Cabinet's finest hour : the hidden agenda of May 1940 / David Owen.

Author
Owen, David, 1938- [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • London : Haus Publishing Ltd, 2016.
  • ©2016
Description
xi, 276 pages : illustration ; 25 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks DA587 .O94 2016 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    "In May 1940, the British War Cabinet debated over the course of nine meetings a simple question: Should Britain fight on in the face of overwhelming odds, sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives, or seek a negotiated peace? Using Cabinet papers from the United Kingdom's National Archives, David Owen illuminates in fascinating detail this little-known, yet pivotal, chapter in the history of World War II. Eight months into the war, defeat seemed to many a certainty. With the United States still a year and half away from entering, Britain found itself in a perilous position, and foreign secretary Lord Halifax pushed prime minister Winston Churchill to explore the possibility of a negotiated peace with Hitler, using Mussolini as a conduit. Speaking for England is the story of Churchill's triumph in the face of this pressure, but it is also about how collective debate and discussion won the day--had Churchill been alone, Owen argues, he would almost certainly have lost to Halifax, changing the course of history. Instead, the Cabinet system, all too often disparaged as messy and cumbersome, worked in Britain's interests and ensured that a democracy on the brink of defeat had the courage to fight on." --Publisher description.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    Contents
    • Preface
    • Speak for England
    • In the name of God, go!
    • The politics of the Coalition Government
    • The hidden agenda; minutes and documents; diaries
    • Speaking for all of us
    • Dunkirk and defiance
    • Epilogue: Prime Minister to President- conflict and the post-war cabinets.
    ISBN
    • 9781910376553 (hardback)
    • 1910376558 (hardback)
    OCLC
    961824867
    Other standard number
    • 40026707198
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