September 12, 2006

Book of the Week: The Grand Alliance

Sail on, O ship of State! Sail on, O Union strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

These words, written by Longfellow and sent in a letter from President Franklin Roosevelt, made a profound impression on Churchill as England's struggle with Nazi Germany intensified. Indeed, so profound was the effect they had that he included a copy of the hand-written note in The Grand Alliance, third in his series on the second world war.

As with the first two in the series, I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. Churchill gives us a detailed view of his activities during those trying days, peppered with interesting anectodes. One of my favorites was the story of a German U-boat that surrendered to a British plane, and was later commissioned into the Royal Navy.

Perhaps one of the most striking parts of the book to me was Churchill's description of America's entry into the war after Pearl Harbor. Having just passed the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks at this writing, the following paragraph hit home:

Silly people–and there were many, not only in enemy countries–might discount the force of the United States. Some said they were soft, others that they would never be united. They would fool around at a distance. They would never come to grips. They would never stand blood-letting. Their democracy and system of recurrent elections would paralyze their war effort. They would be just a vague blur on the horizon of friend or foe. Now we should see the weakness of this numerous but remote, wealthy, and talkative people.

As I have mentioned elswere in the blogosphere, it seems to me that these "silly people" were only 65 years ahead of their time.

I highly recommend this book. Click below to purchase it from Amazon. Also, don't forget to check out our library and our bookstore, as well as other "Book of the Week" offerings.

Posted by Andrew on September 12, 2006 12:27 PM.