Bestselling author Erik Larson (THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE) with Christina Baker Kline

Authors Erik Larson (DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY) and Christina Baker Kline (THE EXILES) discuss Erik's new book, THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE. Find more about the book here: bit.ly/3cL1uIq
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz-an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis
“A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”-NPR
“Churchill’s lessons of resilience and his style of steady-handed leadership are essential to the state of mind of American readers.”-Vanity Fair
On 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.
In The Splendid and the Vile, 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.
The Splendid and the Vile 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.
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[@Criscosta]

I just ended the reading of "The Splendid and the Vile" (today is February 18th, 2021) and I can already assure you: this book will be between my BEST readings of the year! I want to read everything Erik Larson already wrote. Great great book!! Greeting from Rio, BRAZIL.

[@PanamaMLE]

Note to Cris....I am reading The Splendid and the Vile also, midway through, and I am totally immersed in the book. I agree that it is the Best! Greeting from Vermont, USA

[@Criscosta]

@@PanamaMLE 🥰😘😘😘

[@michaelangel8133]

Your book showed how overwhelmed the Brits were by German bombers, no night abilities by the RAF to fight in darkness, courage to respect the British people, their finest hour, may Taiwan learn from Brittain, and also American colonies, "give me liberty or give me death"

[@michaelangel8133]

Could your next book be how Chinese Republicans saved the Chinese culture, when Mao killing 20 million Chinese, escaping to Taiwan (who were not happy about this invasion) but are China's future or not...

[@gerrycoogan6544]

It must be very hard to write a book. It took me seven hours just to finish this post.

[@kittysawtelle5552]

Such a good interview

[@michaelangel8133]

Terffic writing, favorite in the garden of the beasts, so human and scary how diplomatic career families enjoying their entitled position, ignoring the horror around them, same with Mary in splendid and the vile,

[@ghulamrasool2556]

Dh Lawrence near nature

[@mdnis]

I’ve read all of Larson’s books, including “Splendid.” His books are all very good. My comment: There is no way Erik Larson did not read or consult David Irving’s books on the subject, especially “Churchill’s War.” Yet the Bibliography, which is quite extensive, has no citation to David Irving. THIS IS CANCEL CULTURE IN THE BOOK PUBLISHING WORLD AND IT’S A DAMNED DISGRACE!!

[@philipgoldsmith8133]

3k

[@terjereinhardtsen211]

S

[@greenman7612]

Cristina is so smug. Yuk!

[@frankrubino1883]

???? So What? What’s your point?