<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: It Will Change Your View Of History!
Review: "The Duel" tells the incredible tale of the struggle between two world leaders during the 80 days in 1940 beginning with Churchill's selection as His Majesty's first minister.The pages of this book take the reader through the parrying in Norway and the collapse of France, the German preparation for the invasion of England and its abandonment for the invasion of the Soviet Union. A good measure of a book is whether it causes the reader to view things differently. "The Duel" meets this test. I had always viewed Churchill as a great leader for his success in rallying the British people in defiance of the German onslaught. In "The Duel" we see that Churchill lead a parliament which was by no means united. Even though Churchill was determined never to surrender, there were others for whom a negotiated peace was a desirable option. Not limited to pro-fascists, like Oswald Mosely, who was a real contender to lead a Quisling or Petain style government, potential peacemakers includes such British stalwarts as Lord Halifax, David Lloyd George and the Duke of Windsor. Churchill was challenged to rally the French before their collapse, stiffen the resolve of Parliament and coax the U.S. into an alliance with Britain. Although a failure with the French, Churchill was successful in holding his parliamentary support until he was able to gradually lure President Roosevelt and America out of neutrality. Hitler is portrayed as a calculating politician whose rise to the pinnacle of world power was not a fluke. No madman, Hitler had a plan for Germany which he executed with skill. The succession of sophisticated European visitors who were favorably impressed speaks of his charms during personal meetings. In the pages of this book we read of Hitler's appeals to political personalities in France, Britain and the U.S. There is a saying that "If you can't be good, be good at it." Although tragically flawed, Hitler was good at what he did. His personal magnetism, his "vision thing" and his insight made him, temporarily, the most powerful man in the world. Fortunately he was not good enough at it to hold his position for long. Besides the portrait of the individual duelists, we learn of some of the early operations of the war. Of particular fascination is the case of Dunkirk. One of the major unanswered questions of the War is why Hitler held his army back during the evacuation. Did Hitler hope to negotiate a settlement with England, a country for which he often expressed admiration, after letting its army escape? Was he motivated by a desire to create a showpiece for the Luftwaffe? Or was he motivated by practical considerations of the terrain over which the army would have to fight? Although we will never know the answer to the question of why he held back the army, we can speculate that the war would have turned out differently had the B.E.F. been annihilated. The reading of this book left me with an enhanced respect for both Churchill and Hitler. It was Churchill alone who stiffened the resolve of the British people to fight and to never surrender. This book does not deal much with the atrocities which Hitler committed in his quest to lead Germany to its place of dominance in Europe. What it does show is a leader who was a charming, calculating and, for a time, highly successful, political and military leader. Although now widely regarded as a mad man, this does not describe a lower class man who rose to unchallenged leadership of a great power. Hitler had much going for him. Although his obsession with the Jews certainly sullied his legacy, he did lead Germany to greater heights than any which Bismarck and Wilhelm achieved. When one realizes how many, both within and without Germany "did business" with Hitler, we realize that we cannot be justified in condemning them all. This is a book which makes you think and changes your view of history. Magnificent!
Rating:
Summary: Thank You Mr Churchill
Review: For those of us fortunate not to have lived through those horrid times of 1939-40 this book will give you an insight to the greatest mind power struggle ever in our history. That of the duel between the then two most powerful men in the world, Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. John Lukacs explores the minds of these two men as they plunged the world into battle for survival and delves into the mind set of the times ie - Facisim and Fear. During this time the United States was slowly being cojouled into the conflict through the natural pulling of the heart strings by the well spoken Prime Minister and a thoughtful President Roosevelt. In reality all it did was allow the USA to build up it's might and when the time (premetualy) came for USA's entry into the war, Winston Churchill knew he had won.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You Mr Churchill
Review: For those of us fortunate not to have lived through those horrid times of 1939-40 this book will give you an insight to the greatest mind power struggle ever in our history. That of the duel between the then two most powerful men in the world, Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. John Lukacs explores the minds of these two men as they plunged the world into battle for survival and delves into the mind set of the times ie - Facisim and Fear. During this time the United States was slowly being cojouled into the conflict through the natural pulling of the heart strings by the well spoken Prime Minister and a thoughtful President Roosevelt. In reality all it did was allow the USA to build up it's might and when the time (premetualy) came for USA's entry into the war, Winston Churchill knew he had won.
Rating: 
Summary: This is split-screen history
Review: Imagine you are watching TV - on the left side is Winston Churchill, assuming leadership and consolidating power, urging on the doomed French, at times teary but always resolute, battling the forces of appeasement in his own party and cabinet as much as he is dueling with Hitler. On the right side of your screen is Adolph Hitler, coldly calculating his European chessboard, conferring with his generals, working diligently on speeches, and waiting for what believed was inevitable - a backlash against Churchill in England and a move back toward appeasement. And occasionally, in a small box in the upper left hand corner, you see Roosevelt, wary of Churchill at first, running for an unprecedented third term, promising no American involvement in 'foreign wars,' but ultimately using all his cunning political skills to push for Lend-Lease. This will give you a sense of Lukac's great book on the months immediately following Winston Churchill ascension to the Prime Minister-ship of England. Often, Lukacs achieves this split-screen narrative down to the very hour - for example, on the night of June 24, 1940, as Churchill writes a letter to Stalin asking him to reconsider his 'friendship pact' with Hitler, Hitler assembles his closest circle to engage in his 'table talk.' "The war in the West is over. France has been defeated, and with England I shall reach an understanding shortly...There remains our settling accounts with the East (ie, Russia)." Similarly, on the very night (July 31) that Hitler told his generals that there would be an invasion of Russia, Roosevelt made his decision to go ahead with Lend-Lease to aid Britain. Minor characters move about these images - the depressed Joseph Kennedy, disgraced but still viable Neville Chamberlain, and the canny Lord Halifax. Much of The Duel focuses on Churchill's leadership in the 80 days between May 10 and July 31, 1940 (a year he said he wanted to relive 'again and again'). Many in his party were 'reasonable men' - men who recognized that Hitler was unbeatable in Europe, and that the best course of action was to reach an accommodation with him. Lukacs shows a Churchill who understood the impending doom, but at the same time had an almost otherworldly, "unreasonable' loathing of any compromise with Hitler. This ability to unblinkingly stare into the abyss, as France fell and the British retreated at Dunkirk, but keep going strong is what saved Britain not only from Hitler, but ultimately from its own 'pragmatism.' Pragmatism is usually a good trait - but in this instance, it would have been suicidal for England. Clear writing, adroit character studies of the protagonists, and, above all, a perfectly executed split screen structure make this book read like a novel. I consumed it in two days. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book for those already knowledgeable of the period.
Review: John Lukacs book has an excellent premise; which is that the period of 1940 generally known as the Battle of Britain represented, for the leaders of Britain and Germany, a personal duel in which their ability to motivate and lead their respective governments were critical to the outcome. He makes his case very convincingly; while Britain would certainly have fought under a number of possible wartime PM's (Anthony Eden, perhaps, or Lord Halifax), the personal leadership provided by Churchill was critical to Britain's success. The book assumes a good working knowledge of the players involved and of the period; this is a good book for a World War II history buff, but is not intended to be a primer. This aspect of the book makes it difficult for novices; after having read Churchill's 5 volume history of the war and half a dozen other works, I understood the nuances of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Reads Like a Great Novel
Review: This book covers one of the most important times in the Second World War. It is a very readable study of the contrasts between two men, and how they fought their war. The book shows how close the Germans were to invading Briton, and covers the air battle that was to make the invasion possible. It reminds one of a staring contest; who will blink first.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for those who truly want to understand
Review: This book is a thoughtful treatise on that tense summer, the period leading up to it, and on these two leaders. It explains not only why they behaved as they did, but also provides insight as to why the people of various nations cheered, voted, or reacted as they did, sometimes to the surprise of Hitler or Churchill. I found the comparisons and contrasts of the two men interesting.
This book filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. I learned a *lot* about WWII.
While the author properly introduces a few unknown figures (certainly unknown to me, such as the Norwegian Colonel Eriksen) and explains the weighty impact of their actions, his treatment of more prominent figures assumes prior knowledge. Unless you already have some knowledge of World War II and know who these people are, you will be lost in the corresponding discussion of them --meaning a page or two at a time.
The author explains why some of Hitler's decisions and convictions are unknowable. Lukacs' treatment of Hitler is anything but superficial. He debunks the most popular myths about him. A minor detail: the author explains that the "V" in "V-2" (rockets) stood for "Vergeltungswaffen" which he translates to "revenge weapons," but "Vergeltung" actually means "repayment" or "retaliation." I would translate it as "retaliatory weapons."
The last chapters include an interesting quick summary of major events of the war to its end, and a sparse yet solemn and profound description of the fall of the Reich, and how Europe was changed forever. The earlier lives and backgrounds of Hitler and Churchill are touched on where necessary for clarity or insight, and I found this information riveting.
The book includes a pretty good index.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Crisis of the Twentieth Century
Review: This book is one of the most thrilling that I have ever read. It is about the 83-day period from May 10, 1940, on which day coincidentally Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain and Adolf Hitler launched the German Army against the Western Front, until July 31, 1940, on which day coincidentally President Franklin Roosevelt decided that America would actively support England against Germany and Hitler decided that he would not after all invade England. The author conceives of this period as the theater of a personal duel between the titanic figures of Churchill and Hitler (as he notes, the German word is "Zweikampf", a fight of two) during which Hitler had his best chance of winning what Lukacs called in an earlier book "the last European war". That this figure of monstrous gifts, as he is described by the author, did not win was the achievement of Churchill, who knew after the fall of France that England and its Commonwealth could not prevail against the power of Germany without America and Russia on its side, but willed that England would not negotiate with Germany until events or persuasion would bring these powers into the war against Naziism. Lukacs acknowledges that the overwhelming power of Russia and America was necessary to defeat Germany, but Churchill's achievement was that England did not lose the war. In a later book, "Five Days in London, May, 1940", the author focuses on the period from May 24 to May 28, 1940 within the period of The Duel. Although this five-day period preceded the fall of France, Lukacs identifies it as the period of most acute crisis because the British War Cabinet came close to deciding that England should begin cease-fire negotiations with Germany. It was Churchill's eloquence and force of character that swayed the members of the government, and ultimately the British people, to reject this idea and fight on alone until Germany launched the invasion of Russia. In "The Duel" he deals with this crisis in a chapter called "The Slippery Slope", a metaphor used by the participants to describe the demoralization of the British public that would have resulted from peace negotiations that might have resulted in a surrender to Germany's demands. Another reviewer has remarked, correctly I think, that there is some overlap and repetition in the several books by the author that deal with Churchill and/or Hitler. However, the author possesses such a powerful narrative drive and brilliance of insight into the psychology of his subjects and significance of events that the repetition of phrases from one book to the next has the effect of a recurring melody in a symphony. I have had the privilege to meet and talk with the author about his work. In my first conversation with him about "The Duel" I told him that from his book I had learned both how close Hitler came to winning the war and how much we owe to Churchill. He commented that I had understood his book very well.
Rating:
Summary: Memorably Good
Review: Whenever I discuss the Second World War with anyone, I wind up referring to this book. The pages devoted to the Nazi assault on Oslo harbor, the quick thinking of one Norwegian navy officer, and the possible impact of that officer's actions on the outcome of the war, provide a model for understanding history and the nature of man. A masterwork by an incomparably fine historian.
Rating:
Summary: Memorably Good
Review: Whenever I discuss the Second World War with anyone, I wind up referring to this book. The pages devoted to the Nazi assault on Oslo harbor, the quick thinking of one Norwegian navy officer, and the possible impact of that officer's actions on the outcome of the war, provide a model for understanding history and the nature of man. A masterwork by an incomparably fine historian.
<< 1 >>
| 
