The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Erik Larson
(Author)
Description
#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.
Product Details
Price
$35.00
$32.55
Publisher
Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Publish Date
February 25, 2020
Pages
608
Dimensions
6.4 X 9.3 X 1.5 inches | 2.0 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780385348713
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Erik Larson is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, most recently The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, which examines how Winston Churchill and his "Secret Circle" went about surviving the German air campaign of 1940-41. Larson's The Devil in the White City is set to be a Hulu limited series; his In the Garden of Beasts is under option by Tom Hanks for a feature film. He recently published an audio-original ghost story, No One Goes Alone, which has been optioned by Chernin Entertainment, in association with Netflix. His Thunderstruck has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television for a limited TV series. Larson lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a writer and retired neonatologist; they have three grown daughters.
Reviews
"An enthralling page-turner."--O: The Oprah Magazine
"Through the remarkably skillful use of intimate diaries as well as public documents, some newly released, Larson has transformed the well-known record of 12 turbulent months, stretching from May of 1940 through May of 1941, into a book that is fresh, fast and deeply moving."--Candice Millard, The New York Times Book Review "Fascinating . . . The entire book comes at the reader with breakneck speed. So much happened so quickly in those 12 months, yet Larson deftly weaves all the strands of his tale into a coherent and compelling whole."--Minneapolis Star Tribune "I have an early copy of this book on my desk and idly began reading the first pages--and suddenly time disappeared."--The Seattle Times "The popular historian Erik Larson has done it again. As I read this book, I kept wondering what the swelling of powerful emotion was that I felt, sometimes in an almost physical sense."--Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny, in Air Mail "Still, it is a time of sadness, fear, grief and uncertainty for so many, and I find myself comforted by reading about other supremely challenging times in human history, and about resilience, and hope. For this, there is no better book right now than The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson."--Mackenzie Dawson, New York Post "Nonfiction king Erik Larson is back."--PopSugar "Spectacular . . . Larson, as America's most compelling popular historian, is at his best in this fast-moving, immensely readable, and even warmhearted account of the battle to save Britain."--The Christian Science Monitor "William Shakespeare once wrote, 'There is a history in all men's lives.' Certainly, this has been lived out in the remarkable writing career of Erik Larson. His dynamic ability to tell tales from deep within the dusty pages of history in a gripping and cinematic way has earned him wide acclaim. What sets his work apart is his signature way of using painstaking research through personal journals and historical records to spin a gripping nonfiction tale through the ordinary lives of the men and women who succeeded, failed, and perished as a result."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "The Splendid and the Vile delivers the great saga with a novelist's touch. It's like you're watching and hearing the days and nights of 1940 as a passenger on a double-decker London bus."--Chris Matthews, Churchill Bulletin
"A propulsive, character-driven account of Winston Churchill's first year as British prime minister . . . Readers will rejoice."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Larson's skill at integrating vast research and talent for capturing compelling human dramas culminate in an inspirational portrait of one of history's finest, most fearless leaders."--Booklist (starred review)
"Through the remarkably skillful use of intimate diaries as well as public documents, some newly released, Larson has transformed the well-known record of 12 turbulent months, stretching from May of 1940 through May of 1941, into a book that is fresh, fast and deeply moving."--Candice Millard, The New York Times Book Review "Fascinating . . . The entire book comes at the reader with breakneck speed. So much happened so quickly in those 12 months, yet Larson deftly weaves all the strands of his tale into a coherent and compelling whole."--Minneapolis Star Tribune "I have an early copy of this book on my desk and idly began reading the first pages--and suddenly time disappeared."--The Seattle Times "The popular historian Erik Larson has done it again. As I read this book, I kept wondering what the swelling of powerful emotion was that I felt, sometimes in an almost physical sense."--Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny, in Air Mail "Still, it is a time of sadness, fear, grief and uncertainty for so many, and I find myself comforted by reading about other supremely challenging times in human history, and about resilience, and hope. For this, there is no better book right now than The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson."--Mackenzie Dawson, New York Post "Nonfiction king Erik Larson is back."--PopSugar "Spectacular . . . Larson, as America's most compelling popular historian, is at his best in this fast-moving, immensely readable, and even warmhearted account of the battle to save Britain."--The Christian Science Monitor "William Shakespeare once wrote, 'There is a history in all men's lives.' Certainly, this has been lived out in the remarkable writing career of Erik Larson. His dynamic ability to tell tales from deep within the dusty pages of history in a gripping and cinematic way has earned him wide acclaim. What sets his work apart is his signature way of using painstaking research through personal journals and historical records to spin a gripping nonfiction tale through the ordinary lives of the men and women who succeeded, failed, and perished as a result."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "The Splendid and the Vile delivers the great saga with a novelist's touch. It's like you're watching and hearing the days and nights of 1940 as a passenger on a double-decker London bus."--Chris Matthews, Churchill Bulletin
"A propulsive, character-driven account of Winston Churchill's first year as British prime minister . . . Readers will rejoice."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Larson's skill at integrating vast research and talent for capturing compelling human dramas culminate in an inspirational portrait of one of history's finest, most fearless leaders."--Booklist (starred review)
