Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War, is a 2019 book by Tim Bouverie about the British policy of appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s.
.png) First edition cover | |
| Author | Tim Bouverie |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | John Sessions[1] |
| Language | English |
| Subject | British appeasement of Adolf Hitler |
| Publisher | The Bodley Head |
Publication date | 18 April 2019 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 512 |
| ISBN | 978-1-84792-440-7 (hardcover) |
| 327.41043 | |
| LC Class | DA47.2 .B685 2019 |
Bouverie explains the policy as a product of the British response to the First World War. Given that an enormous percentage of Britain's fighting-age men had died in a war the purpose of which no one could perceive, Bouverie describes British pacifism as the explanation of Chamberlain's appeasement policy, since "The desire to avoid a Second World War was perhaps the most understandable and universal wish in history."[2] Bouverie describes the antisemitism of the British ruling class as the secondary cause of Britain's reluctance to stand up to Hitler.[2]
The book is a strong response to a number of recent works of historical revisionism that have painted Chamberlain as a "super-pragmatist", much maligned since his options were limited by widespread popular pacifism and also painting him as a man who cleverly used appeasement to gain time that would enable Britain to rearm.[3]
References
edit- ^ Appeasing Hitler. 25 April 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ a b Szalai, Jennifer (4 June 2019). "In 'Appeasement,' How Peace With the Nazis Was Always an Illusion (book review)". New York Times. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
- ^ David Aaronovitch (12 April 2019). "Appeasing Hitler by Tim Bouverie review — Britain's guilty men; The case is well made that appeasing Hitler was not hard-nosed pragmatism but self-delusion (book review)". The Times. Retrieved 5 June 2019.