 Citizens
of London
The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour
by Lynne Olson
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In her latest book, Lynne Olson, author of the highly acclaimed Troublesome
Young Men, focuses once again on Britain in World War II, this time from an
American perspective. Citizens
of London is
the engrossing behind-the-scenes
story of how the United States and
Britain forged their crucial wartime alliance, as seen from the viewpoint of
three key American players in London. Drawing from a wide variety of primary
sources, Olson depicts the personal journeys of these men, who, determined to
save Britain from Hitler, helped convince a cautious Franklin Roosevelt and
reluctant American public to back the British at a critical time.
The three – Edward R. Murrow, the handsome, chain-smoking head of CBS News in Europe; Averell
Harriman, the hard-driving millionaire who ran FDR’s Lend-Lease program in
London; and John Gilbert Winant, the shy, idealistic U.S. ambassador to Britain
– formed close ties with Winston Churchill and were drawn into Churchill’s
official and family circles. So intense were their relationships with the
Churchills that all of them were involved romantically with members of the prime
minister’s family: Harriman and Murrow with Churchill’s daughter-in-law, Pamela,
and Winant with his favorite daughter, Sarah.
Citizens of London,
however, is more than the deeply human story of these three
Americans and the world leaders they aided and influenced. It’s a compelling
account of the transformative power of personal diplomacy. Above all, it’s a
rich, panoramic tale of two cities: Washington, D.C., a lazy Southern town
slowly growing into a hub of international power, and London, a staid,
class-conscious capital transformed by war into a vibrant cosmopolitan
metropolis, humming with energy, romance, excitement, and danger. To a number
of Americans who spent time in wartime London and the rest of Britain, the
country seemed like a kind of Brigadoon -- a magical place where courage,
resolution, sacrifice, and sense of unity and common purposed triumphed, if only
for a few short years.
February 2010
Published by Random House
hardcover / 496 pages
ISBN-10: 1400067588
ISBN-13: 978-1400067589 |
