It is easy to think that everything that could be said about Winston Churchill’s role in the Second World War has already been put into print in the thousands of books that have been written about him.
Historian Max Hastings has, however, come up with a fresh view in Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940-45 (Harper Press, £9.99).
He is not alone in believing that without Churchill, Britain would have tried to negotiate peace with Hitler after Dunkirk. He emphasises how uniquely placed Churchill was to woo the US as an ally, and how measured his trust of Stalin was.
One of the themes of the book is the way British civilians and military lived up to Churchill’s hopes in 1940, only to disappoint him for the remainder of the war.
As Hastings writes: “Churchill’s supreme achievement in 1940 was to mobilise Britain’s warriors, to shame into silence its doubters, and to stir the passions of the nation, so that for a season the British people faced the world united and exalted. The ‘Dunkirk spirit’ was not spontaneous. It was created by the rhetoric and bearing of one man, displaying powers that will define political leadership for the rest of time.”
Max Hastings will discuss his book at Blenheim Palace on September 19 as part of the Woodstock Literary Festival (Box office 01865 305305, see www.woodstockliteraryfestival.com).
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