Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England

by Lynne Olson

Book Overview

A riveting history of the daring politicians who challenged the disastrous policies of the British government on the eve of World War II

On May 7, 1940, the House of Commons began perhaps the most crucial debate in British parliamentary history. On its outcome hung the future of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government and also of Britain--indeed, perhaps, the world. Troublesome Young Men is Lynne Olson's fascinating...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374531331
• ISBN13: 9780374531331
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Required Reading for a New Majority

Lynne Olson's book, Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, is a superb study of a younger generation of courageous activists who took on the Chamberlain Machine and ultimately brought Churchill to power. Every republican who wants to create an idea-oriented Republican Party worthy of becoming a majority again should read this book and think about its application to the mess we are currently in. Every conservative who wants to find a 21st century path to do for our time what Reagan did for his should read this book. And every moderate democrat who knows the left wing of their party is a dead-end and incapable of solving America's problems should read this book.

You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say

and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!" With those words to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on May 7, 1940 (quoting a speech of Oliver Cromwell to Parliament in 1653), Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), Leo Amery stunned Parliament and Britain and sounded the death knell for Chamberlain's term as Prime Minister. Three days later, on May 10, 1940, Neville Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill took office. Chamberlain's resignation marks the emotional climax of Lynne Olson's compelling popular history, "Troublesome Young Men". "Troublesome Young Men" tells the story of the small group of Conservative MPs who opposed Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement toward Hitler's Germany from the mid-1930s until Churchill's accession to power. Olson's book is a valuable piece of work for a number of reasons. During the premiership of Neville Chamberlain it was not Winston Churchill who stood out as the primary threat to Chamberlain's appeasement policies but the young MPS who are the subject of Olson's book. Those MPs included future Prime Ministers in Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan and others including Robert Boothby, Ronald Cartland, Bobbety Cranborne (the future Lord Salisbury) and Violet Bonham Carter. Leo Amery was certainly not young, he was a schoolmate of Churchill's at Harrow, but was just as `troublesome'. Olson does an admirable job of taking this cast of characters and providing the reader with information as to who they were and why they took a political stand in the face of fierce opposition from a fierce and vindictive Conservative Party leadership. Olson also does a commendable job of portraying Chamberlain in a light that, while being far from sympathetic, paints a more substantive picture than the usual superficial clichés about his character and premiership that one often finds. Chamberlain's foreign policy decisions were, in fact, disastrous and were the product of the naïve belief that he and he alone, could deal with and control Herr Hitler. However, the image of him as nothing more than a prim, umbrella-toting milquetoast does not stand scrutiny. As Prime Minister, Chamberlain was far from docile and, in fact, was suspicious, domineering and close to tyrannical when it came to maintaining control over Parliament. Olson portrays him, accurately I think, as a very astute politician with a well-developed Machiavellian sense of tactics. Chamberlain outmaneuvered these troublesome young men at every turn. Unfortunately, this masterful ability was expended solely in Parliament and solely for the purpose of keeping himself in power. When it came to foreign policy Chamberlain was hopelessly lost. Perhaps the most compelling and disturbing portrait painted by Olson is that of Anthony Eden. It is easy to forget that during the premiership of Neville Chamberlain that it was not Winston Churchill who stood out as a threat to Chamberlain's appeasement policies but Anthony Eden. The troubles

Flawed rebels

An excellent, absorbing read on a critical, but often overlooked, period of World War II. Olson's portraits of these flawed Tory rebels, with their personal shortcomings, their ambivalence and their ambitions, give the reader a keen sense of how events unfolded. It is painful to watch that golden boy, Anthony Eden, fritter away public adoration at precisely the moment when political fortitude is demanded. This is no march to a preordained outcome in bringing down Chamberlain. It is an uncertain journey, replete with doubt, handwringing, and spurts of courage. Churchill emerges as both formidable and calculating; ruthless yet oddly compassionate toward Chamberlain. We all know the outcome, but the showdown in the House of Commons is nonetheless a real nail-biter. How many books on parliamentary maneuverings can claim that? Olson also deftly recreates the political and social backdrop to the "Phony War," which many historians simply skip over. Most shocking is an examination of the extent to which the British media - in the hands of a few press barons -- play along with the government, leaving the British public largely in the dark over what [...] is up to on the Continent. Fascinating and highly readable.

What it was like

"Troublesome Young Men" tells the story of the people (not all young, not all men, not all Tories, although the book concentrates on Tories) who came together in coalitions to dislodge Neville Chamberlain, thereby opening the way for Winston Churchill. Considering that we know the outcome, or think we know the outcome, the book is full of tension and drama. Will Anthony Eden emerge to lead the rebels? (No.) Will Leo Amery's impassioned speech to the House of Commons, "In the name of God, go," make a difference? (Yes.) And the book is full of surprises, one of them being Churchill's unwillingness to appoint most of the troublesome young men to office immediately after he took power. But above all the book is a pleasure for the sense it gives the reader that we are there. Duff Cooper debates resigning his position as first lord of the admiralty, and does so, even though it means giving up living at Admiralty House, one of London's most splendid residences. Francis Williams, the anti-appeasement editor of a Labour newspaper, picutures in his mind his small daughter doing handstands and his son riding a bicycle, and is torn because part of him thinks it is worth anything to avoid war. The author, Lynne Olson, has a background in journalism, and whether it is because of this or because of her great empathy with things as they are she gives us the privilege of living for a while in another time and country.

Voices In The Wilderness

As the most famous voice against the appeasement polices of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the 1930's, Winston Churchill drowns out the myriad of other voices who spoke out at great personal and political cost. "Troublesome Young Men" is the story of those voices who "brought Churchill to power" against a powerful establishment that brooked no dissent. Prime Minister Chamberlain was detemined to avoid the slaughter of World World I by buying peace at any price and was supported by the English people. He also resembled Richard Nixon with his use of dirty tricks, including taping phone conversations. To oppose a popular PM who could ruin your career was a hard choice for Leo Amery, Ronald Cartland, Harold Nicolson and others. To support Churchill was not a sure thing as he was viewed as being over the hill (he had been in public view for nearly 40 years since the Boer War). These rebels were eloquent in their opposition and courageous in their public convictions. This is a book about politics at its best, when nothing less than the best would save the world.