Troublesome Young Men by Lynne Olson

Did you know that Winston Churchill's political ambition, along with that of other members of the British parliament in the 1920s and 1930s, nearly cost the allies all of Europe in World War II (WWII)? Did you know that despite Churchill's ambitions to become prime minister one day, he sacrificed his personal moral views against appeasing Hitler, voting against the rebellion that ultimately made him prime minister, because he was afraid to lose his political standing? Did you know that the British parliament was dominated by gutless appeasers? Did you know that their leader, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, was the ultimate gutless appeaser and gave up the only independent democratic country in Eastern Europe at the time, Czechoslovakia, to Hitler for an unrealistic chance at avoiding war with him? Did you know that Britain was woefully and deliberately unprepared to engage in WWII, ensuring their failure to make good on their empty promise to defend Poland against a German invasion?

I learned none of this in my high school history textbooks, but according to Lynne Olson's account of the happenings in Britain's parliament in the years leading up to WWII, these are all truths. The history books I read were all U.S.-centric, focusing more on D-Day and the plight of the Jews. The details about Britain's and France's failed negotiations with Hitler prior to his occupation of Czechoslovakia and Poland, and the numerous bluffs they could have called that would have stopped Hitler in his tracks, were glossed over, and all we knew was that Churchill, one of Britain's great orators, was named prime minister at the war's outset and successfully led Britain through the war, which are also true.

If, like me, you have a fascination with British history (which the success of movies like Braveheart and Elizabeth, not to mention the numerous movies and TV series about Henry VIII, indicate is true of many Americans), then you'll love reading Olson's accounts of the rebellion that put Churchill in power, the nature of the government toppled by this rebellion, and her mini-biographies of the rebellion's cast of characters. It will shock and frustrate you to learn how long it took for Britain and the world to wake up to the horror that was Hitler, and how many lives were lost because of the cowardice and political ambitions of the world's leaders, but at least we all know that the story ends well on the whole.