Troublesome Young Men - Lynne Olson

Lynne Olson writes a fascinating account of British politics in the two years before Winston Churchill became prime minister of Great Britain. It focuses on the young Conservative politicians who worked to bring down the Chamberlain government, but along the way it discusses in detail the catastrophic, appalling, craven policies of appeasement, illuminating why even now politicians invoke “Munich” to encourage the march to war.

The book also provides glimpses of the class structure of Britain – boy, howdy, am I glad not to be a part of that. For instance, the Cavendish family, thought to possibly be richer than the royal family, owns a 30,000-acre estate and an ancestral home with 297 rooms – putting America’s largest house, the Biltmore Estate, to shame. The Cavendishes looked down on Harold Macmillan, who married into their family, because while his family was wealthy (they founded Macmilllan Publishers), they had made their money “in trade”, that is, by working for it. Even after Macmillan became prime minister, held that post for six years, and presided over great prosperity in Britain, the Cavendishes thought him beneath them.

Also, the book is full of interesting characters and incisive language. After Chamberlain came back from Munich where he had sold Czechoslovakia out to the Germans, he proclaimed, “Peace with honor.” The first lord of the admiralty, Duff Cooper, resigned in protest of the Munich agreement. He said later to friends that if Chamberlain had said “peace with terrible, unmitigated, unparalleled dishonor” perhaps he, Cooper, would have been able to stay on.


Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England
Lynne Olson
2007
Available from Amazon