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Summary: One of the finest wartime diaries ever published
Review: John Colville's wonderful, readable diary of the Second World War should be required reading for anyone interested in 20th century British history and the life of Winston Churchill. At times funny, moving, heartbreaking and always compulsively readable, Colville's writings allow one to see the inside of 10 Downing street in the weeks and months when the nation was preparing for Nazi invasion. The diary can be broken down into four parts, with the last three concerning Colville's life as a soldier in the war and his life as a private secretary under first Clement Atlee and then the second Premiership of Churchill. These three sections are all readable and fun. What makes the diary so wonderful, however, is the first four hundred pages, concerning Colville's role as private secretary first to Neville Chamberlain and then to Winston Churchill during the first two years of the war. In the diaries Colville becomes something of a stand in for the larger British public; at first admiring Chamberlains moral stature while remaining skittish about Churchill's supposed "unreliability." Later, after the summer of 1940, Colville would come to love and admire Churchill, and view him as the savior of his nation. This book is must reading for those interested in Churchill and the war. Not for the big picture, mind you, as we all know how the story ends. It is the little things that makes Colville's diary so wonderful, like snippets of conversation Churchill had when sat at dinner or the bon mots he threw at friends and foes alike. Colville work humanizes Churchill, and reminds of why he is so worthy of our admiration.
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