Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940–45. Max Hastings

       Finest Years

      MAX HASTINGS

      Churchill as Warlord 1940-45

      

       Copyright

      William Collins

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.com

      Published by HarperPress in 2009

      

      Copyright © Max Hastings 2009

      

      The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      

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      Source ISBN: 9780007263684

      Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2009 ISBN: 9780007344116 Version: 2017-07-26

       In memory of Roy Jenkins, and our Indian summer friendship

      Table of Contents

       Cover Page

       Title Page

Copyright

       Dedication

       Epigraph

Introduction

One: The Battle of France

Two: The Two Dunkirks

Three: Invasion Fever

Four: The Battle of Britain

Five: Greek Fire

Six: Comrades

       Seven: The Battle of America

       Eight: A Glimpse of Arcadia

       Nine: ‘The Valley of Humiliation’

       Ten: Soldiers, Bosses and ‘Slackers’

       Eleven: ‘Second Front Now!’

       Twelve: Camels and the Bear

       Thirteen: The Turn of Fortune

       Fourteen: Out of the Desert

       Fifteen: Sunk in the Aegean

       Sixteen: Tehran

       Seventeen: Setting Europe Ablaze

       Eighteen: Overlord

       Nineteen: Bargaining with an Empty Wallet

       Twenty: Athens: ‘Wounded in the House of Our Friends’

       Twenty-One: Yalta

       Twenty-Two: The Final Act

       Keep Reading

       Notes and Sources

       Select Bibliography

       Index

       Acknowledgements

       About the Author

       By the Same Author

       About the Publisher

      It may well be that the most glorious chapters of our history have yet to be written. Indeed, the very problems and dangers that encompass us and our country ought to make English men and women of this generation glad to be here at such a time. We ought to rejoice at the responsibilities with which destiny has honoured us, and be proud that we are guardians of our country in an age when her life is at stake.

      WSC, April 1933

      History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days.

      WSC, November 1940