Scan barcode
A review by librarianonparade
Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour by Lynne Olson
4.0
The wartime alliance between Britain and America has been the subject of innumerable histories, memoirs, biographies, textbooks. Less well-known are the stories of the Americans who were in the war from the beginning, well before America joined the war in the wake of Pearl Harbour, and who all made vital contributions to ensuring that Britain survived that long.
These individuals were all ambassadors in their own way - forging strong relations with British political and military figures, building bridges and fostering understanding between the two government and helping to explain to a wary American public the very real dangers and sacrifices being suffered by the British public. However, this book focuses specifically on three men - US ambassador John Gilbert Winant (a particularly sympathetic figure and one deservedly well-loved in Britain), broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and businessman Averell Harriman - but it goes beyond just the stories of these three men's war, exploring the 'special relationship' of the US and Britain from all angles.
Once America enters the war formally in 1941 the book necessarily takes a wider scope, focusing particularly on Dwight D. Eisenhower's role in preserving and strengthening an often fraught alliance. But it never loses sight of the three men at its heart, all of whom forged such strong relationships with Winston Churchill that they all ended up in love affairs with members of his family - Winant with Churchill's daughter Sarah and both Harriman and Murrow with his daughter-in-law Pamela.
I found this an excellent read, and a really refreshing take on the Second World War. The wartime alliance of the two powers is probably unique in history - the staggering extent of the sharing of war materiel, personnel, locations, bases, intelligence, strategy, command structures was and will probably remain unprecedented. Yet even with two nations with as much in common as the US and Britain, sharing a common language, history, culture, political context, and with as much at stake as there was, the alliance was not destined to succeed without the hard work and understanding of many individuals, both British and American, but few more so than Winant, Harriman and Murrow.
These individuals were all ambassadors in their own way - forging strong relations with British political and military figures, building bridges and fostering understanding between the two government and helping to explain to a wary American public the very real dangers and sacrifices being suffered by the British public. However, this book focuses specifically on three men - US ambassador John Gilbert Winant (a particularly sympathetic figure and one deservedly well-loved in Britain), broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and businessman Averell Harriman - but it goes beyond just the stories of these three men's war, exploring the 'special relationship' of the US and Britain from all angles.
Once America enters the war formally in 1941 the book necessarily takes a wider scope, focusing particularly on Dwight D. Eisenhower's role in preserving and strengthening an often fraught alliance. But it never loses sight of the three men at its heart, all of whom forged such strong relationships with Winston Churchill that they all ended up in love affairs with members of his family - Winant with Churchill's daughter Sarah and both Harriman and Murrow with his daughter-in-law Pamela.
I found this an excellent read, and a really refreshing take on the Second World War. The wartime alliance of the two powers is probably unique in history - the staggering extent of the sharing of war materiel, personnel, locations, bases, intelligence, strategy, command structures was and will probably remain unprecedented. Yet even with two nations with as much in common as the US and Britain, sharing a common language, history, culture, political context, and with as much at stake as there was, the alliance was not destined to succeed without the hard work and understanding of many individuals, both British and American, but few more so than Winant, Harriman and Murrow.