{"product_id":"book-dhrk","title":"The Splendid and the Vile","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Devil in the White City\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDead Wake\u003c\/i\u003e delivers a fresh and compelling portrait of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2020 BY \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003eHuffPost \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003eThe Seattle Times \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003eLit Hub \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003eThe Week \u003c\/i\u003e• \u003ci\u003ePopSugar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Splendid and the Vile\u003c\/i\u003e, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Splendid and the Vile\u003c\/i\u003e takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis audiobook includes a recording of Winston Churchill's 1941 Christmas Eve speech.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49327768797488,"sku":"BDdhrk","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD [40]","offer_id":49327768830256,"sku":"40dhrk","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/dhrk-Square-cover.jpg?v=1772656595","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-dhrk","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}