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

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER bull; The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz mdash;an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis ldquo;One of (Erik Larson rsquos] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment rdquo mdash;Time bull; “A bravura performance by one of America rsquo;s greatest storytellers.”—NPR NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review bull; Time bull; Vogue bull; 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 ldquo the art of being fearless rdquo It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it rsquos also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill rsquos 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 mdash. Larson provides a new lens on London rsquo;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 rsquo; wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela rsquo;s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill rsquos ldquo;Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today rsquo;s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill rsquos eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.