- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Hodder Arnold (4 May 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340706260
- ISBN-13: 978-0340706268
- Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,071,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Neville Chamberlain has gone down in the popular imagination as one of the "guilty men", culpable for exposing his country to the costs and humiliation of near-defeat. Yet for most of his life Chamberlain enjoyed a very favourable reputation; appeasement and even Munich won widespread popular support. Once war was declared, he was seen as a competent war leader, at least until March/April 1940. In this work David Dutton looks at the ways in which vilification of Neville Chamberlain developed after his fall from power, and examines historians' recent attempts at rehabilitation. The result is a study of the ebb and flow of the reputation of one of the 20th-century's most controversial politicians, posing questions not only about his conduct and the circumstances of his time, but also about the nature and uses of the historical evidence itself.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is most useful for the way it traces the ups and downs in Chamberlain's reputation over the past 60-odd years. It builds a good case for rejecting the view that Chamberlain was utterly incompetent, foolish and out of his depth as a prime minister. It also provides a convincing account of the severe constraints on British foreign policy in the 1930s. It also points out how Churchill's career was riddled with errors and inconsistencies up to 1938, if not later. And yet, and yet... The most serious accusation against Chamberlain must be that he simply did not grasp the type of man Hitler was and the type of regime that Nazi Germany was. It was his responsibility as prime minister to think about these matters in a far more hard-headed way than he did. It seems evident that even Hitler's Prague coup of March 1939 did not cause Chamberlain to view appeasement as a lost cause. These misjudgements were shocking and will forever stain his reputation. Overall, a good book, though it would have been helpful to include more detail on Chamberlain's three meetings with Hitler - just how underprepared, or bullied, or deceived, or nervous, or resolute, was Chamberlain?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a fair study of a very underrated man. A PM we could do with today!!!
1 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was rather disappointed with this book as i felt that rather than give in detail what happened at Munich it merely attempted to whitewash Chamberlains reputation and savage Churchill's in the process.We all know that Churchill made many errors.After all his conduct of the Norwegian campaign lead in no small measure to the fall of the Chamberlain administration.However evry Prime Minister has a defing time in their career.For Churchill it was the Battle of Britain.For Chamberlain it was Munich.As a result The former is looked upon as one of the greateset Englishman who ever lived,whereas the laters name is still a byword for appeasement and cowardice.The fact is that neither he or his arch appeaser Halifax had any comprehension of the man they were dealing with because of their insular backgrounds.It says a lot about the society and politics of the time that foolish men like these should have held the highest offices in the land.What is almost worse is the fact that if it were not for the fact that Halifax sat in the Lords there is every likelihood that he would have become PM instead of Churchill.What an awful thought.
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