August 30, 2006

Book of the Week: Their Finest Hour

"For Romans in Rome's quarrel
Spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
In the brave days of old."

Winston Churchill is at his finest when the subject is the heroic efforts of his beloved Britain during the darkest days of the Second World War. The poem above, which he quotes in the book, adequately summarizes the "temper of the hour".

If the subject is mobilizing people for a conflict (and, given current events, this definitely should be the subject), there is no better book to read than "Their Finest Hour". Second in Churchill's World War Two series, it brilliantly lays out England's struggle from the perspective of her leaders. The following paragraph should be a lesson to our generation:

"This was the moment when my colleagues felt it right to obtain from Parliament the extraordinary powers for which a bill had been prepared during the last few days. This measure would give the government practically unlimited power over the life, liberty, and probperty of all His Majety's subjects in Great Britain."

Could Americans (or Britons, for that matter) stomach such measures today? I have my doubts.

One last quote stands in sharp contrast to today's leadership in the present conflict:

"You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory--victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."

I heartily recommend this book. You can get it from Amazon by clicking the link below. Other recommended reading can be found at our bookstore and library.

Posted by Andrew on August 30, 2006 11:10 AM.