Their Finest Hour by Winston S. Churchill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the second volume in Churchill’s 6-volume history of World War II. It begins with the invasion of France, and Churchill’s desperate attempts to keep France in the war and fighting. But France could not keep fighting, so the British evacuated what troop[s they could from Dunkirk. After that, Britain stood alone against a power the controlled all of continental Europe from Poland to the Atlantic, something that had not happened since Napoleon. Clearly Germany would try to take Britain next, but to launch a successful crossing of the English Channel they needed control of the skies, and that is when British pilots had “Their finest Hour.”

It is valuable as a view from a participant in the events of the war. As Churchill once said “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it,” and he did do just that. That said, while he was a participant, this is clearly not a disinterested reading of history, and should be looked at with a small grain of salt, and supplemented with good collection of works from professional historians if you want a more balanced view. Churchill is always concerned to make himself look good, so you need to keep that in mind. Still, he is such a good writer that I enjoyed the whole series.

I listened to this as an audio book.



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