I have read other biographies of Churchill, but never any so detailed, focused, and extensively researched as this one. Larson hones in on the period from May, 1940 to Churchill’s historic December, 1941 meeting with FDR; an epilogue gives the reader a synopsis of the future lives of many of the players in that critical time.
The 101 chapters detail the interactions and intrigues of the main power brokers during the Nazi bombardment of all of England, with a natural focus on the death and destruction rained down on the British capital. But Larson also vividly describes the personal lives, quirks, and animosities of all the characters, including those in the dysfunctional Churchill family. In an introductory Note To Readers, he claims that all of the quotes are accurate and he apparently had access to and reviewed extensive archives and the diaries of most of the featured characters, including top level Nazis. The lost habit of almost everyone in that era, keeping diaries, as the thousands of Mass-Observation Diarists were required to do, must have been a rich source of detail. Nevertheless, it is a stretch to take at face value the hundreds of exact numbers Larson cites- of casualties with each of dozens of raids, planes used and planes lost in each raid, and tonnage of different types of bombs used in each raid.
Generally laudatory of Churchill, Larson does not shy away from detailing his faults and foibles, nor those of his close associates, advisors and family members. Rivalries and intrigue were rife, as were secret and not so secret liaisons of many, including Winston’s rogue son, Randolph, Randolph’s wife Pamela, (with Averill Harriman, whom she married after a 35 year interlude, and Edward R. Morrow among others) and the scheming Lord Beaverbrook. The forever partying daughter, Mary Churchill, is portrayed as an immature and insensitive teenager.
The devastation of war is graphically described, with indiscriminate bombing of civilians on both sides. For this, there is no better quote than the effects of one such bombing: “Two parachute mines blew up a cemetery, scattering old bones and fragments of monuments over the landscape and launching a coffin lid into the bedroom of a nearby house.”
A sketch of London and the surrounding area with major landmarks labelled would have been more helpful than the small unreadable map on page 13.
A personal note- it appears the Winston Churchill may have suffered from misophonia, experiencing a pathological panic reaction to hearing anyone whistling. I have become aware of this unusual, recently recognized neuropsychiatric disorder, related to, but different than synesthesia, of uncontrollable panicky emotional reactions to certain common sounds, because my ten year old granddaughter Leela has it quite severely. She was intrigued to hear that a very famous, successful politician may also have had this affliction, and was quite happy to let me publicize this private burden.
As a graphic reminder of the horrors of war, the debt of gratitude we all owe to the uncompromising Winston Spencer Churchill, and the need to safeguard what thousands of brave people fought and died for, this is a timely well written history lesson.
Thanks, Wallie.
The Passionate Reader 