Diverse The Splendid and the Vile Fachbuch von Erik Larson

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

Der Bestsellerautor der New York Times, bekannt für „Der Teufel in der weissen Stadt“ und „Dead Wake“, präsentiert ein frisches und fesselndes Porträt von Winston Churchill und London während des Blitz. Am ersten Tag von Winston Churchills Amtszeit als Premierminister fiel Adolf Hitler in die Niederlande und nach Belgien ein. Polen und die Tschechoslowakei waren bereits gefallen, und die Evakuierung von Dünkirchen stand nur zwei Wochen bevor. In den nächsten zwölf Monaten würde Hitler eine unerbittliche Bombenkampagne führen, die 45.000 Briten das Leben kosten sollte. Es lag an Churchill, sein Land zusammenzuhalten und Präsident Franklin Roosevelt davon zu überzeugen, dass Grossbritannien ein würdiger Verbündeter war – und bereit, bis zum Ende zu kämpfen. In „The Splendid and the Vile“ zeigt Erik Larson in filmischer Detailgenauigkeit, wie Churchill dem britischen Volk die Kunst des Furchtlosseins beibrachte. Es ist eine Geschichte von politischem Risiko, aber auch ein intimes Familiendrama, das vor dem Hintergrund von Churchills Landsitz Chequers, seinem Rückzugsort Ditchley, wo er und sein Gefolge gehen, wenn der Mond am hellsten und die Bombendrohung am höchsten ist, und natürlich der 10 Downing Street in London spielt. Basierend auf Tagebüchern, originalen Archivdokumenten und einst geheimen Geheimdienstberichten – von denen einige erst kürzlich veröffentlicht wurden – bietet Larson eine neue Perspektive auf Londons dunkelstes Jahr durch die täglichen Erfahrungen von Churchill und seiner Familie: seiner Frau Clementine, ihrer jüngsten Tochter Mary, die gegen die kriegsbedingte Überbehütung ihrer Eltern ankämpft, ihrem Sohn Randolph und seiner schönen, unglücklichen Frau Pamela, Pamelas heimlichem Liebhaber, einem charmanten amerikanischen Gesandten, und den Beratern in Churchills geheimem Kreis, an die er sich in den schwierigsten Momenten wendet. „The Splendid and the Vile“ entführt die Leser aus der heutigen politischen Dysfunktion zurück in eine Zeit wahrer Führung, als Churchills Eloquenz, Mut und Durchhaltevermögen ein Land und eine Familie inmitten unaufhörlichen Schreckens zusammenhielten.

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

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