The Last Lion, Vol II, by William Manchester

This in-depth analysis of Winston Churchill from 1932-1940 centers on his years of absence from the government and general unpopularity across Great Britain.

Hindsight is 20-20, but each page reveals the British Government's astonishing ignorance of the reality of Hitler and Nazi Germany.  But not-so Churchill.

The leading prime ministers of the era, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain, advocated appeasement to Hitler as he slowly advanced across the Ruhr, Austria, the Sudetenland and the remainder of Czechoslovakia.

I knew of appeasement prior to reading this book.  I knew it stemmed from England's horrific experience of WWI.  I understood the desire for peace.  I knew that Chamberlain had made a historic trip to Munich in 1938 to negotiate an agreement with Hitler.  And I knew that Chamberlain believed he had left Munich with an ironclad understanding with Hitler that he had no further designs on expansion beyond Czechoslovakia.

What I didn't know was that appeasement reigned so strongly in Chamberlain's character for so many years.  That he and his Government made most decisions - internally and externally - based on whether or not they would draw Hitler's ire.  They acquiesced from any decisions that would offend him in any way. 

I did not know that Chamberlain really desired to ally with Nazi Germany, that he believed the two nations' destinies lie along the same path, partners in the war against Bolshevism.

Therein lie the main difference between Churchill and Chamberlain.  While both knew that Nazi Germany and Communist Russia were inherently evil, Churchill understood that the former was the greater evil.  Chamberlain the latter.

So throughout the 1930s Churchill was the only constant voice against the rise of Nazi Germany in the British nation.  He wrote unceasingly, in books, magazines and syndicated columns, about the secret rearmament of Germany in violation of the Versailles Treaty.  He called attention to the weakness of the British military and Chamberlain's refusal to rearm.  He spoke with great force and clarity, in the House of Commons and at events both public and private.

And no one listened.  He was a pariah except within a tiny group of intimates.

But Hitler eventually proved Churchill's case.  The major turning point followed the Munich Agreement of 1938.  That event climaxed in public adoration and apotheosis for Chamberlain.

But in the months that followed, as Hitler violated the agreement and invaded Czechoslovakia.  As he murdered countless Czechs and moved towards Poland, Great Britain finally came alive to Churchill's decade long call for armament.

The book ends in 1940, with Churchill's long-delayed rise to Prime Minister and Britain's awakening to the realities of Hitler.