The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson talks about Britain’s involvement and defiance in Germany’s invasion of World War II. In particular, it focuses on Britain’s newly elected prime minister, Winston Churchill, and his first year in office when Britain was constantly bombed by Germany’s air raids from the Luftwaffe. While many have likely heard of Winston Churchill’s lone defiance against the Germans at a time when literally all odds seemed to be stacked against Britain, here we get a glimpse of just what happened during this tumultuous time period. We get to see the prime minister at his strongest, along with when he was at his weakest. Readers also learn of how his energy, oratory skills and leadership were responsible for holding Britain up during a year when death was literally raining down from above until the United States was finally dragged into the war.

At almost 500+ pages, I had initially thought that the book would go over Churchill’s entire time as prime minister until the Axis powers were defeated. However, it’s important to know that the book only goes over his first year as prime minister, from May 1940 to around May 1941. The author has specifically stated his reasons for doing so. For reference, the story ends right after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, with Churchill and his staff traveling to the United States to meet with President Roosevelt.

When focusing on just Churchill, the narrative goes to show just how fearless he really was, as it was really during his first year as prime minister that London was hit the hardest by the Luftwaffe air force. It also goes to introduce some characters that many readers may not be familiar with that played a pretty big part in the war, along with their influence on events and on Churchill himself. One such man was Lord Beaverbrook, whose relentless drive to spur production of additional RAF fighter aircraft in the early stages of the war was likely a big reason why Britain was able to hold out for longer than they would have instead of eventually having to forcefully surrender.

As with his other books on history, the author knows his stuff. More importantly, he writes in such a way that it makes non-fiction reading, at times, more exciting than all the sci-fi or fantasy stuff. In fact, he actually made a note right at the beginning of the book that, although this is a work of non-fiction, some of the events documented here may lead one to consider it otherwise due to how extraordinary it was at that time. Reading the diary entries of John Coville along with those of Mary Churchill and other individuals, provided excellent insight into the war. Reading about Churchill is very refreshing. Instead of a full-blown autobiography of just the man himself from birth to death, The Splendid and the Vile gets right to the exciting parts. Winston Churchill will forever be enshrined in that mysterious category of history, wondering how events would have played out if he hadn’t done what he did in standing up to evil.