![]() What: Best-selling Erik Larson appears in person in The Music Hall's Writers On A New England Stage series to discuss "The Splendid and The Vile" When someone remarked that Winston’s speeches give people courage, the Prime Minister responded, “I disagree. ![]() "The Splendid and the Vile" also provides important lessons in leadership. “The Germans knew their narrative the British did not,” Larson noted. Interspersed throughout the book are short chapters researched from the German perspective, particularly Goring and Goebbels. We learn about the critical role played by seemingly minor characters as the pivotal year unfolds. Larson recounts the interplay between Churchill and President Roosevelt as the Prime Minister maneuvers to gain support for the war effort. We also see Churchill as a charismatic leader and a deft strategist. “He had a great deal of empathy and he wasn’t afraid to show it.” He loved war and would often go up on the roof to watch the bombing, but he also understood the toll that war took.” Larson said. “He loved to sing and dance to martial music. We asked Larson what surprised him most about Churchill. He was also given to wearing his sky-blue ‘siren suit,’ a one-piece outfit of his own design that could be pulled on at a moment’s notice.” Colville describes scenes he had never witnessed before “Churchill would wander the halls wearing a red dressing gown, a helmet, and slippers with pom-poms. And, when a bomb fell on Number 10 Downing Street, he rushed back in to rescue Nelson. “Found in his personal diaries, those trivialities provide some of the most interesting material.” For example, Winston loved his cat, Nelson, and would often carry him about. Colville’s book, "Fringes of Power," provides an insider’s view of what went on at 10 Downing Street. “Colville claimed that he left out the ‘trivialities’ in his book,” Larson said. The diary and papers of John Colville, Churchills’ private secretary, also yielded a trove of new information. “Mary was, hands down, my favorite character,” Larson said. But we also see the lighter moments-parties with handsome Royal Air Force pilots, romantic "crushes" and debutante balls. We see her frustration at not being able take a bigger role in the war effort. Through her eyes, we feel her concern for her father who made frequent trips by air to France. What emerges is a vivid portrait of Churchill’s family and the people who surrounded them. Mary was 17 years old when the book begins in May 1940, Churchill’s first year as Prime Minister. Now held in the Churchill Archives Center in Cambridge, England, the diary has previously been seen by only one scholar. Larson was given permission to read and excerpt the diary from her daughter, Emma Soames. One of the most valuable sources for his research was the diary of Mary Churchill, the youngest daughter of Winston and Clementine Churchill. We get a glimpse of everyday life as people struggled to "stay calm and carry on." We feel the darkness of the blackout and the eerie silence following an attack. Larson takes us to the air raid shelters where Londoners huddled night after night as the bombs fell on their city. Dramatic scenes are recreated with descriptions of the weather, what people wore, what they ate, and what they witnessed. The dialogue is all factual and accurate, culled from diaries, books and archival material. It is history that reads like a novel filled with suspense, descriptive detail and characters that come alive on the page with all their complexity and conflicts. "The Splendid and the Vile" is not a historical novel. I worked on the book for five years from conception to completion.” The book contains a lot of new material not found anywhere else. Library of Congress where I found some amazing material. “I also spent time exploring archives in the U.S. “I made several trips and spent many happy hours in London, Oxford and Cambridge reviewing old letters and documents,” he said. Now in his eighth book, Larson always relies heavily on archival materials.
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