Promotional Information

Fed with secret inside information, Churchill consistently warned of the Nazi danger, even before the rise of Hitler. The British government, led by Stanley Baldwin and later Neville Chamberlain, fought him at every turn, even refusing him the right to broadcast. But he never gave up.

Table of Contents

Illustrations acknowledgements Author's acknowledgements Introduction Prelude: The pinnacle of success 1 Political Strife 2 'These anxious and dubious times' 3 'If we lose faith in ourselves' 4 'Stoats and weasels' 5 'Leaderless confusion' 6 Appeasement: 'This long retreat' 7 Munich: 'The sacrifice of honour' 8 The coming of war Sources Index

About the Author

Sir Martin Gilbert is Winston Churchill's official biographer, and a leading historian of the modern world. He is an Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and a Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale College, Michigan. From 2009 to 2012 he served as a member of the British Government's Iraq Inquiry. He is the author of more than eighty books, among them the single-volume Churchill: A Life, his twin histories First World War and Second World War, a comprehensive History of Israel, and his three-volume work, A History of the Twentieth Century. His book The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy (published in the United States as The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War) is a classic work on the subject.

Reviews

...written in crisp, hard prose, which has crisp hard-thinking behind it... A valuable addition to our crowded shelves of Churchilliana.
*Books and Bookmen*

..much fresh information on the sources of Churchill's prophetic speeches.
*International Herald Tribune*

...a lucid and insightful distillation of Gilbert's detailed official biography. It is a welcome book, always addressed to the critical questions, and from the first wholly and unabashed sympathetic to Churchill's position. This fine book reinforces what can be the only reasonable view of political life in Britain in the 1930s.
*Houston Chronicle*

...a timely study of how democracy allowed considerations of political convenience and budgetary "necessity" to control defence policy.
*Washington Post*

Dealing with Churchill's years out of government, when he was vigorously critical of its policy of inaction and appeasement, the book is a crisp, readable narrative for the general reader.
*Library Journal*

The public owes a great debt to Martin Gilbert for producing this book... This more concise account of Churchill's long period out of office - 1929-39 - lacks nothing.
*Contemporary Review*