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

Other history books may have covered Winston Churchill's life in more detail, but this one covers a period critical to his legacy, specifically the years 1940 and 1941. Eric Larson's book portrays Churchill's essential leadership during one of Britain's worst trials of WWII, the Blitz. Larson describes the daily battles and personal traumas of England's prime minister. He gives intimate family portraits of Clementine, Churchill's wife, Mary, his daughter, and Randolph, his son. Close associates such as his secretary, security chief, advisers, and friends are all examined, in turn, to provide a complete picture of the atmosphere and community surrounding Churchill. Larson has done extensive research from personal diaries, public documents, and speeches. An intimate character study emerges of a leader whose perhaps most remarkable talent was to get people to believe in themselves. His rousing speeches and displays of confidence steadied a frightened public. German air raids, which killed thousands of British civilians, made people spend perilous nights in bomb shelters under blackout conditions. Throughout the trials of food scarcity, shelter uncertainty, and persistent bombings, Britain held together. Some of the more interesting stories about Churchill had nothing to do with his military acumen but rather his eccentricities. He did not suffer fools, despised people's habit of whistling, and took two baths a day. While bathing, he had his typist near him to record letters. He wore a special sky-blue one-piece suit, which his aides called "his rompers" to provide him with maximum comfort. Churchill was not self-conscious. Larson explores the German leadership from Hitler to Goebbels, Goering, and Hess. He provides the reactions of these men to British war strategies and Churchill's speeches. He covers the burgeoning friendship with President Roosevelt, first established through Roosevelt's charming emissary Harry Hopkins. If you are interested in the personalities behind WWII, you will enjoy this book. Larson has done a masterful job writing a comprehensive and highly readable study of Churchill's wartime life.

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 rose to 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.

We all know how this turns out, but still hurry from chapter to chapter to see what happens next. The portrayal of Roosevelt is less than complementary, makes you want more to see where the truth lies. A worthwhile read.

A well written, interesting, and complete recount of Churchill’s first year as PM during the war. Erik Larkson goes into lots of very interesting detail, with s splash of humour that the novel enjoyable to read!

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.

May, 1940. Already weakened by failures in Norway, the successful blitzkrieg in Holland and Belgium sounded the death knell for Chamberlain as Prime Minister. Reluctantly King George VI offered the position to Winston Churchill, a man adored by the public although many of his colleagues thought him too erratic for the role. Larson sets out to tell of Churchill’s first year in power: holding British morale together during the Blitz; desperately working to build up British forces to defend against the expected invasion; battling to get America, even if they weren’t willing to put boots on the ground, to at least assist with money and equipment while Britain stood alone against the overpowering forces of the Nazi war machine. Larson is brilliant at bringing historical events to life so that it feels as if the reader is there in the room rather than reading a dry recital of historical facts years afterwards. Here he uses a variety of personal accounts to paint a vivid picture of Churchill through this dramatic period – primarily the diaries of his daughter, Mary, and his private secretary, Jock Colville, supplemented by various letters and memos between Churchill and members of his inner team. Larson also turns to contemporaneous reports in the newspapers and on radio, to show what people knew and how they felt at the time rather than through the lens of hindsight. It’s probably true to say there’s nothing startlingly new in the book, but Larson brings out the drama and emotion of the time without sacrificing factual accuracy and detail. Names from the history books become living, breathing people – Beaverbrook, Lindemann, Goering, Hess, et al – and we see their weaknesses and vanities along with their passion and commitment, whichever side they were on. The use of the word “saga” in the subtitle made me fear this might be too geared towards gossip about Churchill’s family, but in fact we learn just enough about them to get a feel for Churchill as a family man, and through Mary’s diary extracts we also get a picture of how the young upper-classes lived and played during this early part of the war, and how their attitudes changed and hardened as the dark realities of modern air-led warfare became clear. What Larson does so well, though, is to bring the lives of the mass of ordinary working people into the story, not simply as a kind of audience for the great and the good, but as real participants in their own fate. For this, he uses extensively the records of the Mass Observation project, where many volunteer observers kept diaries in which they recorded not just their own lives but their impressions of what was happening in their localities. We see London reeling and terrified after the first air-raids, but the Londoners gradually realising that they were brave enough to take it, and showing the resilience and defiance for which they are remembered. He shows a kind of euphoria developing, and a good deal of sexual licence on display, due to a growing eat, drink and be merry attitude. Larson takes us to Coventry to see the devastating raid there and its aftermath, and his description of this piece of history I already knew well is so vivid that he reduced me to tears and roused my rage anew at this mindless death and destruction. Back with Churchill, we get to know the people in his smallish inner circle and how they interacted. We are critical of all government ministers and of course they should not be above criticism, but we perhaps don’t cut them enough slack for the enormous responsibilities we expect them to deal with on our behalf. Churchill lived a life of comparative luxury, and rationing, which hit the general public hard, didn’t seem to make his table any less lavish, or his brandy to run out. But he worked such long hours his staff were permanently exhausted and he himself became ill (and worked through it), he had to tolerate and soothe the ruffled feelings of those to whom he delegated the impossible while still driving them to get it done yesterday, he regularly put himself in danger to show the public that he understood and shared what they were going through, he had to cajole and flatter the American president endlessly for very little return in the way of practical assistance; and frankly I didn’t begrudge him his smuggled cigars and chocolate, his extensive cellar, his extra meat provided by grateful landowning Dukes, even the money that was raised by supporters to help pay his household expenses. I suspect his poor entourage regularly wanted to beat him over the head with a brick, especially when he would put on records and start dancing round the dining room at 1 a.m. after a twenty-hour working day, but I’m glad they didn’t. Another excellent book from Larson, his trademark blending of historical facts with the personal building to give an intimate and affectionate portrait of Churchill’s personality and daily life as he led Britain through its darkest hour. Highly recommended.

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.

チャーチル首相が就任した１９４０年（昭和１５年）から一年間のバトルオブブリテンを主題にしたドキュメンタリー。ヒトラー総統、ゲーリング元帥の元、猛威を振るったドイツ軍にただ一人最後まで抵抗したチャーチル首相。彼は戦争の本質を見抜き、米国を味方に付ければ、その工業力、資源力、そして国民数によってナチスドイツに勝利するとの確信を持っていたのです。翌年の日本軍による真珠湾攻撃の後、時のルーズベルト大統領からの知らせで翌日、米国は日本に宣戦布告をすると聞き、第二次世界大戦の勝利を確信し、喜びを抑えきれぬまま就寝したのです。当時の英政権、ドイツ政権の内情と戦況観が的確に描かれ興味深いです。一方で英国の貴族階級の常軌を逸した行動も描かれ英国王室を見る参考にも成りました。