The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson (PDF)

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#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 • PopMattersOn 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.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐What is the last book that kept you up too late at night? The Splendid and the Vile had me up too late last week trying to finish it. Although it is a non-fiction history book, it read like a thriller and I wanted to know how it ended.The Splendid and the Vile is the story of the London Blitz, the Churchill family, and London’s defiance of Nazi Germany. The book delves into not only the politics of the times and the brutality of the war, but it also delves into the personal lives of Churchill’s family and friends. It was an interesting entire picture of the one pivotal year in history.Erik Larson is a fantastic non-fiction author. I have previously read and enjoyed The Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck. I like how his books are immensely readable. They read like fiction but are non-fiction. I learned so many interesting things in this book. But by also writing about the person lives of Churchill, family, and friends, I found myself laughing at times, and struck with horror at other times. I felt for them and their trials and tribulations. The chapters were short which I prefer and also included German perspectives at the time.I didn’t realize the Germans defeated the French line and invaded France almost immediately after Churchill became the prime minister. The book had you feeling dread as you realized that the Germans were making their way through France at a much faster rate than anyone had anticipated. How would they get their soldiers back to England? How will they save themselves from invasion? How would they arm themselves and make aircraft to stave off the impending invasion? I loved how Churchill found the best person for the job in one of his friends to get aircraft manufactured . . . and hidden around the country.One thing I realized over and over again when I read this book was how Churchill was the perfect leader for his time. He was able to gather the best people around him to get the work done and he was able to keep the hope up in the people of England that they could be victorious. He traveled to bombed out areas and met personally with those impacted. He had empathy and felt their pain. He also worked slowly, but surely on Franklin Roosevelt to get him vested in England’s cause as he realized they couldn’t win in the long run without help from the United States. He definitely had eccentric behavior that was humorous, but he was a great leader during very trying times. I wish we could have such a leader.Churchill’s wife Clementine was the perfect partner who helped him to host events and wasn’t afraid to tell him how she felt about things. She also made a personal tour of bomb shelters and noted what they needed for updates, with specific care for sanitation. As an environmental engineer, I thought this section was fascinating, but I also loved as a wife, that the had such a great partnership that Clementine could do these things on her own, report back to Winston, and he could get improvements through.There were certain episodes in the book that I just can’t get out of my mind. Like a singer that was running late and got to his night club right on time to be bombed and killed. Or the love affairs that sprang up between assorted people living through harrowing times.I somehow had no idea that Rudolph Hess flew from Germany and crash landed in Scotland to try to make a peace treaty. I had heard of him but had no idea about this episode and what ultimately happened to him. This would make a great story on its own or even better, an alternative fictional story where he succeeds.Favorite Quotes:“No one had any doubt that the bombers would come.”“Whatever Winston’s shortcomings, he seems to be the man for the occasion. His spirit is indomitable and even if France and England should be lost, I feel like he would carry on the crusade himself with a band of privateers.”“Here, as in other speeches, Churchill demonstrated a striking trait: his knack for making people feel loftier, stronger, and above all, more courageous.”“Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”“Afterward, as Churchill, Clementine, and the others emerged on the steps of the university, a large crowd surged forward, cheering. And at that instant, in a singular moment of meteorological synchronicity, the sun broke through the clouds.”Overall, The Splendid and the Vile is non-fiction at it’s finest and most thrilling. It’s a story of humanity also at it’s greatest with strong leadership and a people willing to face long odds to keep their country free. I loved it.Book Source: Purchased from Amazon.com

⭐This story has been told many times in recent years, both in books and in films, “The Darkest Hour” probably being the best known in recent years. It basically covers Churchill’s time as Prime Minister from the beginning of the war until the USA joins the war in 1941. After that, there’s s quick summary of the remaining war years and it ends when Churchill is voted out of office in 1945. It doesn’t really add anything new, but it is well written and easy to read. Much of the story are the personal experiences of people around Churchill, their lives, loves, indiscretions and their personal view of the Great Man. If you are looking for additional insights into Churchill, you won’t find much here, but it’s a good story, well told.

⭐This book was very well written, no surprise, and informative as it took the reader to a deeper level understanding the leadership, challenges and actions taken by Winston Churchill during the war with Nazi Germany. It was a excellent read.

⭐I found this a delightful learning experience. Family photos attest to my uncles in uniform. I was a toddler at the time. I never had captured the full impact of WWII. History should always be taught in thisdelightfulnanner!

⭐The Splendid and The Vile offers an in depth discussion of an almost day-to-day diary of the hardships and challenges that Winston Churchill and the English people faced in standing against Hitler and Germany prior to the U.S. entering the war. The book is very readable even as it provides intimate details of the characters, both English and German.

⭐I have read many books on World War II. Many about the battles and the men and women that fought them. This was the first on Churchill and how he led England through the initial beginnings and the Blitz. He did not give up hope and he instilled that courage in the English people during turbulent years of war. A great read!

⭐Having a read a number of books on World War II and a couple on Churchill… I think Erik Larson’s book is a good one. It crackles with prose that makes you think you are actually there. He tells a good story but doesn’t get bogged down in the details of every battle or every fight. He moves the story along he tells you interesting vignettes about Churchill or Colville or Roosevelt. He gives you human interest stories of normal people living through the war. He quotes just enough from Churchhill speeches to give you a flavor of his dynamic rhetoric. It’s a great read.

⭐The book brought to life the man we have all seen in photos leaning slightly foward in an overstuffed chair. It brought color to both Winston Churchill and his family as well as the war effort in World War II. A good read.Don’t expect a jot and tiddle book that details every asspect of his tenure as Prime Minister. Here we get a more broad picture of the war filled with slices of time zeroed in.As always, Larson provides an excellent read.

⭐The Splendid and the Vile by Erik LarsonThis book focuses on the dramatic events between the arrival of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister in May 1940 to the entry into the war of the United States in December 1941. The narrative moves effortlessly between the high drama of the war and the intimacies of Churchill’s family and the contrast between terrible events and the concerns of everyday life, not least the universal pleasures of romance in the beautiful summer of 1940, much of it told through the observations of Churchill’s youngest daughter Mary and one of his private assistants John Colville. This is very much the world of upper class English life but wider social comments come through reports from the Mass Observation correspondents.Churchill is introduced as an enigmatic figure divisive and unreliable to many political contemporaries but adored by much of the public who believe he is the only man to lead the country out of the dire straits apparent by May 1940. A striking part of the ensuing narrative is how Churchill becomes increasingly respected and even loved by those who work closely with him. He is described with all his eccentricity and unreasonableness but also his warm humanity. The unremitting pressure on him is all too obvious and although prone to dangerous diversions and an enthusiasm for any form of action his strategic sense is a dominating theme. Right from the beginning he sees Nazism as evil and not a force to negotiate with, he sees the absolute need to win the USA to the cause and he understands the power of image and oratory to stiffen morale and see the country through the dangerous months of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. The range of his concerns, his work load and amazing energy are quite remarkable. There are wonderful pen portraits of Beaverbrook, Ismay, Lindemann, Goring and Harry Hopkins but also the sadness of aspects of Churchill’s family life particularly the increasingly tragic figure of his son Randolph. The main themes are peppered with little vignettes such as the importance of tea for civilian life, the accounts for running Chartwell, the significance of radar, and the ceaseless round of Churchill’s purposeful entertaining.The author manages to bring to life a familiar period of British history with the skill of a novelist and an immediacy to events that take the reader to the heart of the personal and national drama. At the end this reader, at least, was reminded how fortunate civilisation was to have such a champion as Winston Churchill at its moment of greatest danger.

⭐Not sure who this is aimed at. £20 for a book whose contents are little more than magazine filler. It’s well written, as you would expect from a writer of successful crime thrillers but it is a scissors and paste job – all the material in the book has been done before (spookily familiar) and we read nothing new. It is one of those books which, if the author was not already known, the manuscript would have received a polite rejection slip. If you know nothing about Churchill and WW2 and are about 12 years old, this book is possibly for you. Otherwise, save your money. Academic rigour and analysis; not on this occasion.

⭐The first two years of Churchill’s premiership – a fantastic page turner based on diaries of the great and the good (including Nazis) AND ordinary Brits responding to Mass Observation questionnaires. Reads like a brilliant novel.

⭐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.

⭐I didn’t think there could be a truly fresh presentation of this most-historically-covered of periods — May 1940 to May 1941 in the UK. But Erik Larson has done it, and it’s a wonderful read.By delving into the diaries of Mary Churchill (the great man’s daughter) and Jock Colville (his personal secretary), and by using countless other sources — British, German and American — Mr Larson has fashioned a truly new history. It is atmospheric, immersive and presents innumerable new perspectives and titbits. It is great stuff. There are simply too many aspects and personages to cover in a short review. Churchill, Mary (a major historical figure in her own right), Colville, Beaverbrook, Lindemann (‘the Prof.’), Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, Averell Harriman, Adolf Galland, Goring, Goebbels, Hess, Pamela Digby (Churchill), Gay Margesson (Colville’s unrequited love), Clementine, Randolph, Pug Ismay — the list goes on and on, with great and novel illumination of previously ‘dark corners’.If I have a quibble, it’s a tiny one: on this most British of subjects, could they not have produced a British-English version? Recounting the rationing of ‘gasoline’ — one of a thousand examples here of resolute Americana — seems a bit discordant in the context of the subject.I bought the paperback with misgivings — did I really need another book on this period and subject? I have now replaced it with the hardcover, ‘for keeps’. A wonderful book that I can’t recommend more highly. Buy it.

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