#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis “One of [Erik Larson’s] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.”—Time • “A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest … performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • Vogue • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • The Globe & Mail • Fortune • Bloomberg • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMatters
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.
In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” 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, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.
The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.
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Another outstanding Non Fiction book by Larsen. This one is about bombing of London and Churchill.
Insight into the mind and times of those involved. Held my interest from start to finish
If you at all like history, you will enjoy this book.
Erik Larson does his homework. There was so much information packed into this book – and still it was totally readable, not some dry, fusty account of a monumental time of our lives.
This is the third Eric Larson book. I very much enjoyed this one. My only complaint is his portrayal of Churchill. Churchill’s idiosyncracies are well known. (We all have them.) Larson does little to really portray what Churchill did daily and how he accomplished getting England through the first year of the war. I did appreciate Larson’s portrayal of Churchill’s tenderness and how difficult it was for him to see what was happening to London and his people.
All in all a good book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in that particular part of English history.
A true story that reads like a novel. One of Larson’s best.
I love history and reading Erik Larson’s books, but this one lulled me to sleep. I couldn’t stay awake to finish it. Sorry, Erik.
Excellent introduction to Churchill family and how England handled Nazi bombing of London and how Churchill encouraged U.S. entry into WW II. Larson is a fine writer. Want to read more biographies of Churchill family.
Most WWII diaries are worth reading just because of the sobering subject matter, but Larson’s tome is exceptionally good. If you read this book along with Jon Meacham’s strong bio, “Franklin and Winston,” you’ll get two fine and parallel accounts of the war’s early years.
Larson is especially poignant as he describes how England had a singular trust in their colorful Prime Minister during the war years and how Churchill inspired the empire.
Franklin Roosevelt had sent Averill Harriman over to England as his emissary, as America was still on the sidelines but inching toward the Allied cause. There’s a scene where Harriman listens to a stirring Churchill speech exhorting his nation to stay courageous. He then writes FDR a personal letter, “marveling at ‘the extent to which the faith and hopes for the future of the people here are bound up in America AND IN YOU PERSONALLY.” What a sobering thing it must be for a leader to know that millions of anxious people need for him to be noble and right and true.
Naturally the same was true of Churchill as well. His daughter Mary once wrote in her diary: “Never have I seen such courage – love – cheerfulness and confidence expressed as by the people [of bombed-out Swansea] today. Wherever he went they swarmed around Papa – clasping his hand – patting him on the back – shouting his name.” The author adds: “She found it very moving, but also disconcerting. ‘”It is rather frightening how terribly they depend on him,’ she wrote.”
Just a few pages later Churchill attended a graduation ceremony at Bristol University, where fires caused by Nazi incendiary bombs were literally still burning. Graduates rushed into the hall with their gowns covering up damp fire-fighting clothes. Churchill gave out degrees and offered a stirring impromptu speech about courage. Then the prime minister’s entourage went back to the battered train station for the ride back to London.
“As the train departed, Churchill waved at the crowd from the windows, and kept waving until the train was out of sight. Then, reaching for a newspaper, he sat back and raised the paper to mask his tears. ‘They have such confidence,’ he said. ‘It is a grave responsibility.’” That’s true leadership: empathy to the point of tears for the brave citizens you are commanded to protect.
This book has stayed on the Top Ten list for a long while, and deservedly so.
This seventeen hour audio book was the perfect companion on a cross country drive. Churchill’s bravery, determination, and leadership rang through as did the efforts of his wife, Clementine, to not only support her husband, but to guide and support the lives of their daughter, Mary, and their daughter-in-law Pamela in light of their son’s disappointing ways. The fact that every detail of this hefty book was drawn from letters and journal accounts, contributes to the authentic voices and development of the characters. A splendid work of weaving together what must have been volumes and volumes of research. Reading about a great leader during a time of national crisis was aptly poignant. The humility, humor, and resolve on display in this book served of a reminder of what could be. It is also a reminder of the way life goes on in the midst of even a blitz, something the history books fail to make note of. Inspiration at I time when I really needed it.
Larsen is a master story teller and I was impressed with the way he detailed Churchill’s response to the unfolding crisis of World War II. It was both informative and compelling.
Easy reading of relatively complex history
I was impressed by the young people of London trying to have a “normal” life duting the blitz.
Military and political elements centering on real people in the real world by a writer who always makes it seem easy.
Another home run by my favorite author.
I wholeheartedly enjoyed reading this history. This is a nonfiction look at Winston Churchill and those around him during the Blitz and Battle of Britain during World War II. The author relied on the diary of one of Churchill’s aides and memoirs of his daughters and daughter-in-law. Churchill l was shown to be the perfect , if quirky, man fo the time.
Reading books by Erik Larsen are like actually being there. I learned a lot about the events of WWII. Very interesting and informative.
Takes the reader into London during the “Blitz” to experience what it was like at the time and understand what Churchill was facing both politically and personally.
Best book that I read all year!
I was a teenager in 1940, the time at which the book begins. I remember a lot from that time but Eric Larson reveals much of the Inside truth of what was happening with Churchill Nd England that I found fascinating.