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

Clever that Larson covered a small slice of WW2 for a whole biography.It's full of facts and insights but reads not as a stuffy tome but as a novel. Easy read

Winston Churchill was, arguably, one of the more extraordinary figures of modern British history. His life covered parts of two centuries wherein he was, variously, a journalist, politician, soldier, author and prime minister.Erik Larson’s “The Splendid and the Vile” focusses on a brief but compelling period of Churchill’s long life; namely, the first year of his prime ministership. By and large, this was a period of many failures as Britain (and its empire) stood alone against the Nazi threat. It was also the period when Churchill was at his most pugnacious. He was the man for the occasion. Perhaps no other Briton could have stood in his place.As a work of history, the book reads almost as a thriller. It certainly captured this reader’s attention…and held it!The book is an intimate portrayal of Churchill’s life. We are introduced to his family, his daily troubles, his failures and his (comparatively few) triumphs. If I was to find one criticism of the book it’s that the politics of the time was largely ignored. Clement Atlee receives only one mention and that on the book’s penultimate page. But this aside, the book is a riveting read and a significant addition to the seemingly endless library of Churchill books.Recommended.

I bought this book because I'd loved Larson's book The Devil in the White City. I read a lot of literature about WWII and am involved with an organization involved with commemoration of certain resistance groups and individuals of that era. While Larson tries to make the players more alive by including personal details (such as too much about the love life of Churchill's secretary John Coleville), he left out some key details which would have added depth to the stories told. For example, a good portion of the book concerns the Royal Air Force and the pilots' achievements, which were largely responsible for Britain's success against the Nazis. Yet, Larson didn't mention the fact that Polish pilots were an extremely important part of the RAF, and statistically more successful pilots than the British pilots, due to their daring and experience. Refer to the book A Question of Honor (authors Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud, available on Amazon). This quote is very relevant: "We shall conquer together or we shall die together" Churchill vowed to the Polish Prime Minister, General Wladyslaw Sikorski, after the fall of France. Meeting Polish troops as they arrived in England in June 1940, British Anthony Eden declared: "We shall not abandon your sacred cause and shall continue this war until your beloved country be returned to her faithful sons." (page 6) Additionally, Larson mentions the British successes at Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine, but fails to mention that the Poles gave them a machine before the war and turned over the solutions to the Nazi codes, enabling that intelligence success. This is an interesting read, particularly how Larson contrasts Nazi and British diaries for the same time frame, but could have probably been even more complete a picture with a few more details.

I loved the book but the printing quality was poor. The insights into Churchill's character as a leader, orator & savy politician were very interesting. He had his faults as it was apparent that he was an alcoholic but he was the right man for the job during WW2. The common people suffered greatly due the night time bombing of numerous cities. The military had little defense against the bombers other than pretty inaccurate AA guns. The UK was lucky that the Nazis turned their attention to invading Russia mid year 1941 and stopped the nighttime bombing and that America entered the war after Pearl. And contrary to popular belief the vast majority of people did not go to the tube and other shelters at night when the sirens sounded in London.As an aside it struck me odd that so many people of wealth continued to go to bars and nightclubs while London was bombed and the city burned around them. Many of the ladies & lords of the UK didn't suffer like the commoners as they all had their peaceful country estates to go to, and the food rationing affected them little. I highly recommend this book.

An excellent read

Larson is a master of historical narrative and he's in top form here. One of the best books ever on Churchill's coming to power - a far more accurate depiction than in the wonderful film Darkest Hour, and every bit as fascinating. Hated coming to the end, I look forward to reading it again soon.

Once again, Erik Larson has written a historically accurate description of what Britain and Churchill faced with Nazi Germany. He has Churchill 's unique behaviors recorded. He, again, writes in such a format that you are an observer watching history unfold before your eyes. At times, it is very hard to put the book down at the end of a chapter. He covers the appointment of Churchill to Prime Minster, the decisions he made, the peculiarities of his key staff such as Beaverbrook. Larson writes history in such a fashion that you relish reading him. Not a quote or statement is made unless he has accurate historical documents to refer to. The book does not cover the entire role of Britain in WW2. It covers the time from May 1939 to roughly December 1941 with add3tional material regarding what happened to key German leaders, Churchill and his key staff after WW2. You will notice that the term "mass diarist" is used. I have seen this in other books about London during WW2. People were encouraged to keep diaries of what they experienced or felt during the war for sociological purposes. Hence, you see diary quotations in this book.