The Real Heroes of Telemark sets out to correct the mythology created in the 1965 war film The Heroes of Telemark, which was about an actual Norwegian sabotage mission during World War II, considered to be one of the most audacious, and successful, special operations raids of the war. The book is a companion to a 2.5 hour BBC documentary from 2003 of the same name. The book and documentary are very different so it's best to watch the show first then read the book. The book is a more traditional narrative history while the video is a present-day re-enactment of the raid. I actually was able to follow the basic events easier in the documentary, while the book has a lot more detail. The neat thing about the documentary is it includes footage of the actual people involved, now in their 80s and 90s, as well as the locations which have not changed at all.

This is an exciting story, but also a very important one since it stopped the Nazi ambitions to build an atomic bomb. Given current events in Iran with assassinations of nuclear scientists, it's also very topical, though the geography between Iran and Norway couldn't be more different (nor are Iran = Nazis). I also learned a lot about the Hardangervidda, a geographic region in southern Norway characterized by alpine tundra, and how to live in Arctic conditions. ( )