Three Days at the Brink: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win World War II

From the #1 bestselling author of Three Days in Moscow and anchor of Fox News Channel’s Special Report with Bret Baier, a gripping history of the secret meeting that set the stage for victory in World War II—the now-forgotten 1943 Tehran Conference, where Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin plotted the war's endgame, including the D-Day invasion.

November 1943: World War II teetered in the balance. The Nazis controlled nearly all of the European continent. Japan dominated the Pacific. Allied successes at Sicily and Guadalcanal had gained modest ground but at an extraordinary cost. On the Eastern Front, the Soviets had already lost millions of lives.

That same month in Tehran, with the fate of the world in question, the "Big Three"—Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin—secretly met for the first time to chart a strategy for defeating Hitler. Over three days, this trio—strange bedfellows united by their mutual responsibility as heads of the Allied powers—made essential decisions that would direct the final years of the war and its aftermath. Meanwhile, looming over the covert meeting was the possible threat of a Nazi assassination plot nicknamed "Operation Long Jump," heightening the already dramatic stakes.

Before they left Tehran, the three leaders agreed to open a second front in the West, spearheaded by an invasion of France at Normandy the following June. They also discussed what might come after the war, including dividing Germany and establishing the United Nations—plans that laid the groundwork for the postwar world order and the Cold War.

Bret Baier’s new epic history Three Days at the Brink centers on these crucial days in Tehran, the medieval Persian city on the edge of the desert. Baier makes clear the importance of Roosevelt, who stood apart as the sole leader of a democracy, recognizing him as the lead strategist for the globe’s future—the one man who could ultimately allow or deny the others their place in history. With new details found in rarely seen transcripts, oral histories, and declassified State Department and presidential documents from the FDR Library, Baier illuminates the complex character of Roosevelt, revealing a man who grew into his role and accepted the greatest calling of the last century.

Weaving a fresh narrative of FDR’s rise as a war president and his world-altering relationships with Churchill and Stalin during the decisive turning point in World War II, Baier has produced the biggest book yet in his acclaimed Three Days series.

“Highly readable. ... Dramatic. ... Compelling.” - Publishers Weekly

“A fascinating story, dramatically written. … Baier recreates [the Tehran Conference] vividly.” - Booklist

“An exciting, moment by moment account of the Tehran Conference and its aftermath. Well-researched and highly readable.” - SELWA "LUCKY" ROOSEVELT, former Chief of Protocol for the Reagan Administration

“Bret Baier’s Three Days at the Brink gives us an exciting, moment by moment account of the Tehran Conference and its aftermath. Much of this well-researched and highly readable book is devoted to FDR and his leadership role in the three-day historic meeting, where he persuaded Stalin and a reluctant Churchill to agree to the daring strategy he advocated—i.e. the cross-channel invasion of Europe which ultimately defeated Hitler and won the Second World War.” - SELWA “LUCKY” ROOSEVELT, former Chief of Protocol for the Reagan Administration

“Fascinating and intriguing. Three Days at the Brink is a compelling account of FDR’s political life and career. This book, along with Bret Baier’s two prior works, distinguishes him as not only a renowned journalist but a superb storyteller and historian.  Americans can learn much from Bret Baier and his latest gem.” - MARK R. LEVIN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Unfreedom of the Press

“[A] fascinating narrative that doubles as a political portrait of FDR and a history of the momentous Tehran conference at which FDR reached agreement with Churchill and Stalin on grand strategy against Germany…Three Days at the Brink—along with Baier’s books on Eisenhower and Reagan—will be widely read and discussed, and prove to be must reading for everyone interested in political biography, history, World War II, postwar history, and in public affairs today.” - —DAVID EISENHOWER, Director, the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Public Service, and author of Eisenhower: At War, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History

“In his monumental new book about one of history’s most epic events, Bret Baier has outdone himself yet again. I could not put this extraordinary book down. Three Days at the Brink is a masterpiece: elegantly written, brilliantly conceived, and impeccably researched. This book not only sparkles but is destined to be a classic!” - JAY WINIK, New York Times bestselling author of 1944 and April 1865

“Bret Baier’s Three Days at the Brink is a riveting reevaluation of how the Big Three leaders FDR, Churchill, and Stalin collaborated to win World War II for the Allies and then created a Cold War superpower global order. With characteristic intellectual verve and brilliant analysis, Baier allows readers to freshly understand how the Tehran Conference shaped world history. Essential reading by a first-rate storyteller!” - DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, professor of history at Rice University and author of American Moonshot and Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America

“Riveting. With characteristic intellectual verve and brilliant analysis, Bret Baier allows readers to freshly understand how the Tehran Conference shaped world history. Essential reading by a first-rate storyteller!” - DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, professor of history at Rice Unviersity and author of American Moonshot and Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America

“In this brisk, readable and compelling book, Bret Baier takes us into a crucial period of World War II and calls our attention to an important hinge of world history.” - MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, New York Times bestselling author of Presidents of War

“In the past three years, Bret Baier, perhaps America’s top newscaster, has become one of America’s best historians as well. Three Days at the Brink is a fascinating narrative that doubles as a political portrait of FDR and a history of the momentous Tehran conference. Must reading.” - DAVID EISENHOWER, Director, the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Public Service, and author of Eisenhower: At War, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History

"Important. ... [Baier has] the writer's gift of narrative, and the reporter's attention to factual detail. ... A well-told, highly readable, and accurate account of the involvement of our nation in one of those crucial moments that determine the course of world history." - Washington Times