David J Bercuson & Holger H Herwig - One Christmas in Washington (2005)
History – 280 pages – my copy (2006; paperback) bought from the Works in Plymouth for £2.99
- 2 nods out of 5 -
History – 280 pages – my copy (2006; paperback) bought from the Works in Plymouth for £2.99
- 2 nods out of 5 -
History books on the Second World War will never go out of fashion. It seems that popping off a few hundred words on the Nazi menace or Allied fight-back is a certain way to bolster the CV, get your name on the shelves of shops, and maybe even line the pockets. Due to the ample amount of events to cover in the years from 1939 to 1945, the reader rarely fails to be mesmerised and informed. However, Bercuson and Herwig, authors of this book, do not succeed wholly on either front.
One Christmas in Washington primarily concerns the events from November 1941 to January 1942, a time in which the USA was dragged into the war after the cowardly bombing of Pearl Harbour. On hearing the news – at which Churchill expressed a somewhat perverted delight – the British PM hightailed it to Washington to meet with the President to forge an alliance to deal with the Japanese and Hitler and his henchmen.
Such a synopsis offers some mouth-watering prospects of insight and conflict. Yet rarely does the book come to life, which is perplexing when one considers the two staring figures, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt: the British Bulldog and the only President to have won four elections. Both are gigantic figures in 20th century political history and both have had many inspiring and worthy biographies written upon them. But neither Bercuson and Herwig are of the right metal to chart this summit of epic proportions.
One Christmas in Washington primarily concerns the events from November 1941 to January 1942, a time in which the USA was dragged into the war after the cowardly bombing of Pearl Harbour. On hearing the news – at which Churchill expressed a somewhat perverted delight – the British PM hightailed it to Washington to meet with the President to forge an alliance to deal with the Japanese and Hitler and his henchmen.
Such a synopsis offers some mouth-watering prospects of insight and conflict. Yet rarely does the book come to life, which is perplexing when one considers the two staring figures, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt: the British Bulldog and the only President to have won four elections. Both are gigantic figures in 20th century political history and both have had many inspiring and worthy biographies written upon them. But neither Bercuson and Herwig are of the right metal to chart this summit of epic proportions.
Throughout all the book’s 280 pages the writing style is flat and lacklustre. There are many other characters detailed, including the leaders, yet the reader is given standard short biographies of them, as one would find on any Wikipedia page. The range of sources appear stunted – primarily of a secondary nature – and this is one of the book’s chief failings. Nowhere is new ground trotted upon: no new analysis, no new insight.
It is left then to the anecdotes of Churchill to enliven the pages, of which include his conversations with White House staff (‘No member of the White House staff had ever seen the likes of Winston Churchill. Nor would any of them ever forget him’ (p.129)), his smoking and drinking and general winding up of the top brass in the American government. The most notable one details Roosevelt rushing into Churchill’s room with important news, only to find the rotund PM naked after enjoying a bath. Roosevelt made way to promptly exit before Churchill told him: ‘Think nothing of it. The Prime Minister of Great Britain has nothing to conceal from the President of the United States’ (p.217). Despite Churchill later insisting the story was ‘nonsense’, it has stuck to his fame for decades since.
The Christmas conferences were ultimately vital in establishing the alliance that would eventually win the war – the world’s greatest and most vital – in 1945. It is a great pity that the authors were unable to capture this importance, missing a real slice of history. As such, One Christmas in Washington remains a standard read, only a book on the wish-list of Second World War buffs, and to Churchill’s fans in particular.
