When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940

As an American reader, I found this a bit of an eye-opener. We revere FDR as "the president who stood up to Hitler"—and yet here we learn that it was Germany, in fact, which finally declared war on the U.S. Prior to the events of 1941, FDR showed remarkably little interest in the war in Europe. Nor was I aware of the widespread public US sentiment that we should do whatever was necessary to support Britain in the early 1940s. Roosevelt comes across, in fact, as indecisive and uncommitted; Churchill, while not idealized here, at least had a clear grasp of what the German occupation of Europe meant for the remainder of the western world. It's refreshing to see Churchill portrayed not simply as a great orator, but as an impassioned individual who saw the Nazi threat for what it was and struggled to communicate this to those around him. A few items I surprised me in particular: Churchill's proposal to merge the British and French empires, and the role of the U.S. in stripping Britain of its financial assets (albeit in the interest of re-armament). This is a painstakingly researched, carefully interpreted account of events of which Western civilization needs to be reminded. It may seem long-winded (mostly in the interest of thoroughness, I believe), but it's well worth checking out—and narrated with considerable skill.