Troublesome Young Men: The Churchill Conspiracy of 1940 Paperback – 21 April 2008

I bought this book for a winston churchill fan for christmas and it went down a torm. he loved how it viewed mr chruchill from another point of view and the spin that was surrounding him in his younger years. the book arrived well packaged and is a great size and contains lots of pictures and snippets. glad i bought!

Excellent outline of the state of the looneys who were Nazi sympathisers. Even after months of war, they still believed that if we left Hitler alone to occupy all of mainland Europe, we would be left in peace. Yeah right !

A good read that produced facts previously unknown to me but was biased to two of the main protagonists - Boothby and Cartland. However once I started it didnt take long to get to the end.

Highly revealing and educational. In retrospect, it's classic evidence of history repeating itself. For Sudetenland in 1938 read Ukraine in 2014.

Very readable history

an interesting read

This a book I should have read sixty years ago. The heroes and villains are clearly defined in the roles they fulfilled which is very different to the popular understanding of these events. There is an understanding and compassion in the author's view of the reasons for the people acting in the way they did. I am 83 and what these people did ensured my future - I am grateful to have the chance to appreciate this historical research.

None

An excellent historical account of the British government and its actions during crucial years before the second world war.

Olson, helps you to understand the goings on in the change of government, in a way that is easy to understand along with getting to know the people involved.

A must if one wants to how WSC came to be the PM in the war years. Very very interesting the way the book presents the events. It is like one living in those days

"Troublesome Young Men" is an excellent piece of historical work. Indeed, I found the book to be quite captivating. I was disappointed when I had finished reading it and will look for other works by Lynne Olson.The essence of the book is the rise to power of Winston Churchill following the appeasement years of the Neville Chamberlain government. With the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to understand why Britain persevered for so long with a government of such ineptness. However, at the time, there was an unwillingness to undertake a potential war. The memories of the Great War were still strong in many people's memories.In contrast to Chamberlain, Churchill saw Hitler for what he was: that is, a danger to civilised society. His challenge was to convince his colleagues and the wider community. In this regard, he was probably not as forthright as many have surmised. Chamberlain did elevate Churchill to the cabinet as Lord of the Admiralty and once this move had been made, Churchill was reluctant to criticise his leader. Olson outlines that Churchill was almost reluctant to take the role of prime minister for fear of being seen as disloyal. Nonetheless, when the prime ministership was his, he threw his whole weight into the effort and, as the cliché goes, the rest is history. Britain ultimately prevailed although, ironically, Churchill was removed from office in 1945. He had won the war and had, in some respects served his purpose.To all readers of general history, this is an excellent book. I recommend it whole heartedly.

An outstanding narrative of the political maneuverings in England just prior to WWII that brought the Country and Western Civilization to the brink of disaster.Written so as to minimize the hard to avoid and confusing constant reference to the titles of the many Tory supporters of Neville Chamberlain's disastrous appeasement policies, the book provides significant insight into the way in which Class distinction among the wealthy of the time led to Britain's unpreparedness for war.The book pays tribute to the small group of politicians who saw clearly the threat posed by the Axis Powers and Fascism and who risked all (and many of whom paid the price in loss of career opportunities and social standing ) to bring Parliament to its senses at the last second.Of particular interest is the description of Winston Churchill's support of Chamberlain right up until the ouster of the latter, leaving Churchill as the only 'acceptable' option as Prime Minister and who, once in power, essentially threw the 'rebels' whose opposition brought him to power 'under the bus' so to speak. Rather than reward them for their courage and self sacrifice (if one can bring oneself to feel empathy for the privileged and wealthy Class to which most of them belonged) Churchill established his new Government reappointing to High Office most of those who supported Chamberlain.Churchill's 'one man rule' during the War relegated most of these Government officials to the role of overseers of execution of his own policies rendering them largely powerless during the conflict. The ultimate result of this was, of course, the Allied victory over the human race's most hideous threat to an unthinkable technology enabled Dark Ages up to that time.This book should be read as a companion to Lynne Olson's excellent other works, 'Those Angry Days' and 'A Citizen of London' which cover the lead up to World War II within the United States and the role played by individual Americans living and working in London in the pre war period who contributed so much to building the victorious coalition which ultimately brought down the Axis.A great and well written read by an outstanding historian.