Author: Erik Larson

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 12 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.
In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless,” according to review published on goodreads.com.
It is a story of political brinkmanship set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London.
The book takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.