The Splendid and the Vile

This well-written book taught me a great deal about WW2. I especially appreciated learning more about Mary Churchill, Winston’s youngest daughter, who was seventeen at the start of the war. The author obtained access to her diaries, and he quotes from them often, so I got a feel for the life of a young woman in society during wartime. Mary had a conscience and good insights and became a main character in this historical book.

It’s not a novel, but at times it reads like one.  

This fast-moving telling of Winston Churchill’s first year as prime minister proved invaluable in helping me understand the initial phase of World War II and of Britain’s need for a reluctant America to become a full-fledged ally.

The granular details Erik Larson serves up about Churchill, his loved ones, and well-known political figures during Germany’s 1940-1941 air bombing of Britain are especially delicious. Larson treats readers to conversations pulled from diaries, letters, memoirs, and other historical documents and weaves them into a seamless narrative that compelled me to keep turning pages.

In Larson’s skilled hands, l was the unseen guest… show more.

As close as anyone can come to describing how it was to be in London during the Blitz without actually being there. That, together with both the anguish and the satisfaction that Churchill must have felt.

Halfway through, the title explains the contrast between the vileness of the firebombing of London and the beauty of the world. Bits of his oratory sprinkle the pages, as do a few of Churchill’s quirks.

The image of Roosevelt entering Churchill's room at the White House and then spending the next hour strategizing over the war while a completely naked Churchill walked about with… show more.

Erik Larson’s highly readable, page-turning treatment of one of history’s most enigmatic figures—Winston Churchill—during his “Finest Hour” makes us pause and reflect just how consequential one man can be. Yet Larson’s true triumph is how he showcased the people around Churchill, showing the reader how any of us can bravely rise to the occasion.

Erik Larson’s love letter to Winston Churchill’s leadership during the early years of WWII is beautifully written. The book includes lots of the prime minister’s eccentricities, odd work habits, and moments of genius—particularly with morale-boosting speeches—but also includes lots of details of wartime life for his upper-crust companions, members of his team, and other politicians. Although the book doesn’t include any of Churchill’s less admirable traits or actions, it’s an excellent book that was hard to put down.

Erik Larsen’s suspense-filled narrative puts the reader in the center of the action during the London Blitz. Hitler had invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home. The story takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership. The fast pace and intensity of the action create an intimate portrait of Churchill and reveal the man behind the caricature. The… show more.