Anyone who has hung around Lost Cowboy over the years knows I am a big fan of Winston Churchill and I have featured may books about him as my Weekly Reads in the past. You will also know one of my favorite authors in recent years is Erik Larson. So, you can imagine how much I was looking forward to Mr. Larson’s latest work, where he takes on the iconic leader at the height of his greatness: The Splendid and the Vile – A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz.
About The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson:
“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.”
There is not much new ground covered here, Churchill has more books written about him than anyone in history, but Mr. Larson’s is a superior storyteller and weaves together a narrative that makes the material fresh and the subjects he covers come to life beyond the history – as just regular people living their day-to-day lives in extraordinary times.
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson is available from Amazon and other fine booksellers everywhere.