The second of six volumes, Their Finest Hour takes us through the momentous year of 1940 beginning with the start of the Battle of France and the ascension of Winston Churchill to the Prime Ministership. In many places this volume is more gripping than the one that precedes it - the Norwegian campaign, which I found was discussed at too far a length, is almost immediately forgotten about as the real show in France takes center stage. Churchill describes the Battle for France in an excellent manner, rightly describing it as the preventable high tragedy that it was. Much to my surprise, and happiness, the descriptions of the interplay between the British and French governments hold center stage through most of this first half of the book. Churchill shows with remarkable ease the sense of hopelessness that rapidly came to dominate French thinking. Their principal military leaders - Gamelin and Weygand - are either incompetent or unable to react in step with events (in one remarkable scene Churchill describes meeting with the French government in a chateau with only one phone, located in the restroom of all places). The French political leadership is almost as bad, but its strongest figures such as Paul Reynaud are simply not up to the task.

Following the Battle of France the rest of the book looks at the Battle of Britain, Home Defenses in Britain, negotiations to keep the French fleet out of German hands, relations with Vichy France and Nationalist Spain, Lend-Lease, and the situation in the Middle East. On a large degree these lack the tempo that the first half of the book has, and took me much longer to get through until the pace improved dramatically near the end with the British victory over Italian forces on the Egyptian border. Still, this second volume is just as good as the first - their is still a large number of high quality maps included and almost a hundred pages of appendixes of which a large portion are Winston Churchill's private correspondence. My only complaint is the amount of run on shown by some of the correspondence put directly into the text, and the lack of responses to those letters - especially from figures such as Franklin Roosevelt. ( )

This volume takes us from roughly May of 1940, through December of 1940. Churchill records the ups and downs, the victories and defeats, the known and the unknown fears of that time. It is the inside scoop, so to speak. A way to look inside the workings of his brain. I found it fascinating reading. Some of the numerous memos to various staff members can grow tedious, but his narrative is living and vibrant. I felt myself there in the midst of it all. His humor is so dry you might miss it, but don't, it is really fine. I'm sure there is a book of his public speeches out there, and I intend to have it someday. They are rousing and inspiring and far-sighted. I find the speech he gave at Neville Chamberlain's funeral full of wisdom and grace. "The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions." That is just a tidbit of the speech. ( )

Volume 2 of Churchill's WW2 including Battle of Britain - very good reading for Americans who don't know much about the war prior to 12/7/41 ( )

"For Romans in Rome's quarrel
Spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
In the brave days of old."

Winston Churchill is at his finest when the subject is the heroic efforts of his beloved Britain during the darkest days of the Second World War. The poem above, which he quotes in the book, adequately summarizes the "temper of the hour".

If the subject is mobilizing people for a conflict (and, given current events, this definitely should be the subject), there is no better book to read than "Their Finest Hour". Second in Churchill's World War Two series, it brilliantly lays out England's struggle from the perspective of her leaders. The following paragraph should be a lesson to our generation:

"This was the moment when my colleagues felt it right to obtain from Parliament the extraordinary powers for which a bill had been prepared during the last few days. This measure would give the government practically unlimited power over the life, liberty, and probperty of all His Majety's subjects in Great Britain."

Could Americans (or Britons, for that matter) stomach such measures today? I have my doubts.

One last quote stands in sharp contrast to today's leadership in the present conflict:

"You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory--victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

http://www.comingstobrazil.com ( )

Second volume of Churchill's WWII memiors deals with the fall of France and Britian's 15 months of lonely battle against Hitler. Once again very readable and excellent use of primary source material. Was everyone really so united? ( )

http://rivkat.livejournal.com/127510.... ( )