

With that said, although it is rather early to tell what sort of legacy Victory ’45 will have on the literature on the subject, what is abundantly clear is that the work’s current contribution places it more in the realm of synthesis than of original scholarship. Holland and Murray do not claim to present new archival discoveries, nor do they state that they are advancing a revisionist thesis. Instead, their achievement lies in assembling existing scholarship and personal expertise into a coherent, accessible narrative designed for a broad readership. This emphasis on clarity and storytelling makes the book valuable for the general public, though specialists may find little that is unfamiliar in its pages.

This achievement is easily recognizable as even journalist and author Douglass K. Daniel of  Kill —Do Not Release: Censored Marine Corps Stories from World War II noted in his own review that Victory ’45 wasn’t written to simply target WWII enthusiasts, but was written to “illustrates for those with a broader historical interest the myriad challenges in bringing to heel the dogs of war,” and “neatly explains 80 years later why in war as well as sports, “It ain’t over’ til it’s over.”[7] All in all, the work itself is easy to read and flows rather nicely.

Despite this, however, the work does contain a few notable absences that leave it open to criticism. One such criticism is Victory ‘45’s heavy focus on the surrenders in Europe. A point which journalist Mark Yost noted in his own review published in the Dow Jones Institutional News, as he stated that the authors succeed in “finding much to tell in the lesser surrenders, although they are mostly through a European lens.”[8] Despite this, the authors do succeed in telling a balanced narrative by providing a fair treatment of the German perspective against the Western Allies' perspective.

Which is all well and good, but given the heavy focus on Europe, there is a noticeable lack of the Soviet perspective, which, given their contribution to assisting in the capitulation of Germany, seems to be only lightly discussed in comparison to the Western Allies' contribution. The two chapters dedicated to the surrender in Berlin on May 9^th, 1945, were strong; but there was no equivalent set of stories from the soviet political leaders’ perspective, equivalent to the Western Allies, nor was there a chapter dedicated to Moscow’s VE celebration. Lastly, the final bit of criticism that is present within the work is its light focus on the surrender of Japan and the war in the Pacific in comparison to the author's focus on the surrenders in Europe. While solid, these sections lacked the richness of detail found in Europe. Notably absent is the story of the Japanese surrender delegation’s flight to Manila (August 19–20, 1945), when U.S. bomber and fighter escorts guided Japanese diplomats to meet General MacArthur. Although it is a lesser-known story, it was still a significant episode in the surrender story of Japan.

Ultimately, despite the criticism of its distinctly Western and European Theatre of Operation focus, Holland and Murray’s Victory ’45 succeeds as a work of popular history that bridges academic rigor with accessibility. While specialists may find limited new archival revelations, the book’s comparative treatment of the war’s closing chapters through the eyes of eight surrenders offers a fresh narrative structure that illuminates the complexity of victory. Released in advance of the 80^th anniversaries, it stands as both a timely commemoration and a reminder of the human costs behind the Allied triumph. Time will tell its larger historiographical impact, but for now it stands as a welcome addition to the growing literature interpreting World War II for new generations.

Bibliography

“Al Murray.” Penguin Books. Accessed September 15, 2025. https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/305659/al-murray.

Brown, Victoria. “James Holland – Historian and Author.” St. Chad’s College: Durham. May 2, 2017. https://www.stchads.ac.uk/alumniposts/james-holland-historian-author/.

Douglass K., Daniel, “Book Review: 'Victory ‘45’ Chronicles the Long, Winding Road to Ending WWII.” The Canadian Press, Jul 28, 2025. ProQuest.

Fitzgerald, Ciara. “Al Murray.” The Chiswick Calendar. July 2024. https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/al-murray-comedian-and-historian/.

Holland, James and Al Murray. Victory ’45: The End of the War in Eight Surrenders. New York, NY: Atlantic Press, 2025.

“James Holland.” Penguin Books. Accessed September 15, 2025. https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/43111/james-holland.

Yost, Mark. Victory '45' Review: Racing to Surrender." Dow Jones Institutional News, Aug 20, 2025. ProQuest

[1] “James Holland,” Penguin Books, accessed September 15, 2025, https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/43111/james-holland.

[2] Victoria Brown, “James Holland – Historian and Author,” St. Chad’s College: Durham, May 2, 2017, https://www.stchads.ac.uk/alumniposts/james-holland-historian-author/.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ciara Fitzgerald, “Al Murray,” The Chiswick Calendar, July 2024, https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/al-murray-comedian-and-historian/.

[5] “Al Murray,” Penguin Books, accessed September 15, 2025, https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/305659/al-murray.

[6] James Holland and Al Murray, Victory ’45: The End of the War in Eight Surrenders, (New York, NY: Atlantic Press, 2025), 12.

[7] Daniel Douglass K., “Book Review: 'Victory ‘45’ Chronicles the Long, Winding Road to Ending WWII,” The Canadian Press, Jul 28, 2025, ProQuest.

[8] Mark Yost, “Victory '45' Review: Racing to Surrender," Dow Jones Institutional News, Aug 20, 2025, ProQuest.