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Price: $22.00 - $12.03
(as of Aug 09, 2024 10:14:34 UTC – Details)
By: Erik Larson (Author)
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author…
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
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Wendy Heffington Rahman –
An incredible insight into WW2 from Churchill’s perspective
This factual story pulled me in from the dry beginning. I expected it to be a bit dry because it is nonfiction, but I was so wrong. I couldn’t put it down. I thought I knew a lot about the blitz, I was wrong. This is a powerful book and well worth the read!
MK –
So much I never knew!
Full of wonderful stories, descriptions, real and brave people and their private lives, struggles, and personal triumphs. Thank you, Erik Larson, for another incredible book. You remain my all-time favorite!
Stephanie W.B. –
Outstanding biography of Churchill’s first year as Prime Minister, during WWII’s “The Blitz”
Outstanding biographical portrait of Winston Churchill’s first year as Prime Minister of Great Britain. This is also the year of “The Blitz”: the Nazi Germany Luftwaffe’s sustained air attack of Great Britain-specifically England and Scotland. While all of England and parts of Scotland were bombed, London, as the capital of England, sustained constant devastating bombing. Larson’s book describes Winston Churchill’s experience by using the words and stories of his family, friends, employees, political allies and enemies, and interestingly, his war allies and enemies. Larson is able to provide a detailed portrait of Great Britain’s first year at war, from the details of Britain’s Exploratory Forces and the evacuation at Dunkirk to the defeat at Tofrek and finally, the presence of the United States in the war, from the transfer of 50 ships of questionable value in return for the use of Great Britain’s naval bases to the emergence of Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease program, until finally, the entrance of the U.S. in the war as after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Post Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and Germany, as part of the Axis powers: Germany, Italy, and Japan, declared war on the United States. One of the most interesting details about the book is that Larson ends the book just as the U.S. enters the war.Although the book is well-documented non-fiction, it reads like a novel. The impressions that present in form of dialogue documented in published papers and books in addition to quotations from the diaries and journals of Churchill’s family and subordinates as well as the recorded wartime impressions from more both famous literary figures and more ordinary Englishpeople.Larson does an excellent job detailing the nuances of numerous relationships in the book without making the book overly complicated or confusing. The way he chronicles Churchill’s courtship of Roosevelt is fascinating; as are the relationships of Pamela Digby Churchill (Harriman), his daughter cinemas, who carried out an affair with W. Averell Harriman, Roosevelt’s special envoy to Churchill and subsequently, Station. (In a fascinating turn of events, Pamela and Harriman end up marrying each other much later in life). Detailed portrayals of the people surrounding Churchill are fascinating, and Larson explores Churchill’s relationships with the people surrounding him, rather like planets orbiting the sun. Winston Churchill, who carried the weight of Great Britain (and some would say the free world) during WWIi, was an interesting, complex, and brilliant man, though certainly flawed. As a leader, he roseto a challenge that seemed insurmountable. Churchill had the ability to inspire people that few could match. Extraordinarily, this ability was perhaps matched by one of his contemporaries, F.D.R. Without these two men as leaders during WWII, it is questionable whether democracy would have prevailed at the conclusion of the war. Erik Larson’s The Splendid and Vile captures his subject, Winston Churchill, in a brilliant and interesting way. I highly recommend this book.
Review –
intriguing
A wonderful historical novel that captures the man and leader Churchill was for the UK during WWII – moves fast and gain a clear understanding of the times and people.
Ellen Bob –
engrossing, as always
Mr. Larson bring to life characters I have only known through history books. And introduces characters I never knew existedâ¦.Lord Beaverbrook, being only one of many. The details and nuances are utterly fascinating. A must read if you like history.
J. Groen –
Great History of the First Year of Churchill’s Prime Minister Role
This is a great history of the first year of the role of Winston Churchill as prime minister of Great Britain from May 1940 to May 1941. These were desperate times for Great Britain, and Winston Churchill led the country through this and ultimately to victory in WWII. This book tells the story of the ups of downs of this period focusing on him, his family and the Nazis. This is highly recommended. It is a great, interesting history.
Paul Stusiak –
This is a well told story with some new aspects that I haven’t seen before.This is a story that has been told many times, of the events to knock Great Britain out of WW II using air power – The Blitz as it has been described. I’ve read a good number of books on this topic as well as most of the major sources around Winston Churchill. I was pleased to see a new view of the historic events described from a different perspective with several story arcs tying the facts to what people were experiencing.The story mostly focuses on those close to Churchill with some additional material from diarists and minor embellishment to the facts around some of the many lives lost – much more interesting to get some minor feel for a person than to learn of their death as another number.I enjoyed finding that the title comes from paraphrasing a diarist’s entry and it was fun to find it and remember reading their memoirs many years ago.It builds on works previously published, using first source material and keeping the major events in place while adding a new look at some of the more mundane aspects of life to deliver a story that shows the ordinary and extraordinary coexisting against the backdrop of war. The sources, bibliography and index were excellent.Despite the many story arcs presented, I had no problem keeping it straight over the intermittent reading of the story.A very satisfying read.
Jano –
I enjoyed so much to read. It has been a pleasure time to invest in this reading, I personally believe W.Churchill was a true leader that saves England to be defeated.
Ann McG –
This book gives a day by day account of the workings of Downing Street through the early years of WW2. It is fascinating in its detailed descriptions of momentous decisions and despite the horrors it recounts of the nightly bombing raids on London, Coentry, Liverpool, Bristol, Plymouth it also gives context to people going about their daily lives.Mister Churchill has a central role in this account naturally, but other characters are very well depicted also, eg his youngest daughter Mary, one of his secretaries John Colville, Mr Beaverbrook, who filled many different roles.A German perspective of the planned invasion of Britain is also well documented as is the essential part played by the US prior to December 1941.Facts and figures of casualties, aerial bonbardments and bonb damage, advances in weaponry are all there and add to the sense of horror, determination to endure and will to overcome such adversity.I truly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone interested in this period. It manages very well to bring it to life.