The Splendid and the Vile : : a Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

Locations
Call Number: 940.542 La, Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / World War II / Larson, Erik
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

Bleak Expectations -- The Rising Threat -- A Certain Eventuality -- Dread -- Blood and Dust -- The Americans -- Love Amid the Flames -- One Year to the Day -- Epilogue.
"The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers a fresh and compelling portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, 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 the 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 cadre of close advisers who comprised Churchill's "Secret Circle," including his lovestruck private secretary, John Colville; newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook; and the Rasputin-like Frederick Lindemann. 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."-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Strongly recommended! Well deserved to be in the NYT top 100 books of the year. submitted by Tassos on December 25, 2021, 7:23pm Finished it and then looked up more details on the topic of Winston Churchill and his family.

Don't know when I read this, I had totally forgotten it. I am reading it again now and it does not feel like I read it before. Several things I did not know.

WWII and British buffs: Read This Book submitted by ekjensen on July 30, 2022, 6:33pm The book, it's long, is an amazing chronicle of the strong and stalwart Prime Minister Winston Churchill and British people during WWII and how they fought and held their ground against the evil Nazi regime, Hitler and his henchmen. Well researched and resourced!

Reading this is like reading a history textbook submitted by hiker15 on August 5, 2022, 2:24pm This book covers the time period from Churchill being named prime minister (May 1940) through the end of the blitz bombing campaign against England (May 1941) with a short epilogue. On the one hand it was well researched you learn a huge amount of inside information, on the other hand there is so very much minutiae that you probably don't care about {like Churchill's aide's love life and his daughter's thoughts and yearnings). While ultimately interesting, this book is definitely NOT a page-turner.

One thing that definitely would have helped with the reading is if there was a cast of characters page where it listed the main people and who they were. As it was, if you only read a bit at a time, after a couple of days you forget who the people were and you have to check the index and go back and reread the prior pages to remind yourself of who they were and how everyone fits together.

The Splendid and the Vile submitted by leighsprauer on May 6, 2023, 8:21am I can't remember why or how this book ended up on my list: I like history, and have read several books about World War II, but I'm not especially interested in politics or military strategy, and certainly not Winston Churchill. But Larsen takes what is, for me, a mildly interesting subject, and makes it fascinating.
I admit that I basically knew nothing about Churchill before reading this. And since it doesn't aim to be a comprehensive biography, I'm sure there's a lot that I still don't know. But Larsen gives a glimpse of his historical first year in office, during which German raids on England began and intensified. The beauty of Larsen's work is that he doesn't focus on the dry facts - although there are plenty of these - but on the minutiae of life also: the love life of Churchill's secretary, the small joys his daughter found in the midst of war, and all the other little ways that life went on in almost unimaginable circumstances. Larsen also includes details on the Churchill administration's German counterparts, which added to the story greatly. (Although he doesn't shy away from Churchill's faults, he certainly does not hesitate to point out the inhumanity of the Nazi regime.)
One minor complaint I have is that Larsen tends toward repetition. At the beginning of some chapters I felt like I was watching a tv series that would start with "previously on..." He also tended to re-introduce characters; I am at that awkward age where I'm old enough to need frequent refreshers, but young enough to still be annoyed by it. Other than that, it was such an interesting, well-written book. And you can't help but be inspired by Churchill's patriotism, courage, and political skill. I have a newfound respect for him.