Splendid And The Vile

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows 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