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Binding: Hardcover

Pages: x + 310

Recommended Reading selection

See also more books from:
   Raymond Callahan

See also more books on the same topic(s):
   United Kingdom: Biographies and memoirs
   United Kingdom: Biographies and memoirs of soldiers
   Winston Churchill
   Winston Churchill and the military

See also references to this book:
   Reference in news archive May 2007

Notes from Stone & Stone

Surprisingly fresh insights about the relationships among Churchill, his generals, and the global imperatives that shaped the conduct of the war.

Feedback from visitors

Feedback from Brian L. Knipple on Thursday, 27 December 2007

Rates this book:

This book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the high level workings of the British Army in World War 2 and how Winston Churchill's influence was felt. The author, Raymond Callahan, is a professor of history with several others books on Churchill and the British military in WW2 to his credit. This is no history of battles or campaigns, but rather a treatise on the influence of the prime minister on the leadership of the British Army, which he believed to be too slow and too unimaginative. The books goes into detail concerning the regular badgering by Churchill of his theatre commanders to take action. When seen from the commanders' perspectives, this was almost always a bad thing. The book brings the other side of the situation, Churchill's, to light and shows how he struggled to keep Britain's role in the coalition with the United States and the Soviet Union as significant as possible and was frustrated with what he saw as an army unable or unwilling to fight.

As I said earlier, this is not a history of battles and the book has no maps or descriptions of combat. It does the best job of explaining the personal and professional relationships between the Army leaders and Churchill and one another. Be warned that a working knowledge of the British Commonwealth and the battles of the second World War in general is required to be able to follow the narrative.

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