Finest Hour

Clayton and Craig are particularly good at guiding us through the early days of Churchill's premiership. Read most populist accounts and you would imagine that the moment Churchill took office the bulldog spirit took over and we plucky Brits stood resolute. Not so. The case for appeasement was still being made within the Cabinet up until the evacuation of Dunkirk, as Lord Halifax had a great deal of support for his conciliatory views. Bizarrely, the thing that ultimately counted against him was his title as it was felt the Upper House should not hold sway over the Commons. Where this book excels, though, is in the quality of its eyewitness testimonies. Many books have previously used this technique of threading narrative with the first person but few have found such eloquent speakers. Most eyewitnesses fudge the difficult bits with remarks like, "It was hell". Clayton and Craig's witnesses don't pull their punches. We hear of one Brit who shot a German officer in cold blood and had nightmares for ages afterwards. We hear of the sailor who saw his gunner decapitated. We experience the stench of burnt flesh following the shelling of an ambulance. In short, we are spared nothing. It may not be comfortable reading but you can't ignore it. 60 years after the men and women in these pages fought and died, there's a tendency for the rest of us to take the freedom they gave us for granted. They deserve a better memorial than a slow fading into nothingness. This book ensures they get it. --John Crace

After reading this book, I now have a huge admiration for Churchill. While the rest of "civilization" saw Britain as a doomed island, he - almost alone - did not countenence defeat. Stand aside all ye other mortals, WSC was THE man! Next time you're feeling defeated, take inspiration from this hero.


Compelling History and Characters   September 26, 2002
Malcolm Smith (London)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I am not a prolific reader, the books I read have to go at a pace for me to stay the course. The huge disadvantage of this lack of staying power is that I very rarely finish a book and feel any sense of achievement.

This book, and its sequel The End of The Beginning, have both proved to be rare examples where I have felt that I have learnt something while being thoroughly entertained.

For me, this comes from the characters around which the history is recounted. Both these books cover events that have been the subject of TV and film dramatisation but these used characters created around Hollywood stars or English character actors. The people who provided so much of the material for the books were involved in the war in the ranks, at home and in command. The stories they told to the authors during the years of research bring a powerful reality to the fighting and the hardships the endured.

There is a spitfire pilot who falls in love while struggling to match the victories of his fellow heroes. There is a soldier wounded while trying to hold back the German army in a French cemet factory, a family trapped by the blitz in the East-end of London and a naval rating dealing with the aftermath of surving the sinking of his ship at Dunkirk. The book brings their fears to life as well as their remarkable resolve to carry on their fight, to survive, to win.

This book has not changed my view of WW2 but it has made me painfully aware of how much it dominated the lives of civilians and the Forces. I was greatly moved by parts of the book.

This is a great book. I doubt anyone will start this book and not finish it - and they will be glad that they did.


Thrilling but jingoistic   November 9, 2001
1 out of 12 found this review helpful

This book's great strength and weakness is it's style - I got the feeling that the authors had read a little too much Tom Clancy, with their myriad characters and storylines. It reads like a novel, with the simple writing that I'd expect from something written for TV and serialised in the Daily Mail. That said, it's impossible not to admire the people whose stories are described, and the blunt way they talk of horrific death really drives home the horror of the fight in the way that a "conventional" history book would not.


Absolutely Magnificent   September 3, 2001
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I bought this book expecting it to be a rather dry historical overview of the Battle of Britain, concerned with numbers, dates and what Churchill said to whom. Instead I discovered an intensive social history of the ordinary men and women who served in and were concerned with the Fall of France and the Battle of Britain. Soldiers catapulted from the lull of "Phony War" to savage combat in France and Belgium as a result of the 1940 German offensive; RAF pilots who fought bravely but where overwhelmed in the skies of France; the sailors who assisted in the evacuation of Dunkirk; the secretarial staff of Winston Churchill; American war correspondents observing the first German bombing raids from the Cliffs of Dover; again the brave and determined RAF pilots flying and fighting over their native soil; WAAF radar plotters assisting the pilots seek their targets; civillians whose lives were shattered by the intensive terror bombing of London; child evacuees on their ill fated trip to Canada and Royal Navy personnel escorting the convoys to and from a beseiged Britain all have their stories told here. The writing is urgent and immediate, it makes one feel that the Battle of Britain occurred only a couple of years ago rather than sixty. I found this book so compelling I read it from cover to cover in two sittings within 24 hours. As a result of this book I have discovered a newfound respect for Winston Churchill, who led Britain and inspired the Dominions of the British Empire through what was our darkest, yet finest hour.