The Splendid and the Vile

The Devil in the White City was part of my 2019 reading list and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is Erik Larson's latest book. I purchased it for my dad for Christmas last year and he really enjoyed it.

Life went on amidst the blitz. This book covers roughly a year period between Churchill's assumption of the role of Prime Minister in 1940 to a year later in 1941 and is a period that coincided with the Nazi blitz of London specifically, and Britain as a whole. Two things startled me. One, that after a night of begin bombed, Londoners, with little to no sleep, would go back to work the next day. Two, that Churchill immediately said he would fight even if it came down to him as the last British subject waving a sword. In other words, no surrender and no peace deal with Germany. Churchill maintained that position and it startled the Germans. The took France rather quickly and expected Britain to fold next. It didn't happen, and largely because if this one man. This man who would watch the bombing blitz from his rooftop with little care to his own wellbeing. A man whose courage (a virtue situated between recklessness and cowardliness) inspired a nation to resist.

I thought of two words throughout the reading of this book - resilient and wow. Resilient for Churchill and the British people. Wow, for all of the things I learned that were truly astounding.

Larson has the ability to make non-fiction read like fiction. This is a very good book.