The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
#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 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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Community Reviews
This is one of those books where I realize about 2/3 the way through that I’m still waiting for it to really get interesting. Part of the issue is probably that there are so many WWII books out there, and I’m still not quite sure I grasp just what niche this one was trying to carve for itself. I guess it’s a really intimate look at the Churchill family’s experience during that first year of Winston’s term as PM. For me, that wasn’t really the most interesting concept. Obviously the man himself is intriguing, and this is really the first book I’ve read with so much detail about him, so that I enjoyed. But otherwise the focus is largely on his son and two of his daughters, none of whom is really that fascinating. Mostly, it seems that the author gained access to the private journals of several people surrounding the PM, and turned what he found into a sort of nonfiction novel. He did a solid job of it, but it’s just not much of a premise in the first place. Some of the most engaging parts of the book are when he focuses on the Nazi high command, and those seem to be provided mostly as a contextual B (or C) plot. Without the story of Rudolf Hess’ flight to Scotland, in particular, the book would have been much diminished.
Overall, I learned a bit, it was somewhat insightful, and it was compelling enough that I didn’t mind reading it. But I can imagine ways that it might have been more interesting, and I don’t think much from it will stick with me. I won’t go so far as to say that it doesn’t deserve all the hype; just that it wasn’t really all I was hoping for.
Overall, I learned a bit, it was somewhat insightful, and it was compelling enough that I didn’t mind reading it. But I can imagine ways that it might have been more interesting, and I don’t think much from it will stick with me. I won’t go so far as to say that it doesn’t deserve all the hype; just that it wasn’t really all I was hoping for.
Man I love Erik Larson's work. He typically does a great job at making non-fiction readable as a fiction story. This one was a chore to get through and fell short for me. I am glad I got through it, even if just barley, it was just that boring.
This has been an incredibly detailed look at what it was like in London and the UK in 1940-1941. Larson does what he always does in all of his books and gives a lot of details. Very well researched.
I happened to be in the United Kingdom while reading the book and was able to visit some of the cites and see pictures and statues of the characters in the book!
4 stars.
I really enjoyed this deep dive into the first year or so of Churchill's tenure as British PM just as France was falling to Nazi German. The use of primary sources to build a story of 10 Downing, Checkers, London, and the frame of mind during the Blitz and Battle of Britain were great. Would highly recommend the audiobook as the addition of one of Churchill's speeches in it was a great touch.
I really enjoyed this deep dive into the first year or so of Churchill's tenure as British PM just as France was falling to Nazi German. The use of primary sources to build a story of 10 Downing, Checkers, London, and the frame of mind during the Blitz and Battle of Britain were great. Would highly recommend the audiobook as the addition of one of Churchill's speeches in it was a great touch.
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