I have to say the first pages in the book should
be read first because I deliberately wrote them in order to draw the reader in.
They tell of an episode in 1929 when Churchill accused the Daily Herald,
a left-wing paper, of faking a photo in order to discredit him. This turned out
not to be true. It’s an interesting story with obvious relevance to today’s
discourse of “fake news”. It also illustrates Churchill’s habit of flying off
the handle, sometimes without knowledge of all the facts, which is a central
theme of the book.
I would also point readers to the passage
dealing with 10 May 1940, the day Churchill became prime minister. Although the
events behind the scenes have been covered in great detail by historians,
nobody had previously traced what the public knew about the day’s unfolding
events and when.
On the morning of the day in question, the Daily
Express carried a report that Chamberlain would stand down—Labour being
unwilling to serve under him in a reconstructed government—and that Churchill
would likely be the new Prime Minister. By the time that the paper hit readers’
breakfast tables, though, they might already have heard the 7am BBC news, in
which it was reported that the Germans had invaded Holland, and that there had
been “air activity in the Thames Estuary”. An hour later, it was known that
Belgium had been attacked too. In the light of the news of the German actions,
Chamberlain briefly determined to hang on, but quickly bowed to the inevitable.
At 6pm listeners were told that the British War Cabinet had met three times and
that “the French Council of minister is in session at this moment”. At three
minutes to six, Chamberlain arrived at Buckingham Palace. Just over half an
hour later, he emerged, to be followed in at once by Churchill. It was now
clear to journalists that the change had been made; but the public did not yet
know. At 9pm Chamberlain himself made a broadcast, in which he announced his
replacement by Churchill. The American news agency United Press quickly
reported that “The change of government was being accomplished in
record-breaking speed for the ordinarily slow and traditionally form-bound
British parliamentary system. Only this morning it generally was believed that
despite the unleashing of the German attack on the low countries and the
imminent threat to the British Isles that it would be 10 days or a fortnight
before a new government might be formed”.
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
A close-up
I have to say the first pages in the book should be read first because I deliberately wrote them in order to draw the reader in. They tell of an episode in 1929 when Churchill accused the Daily Herald, a left-wing paper, of faking a photo in order to discredit him. This turned out not to be true. It’s an interesting story with obvious relevance to today’s discourse of “fake news”. It also illustrates Churchill’s habit of flying off the handle, sometimes without knowledge of all the facts, which is a central theme of the book.
I would also point readers to the passage dealing with 10 May 1940, the day Churchill became prime minister. Although the events behind the scenes have been covered in great detail by historians, nobody had previously traced what the public knew about the day’s unfolding events and when.
On the morning of the day in question, the Daily Express carried a report that Chamberlain would stand down—Labour being unwilling to serve under him in a reconstructed government—and that Churchill would likely be the new Prime Minister. By the time that the paper hit readers’ breakfast tables, though, they might already have heard the 7am BBC news, in which it was reported that the Germans had invaded Holland, and that there had been “air activity in the Thames Estuary”. An hour later, it was known that Belgium had been attacked too. In the light of the news of the German actions, Chamberlain briefly determined to hang on, but quickly bowed to the inevitable. At 6pm listeners were told that the British War Cabinet had met three times and that “the French Council of minister is in session at this moment”. At three minutes to six, Chamberlain arrived at Buckingham Palace. Just over half an hour later, he emerged, to be followed in at once by Churchill. It was now clear to journalists that the change had been made; but the public did not yet know. At 9pm Chamberlain himself made a broadcast, in which he announced his replacement by Churchill. The American news agency United Press quickly reported that “The change of government was being accomplished in record-breaking speed for the ordinarily slow and traditionally form-bound British parliamentary system. Only this morning it generally was believed that despite the unleashing of the German attack on the low countries and the imminent threat to the British Isles that it would be 10 days or a fortnight before a new government might be formed”.