King George VI

Still visible above swirls of pettiness, heroes remain: Brooke, the great general; above him, looming ever larger, the man who saved liberty.

Today, we need not flinch from the image. Sutherland saw a man behind the legend, reached deep, and gave us the man. The legend needed no portrait.

The Splendid and the Vile is the story of the London Blitz, from the moment that Winston Churchill became prime minister on 10 May 1940, until the Luftwaffe raid that destroyed the parts of the House of Commons exactly one year later, coincidentally on the same night that Rudolf Hess flew to Scotland.

In the best biography since 1991, Roberts's witty, fluent, flowing prose captures the adventure, energy, and incessant movement that Churchill produced.

Irish self-determination is something Churchill is alleged to have opposed. The truth is quite different. Readers will do well to understand the nuances.