The Splendid and the Vile

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ΓÇó The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the BlitzΓÇöan inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis ΓÇ£One of [Erik LarsonΓÇÖs] best books yet . . . perfectly timed for the moment.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöTime ΓÇó ΓÇ£A bravura performance by one of AmericaΓÇÖs greatest storytellers.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöNPR NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review ΓÇó Time ΓÇó Vogue ΓÇó NPR ΓÇó The Washington Post ΓÇó Chicago Tribune ΓÇó The Globe & Mail ΓÇó Fortune ΓÇó Bloomberg ΓÇó New York Post ΓÇó The New York Public Library ΓÇó Kirkus Reviews ΓÇó LibraryReads ΓÇó PopMatters On Winston ChurchillΓÇÖs first day as prime minister,Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallenand the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve monthsHitler would wage a relentless bombing campaignkilling 45000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy allyΓÇöand willing to fight to the end. In The Splendid and the VileErik Larson showsin cinematic detailhow Churchill taught the British people ΓÇ£the art of being fearless.ΓÇ¥ It is a story of political brinkmanshipbut itΓÇÖs also an intimate domestic dramaset against the backdrop of ChurchillΓÇÖs prime-ministerial country homeChequers; his wartime retreatDitchleywhere 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 diariesoriginal archival documentsand once-secret intelligence reportsΓÇösome released only recentlyΓÇöLarson provides a new lens on LondonΓÇÖs darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wifeClementine; their youngest daughterMarywho chafes against her parentsΓÇÖ wartime protectiveness; their sonRandolphand his beautifulunhappy wifePamela; PamelaΓÇÖs illicit lovera dashing American emissary; and the advisers in ChurchillΓÇÖs ΓÇ£Secret CircleΓÇ¥ to whom he turns in the hardest moments. The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of todayΓÇÖs political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadershipwhenin the face of unrelenting horrorChurchillΓÇÖs eloquencecourageand perseverance bound a countryand a familytogether.