Subtitled ‘Secrets of Leadership’, this book grew, I believe, out of a radio programme of the same title Roberts produced for the BBC.
It’s an excellent book: an easy yet compelling read, in just over 200 pages Roberts uses that old ‘compare and contrast’ m.o. to examine these two Titans of 20th C. history.
This is also the first of Roberts’ books I’ve read in which his Tory politics are quite so plainly aired; he refers very disparagingly to liberals and the left, and their ideas, in a manner bordering, at times, on glib.
Interestingly, whilst he’s still an ardent Tory, Roberts’ views in some areas appear to have evolved somewhat, since this was written in 2003; if you’d only read this book, you might find his later book ‘Napoleon The Great’ somewhat surprising.
However, if the above sound like the potential criticisms they indeed are, nevertheless, this book remains an excellent and by and large very judiciously balanced examination of its difficult subjects. And what fascinating subjects they are!
Having said this, there is a slight (some might say extreme) imbalance, and in more than one way, in that the book not only gives Churchill more column inches, ending with a study on how he has been perceived since his passing, but also falls in step with the vast majority of post-WWII literature on the two men in its fulsome praise of Churchill and crowing dismissals of Hitler.
But when the case is argued as eloquently and convincingly as Roberts does here, it’s hard to disagree. And, in broad brushstroke terms, I don’t! Nor is this simply Churchill hagiography vs Hitler as fall-guy punchbag. The failings of the former, and the strengths of the latter are also examined.
Roberts says very early in his book that one of the key ways in which he separates Hitler and Churchill, and their methods or styles of leadership, is by describing the former as a charismatic leader, and the latter as inspirational. To understand exactly what he means by this might require you to read this book. I’d highly recommend that you do.
A fascinating polemic which, despite not sharing the authors’ politics, I thoroughly enjoyed reading.