The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

This is how history ought to be told. The big picture is so much more interesting when you see the small details, the humans who lived it all. Larson does a great job diving into Churchill’s life and leadership during the Blitz. It was a very interesting – “v. interesting”, as Mary Churchill might have written it – read.

I was struck by the way that for the British people, life seemed to continue almost as normal despite the constant threat of bombing. Surely it was a terrifying time, and yet when the bombs began to fall each night, people didn’t just cower in shelters. They were often out fighting fires, helping the wounded, or simply taking in the terrible sight of plane after plane passing overhead. I think we’re all capable of being more brave and resilient than we realize.

As someone who’s trying to establish a more consistent journaling habit, I also was impressed by the detailed journals from which many of the facts were drawn. Without those journals we likely wouldn’t know many of the more personal, seemingly trivial bits that show the human side of Churchill and others.