The Splendid and the Vile: A Tale of Churchill, Family, and Resistance During the Blitz

DocTina88: A splendidly written book!

United States on Sep 25, 2023

Paul Stusiak: This is a well told story with some new aspects that I haven't seen before.

This is a story that has been told many times, of the events to knock Great Britain out of WW II using air power - The Blitz as it has been described. I've read a good number of books on this topic as well as most of the major sources around Winston Churchill. I was pleased to see a new view of the historic events described from a different perspective with several story arcs tying the facts to what people were experiencing.

The story mostly focuses on those close to Churchill with some additional material from diarists and minor embellishment to the facts around some of the many lives lost - much more interesting to get some minor feel for a person than to learn of their death as another number.

I enjoyed finding that the title comes from paraphrasing a diarist's entry and it was fun to find it and remember reading their memoirs many years ago.

It builds on works previously published, using first source material and keeping the major events in place while adding a new look at some of the more mundane aspects of life to deliver a story that shows the ordinary and extraordinary...

Canada on Sep 24, 2023

PTA: What a story! A true account of a dedicated man working tirelessly to save his country. A very interesting book.

United States on Sep 21, 2023

PLloyd47: Every one of his books are incredible.. I like non-fiction and this author never disappoints you.

United States on Aug 27, 2023

CtM: Well written and very captivating. I had a hard time putting it down. Very informative about Churchill, but also what citizens had to endure.

United States on Aug 21, 2023

Jano: I enjoyed so much to read. It has been a pleasure time to invest in this reading, I personally believe W.Churchill was a true leader that saves England to be defeated.

Mexico on Apr 09, 2023

FictionFan: 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...

United Kingdom on Jul 04, 2021

Roy Edward Allen: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

This 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...

United Kingdom on Jan 14, 2021

Origpic: It is hard to think it possible that after all the books that have been written about Churchill since the end of the Second World War, that a new one could be fresh, inspiring and contain new information but Erik Larsen's work does all of that.
Larsen immersed himself in original papers and found within them the minutiae that brings his story to life and portrays the character of Churchill to a new light. His timeframe is mostly the outbreak of war to the entry of America after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Larsen has winkled out love affairs, the cost of dinners and wines, the extravagance of Churchill's son Randolph and a blistering revelation of what it was like to live under constant bombardment of German bombs. Larsen is not interested in Churchill's political faults, his undoubted racism which he shared with many of his class and indeed his fellow Englishman but, he is thoroughly interested in how this small, overweight, round man who drank to much and constantly chewed on cigars had the character to inspire and to lead an almost defeated country to victory against the darkest regime ever to threaten the free world.
Larsen takes us into the...

Canada on Oct 22, 2020

Laura's Reviews: 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...

United States on Aug 22, 2020