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  • Appeasing Hitler

  • Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War
  • By: Tim Bouverie
  • Narrated by: John Sessions
  • Length: 22 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (25 ratings)

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Appeasing Hitler

By: Tim Bouverie
Narrated by: John Sessions
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Publisher's Summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Appeasing Hitler by Tim Bouverie, read by John Sessions.

On a wet afternoon in September 1938, Neville Chamberlain stepped off an aeroplane and announced that his visit to Hitler had averted the greatest crisis in recent memory. It was, he later assured the crowd in Downing Street, ‘peace for our time’. Less than a year later, Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began.

Appeasing Hitler is a compelling new narrative history of the disastrous years of indecision, failed diplomacy and parliamentary infighting that enabled Nazi domination of Europe. Beginning with the advent of Hitler in 1933, it sweeps from the early days of the Third Reich to the beaches of Dunkirk. Bouverie takes us into the backrooms of 10 Downing Street and Parliament, where a small group of rebellious MPs, including the indomitable Winston Churchill, were among the few to realise that the only choice was between ‘war now or war later’. And we enter the drawing rooms and dining clubs of fading imperial Britain, where Hitler enjoyed surprising support among the ruling class and even some members of the Royal Family.

Drawing on deep archival research, including previously unseen sources, this is an unforgettable portrait of the ministers, aristocrats and amateur diplomats who, through their actions and inaction, shaped their country's policy and determined the fate of Europe.

Both sweeping and intimate, Appeasing Hitler is not only eye-opening history but a timeless lesson on the challenges of standing up to aggression and authoritarianism – and the calamity that results from failing to do so.

©2019 Tim Bouverie (P)2019 Penguin Audio
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic Reviews

Appeasing Hitler is an astonishingly accomplished debut. Bouverie writes with a wonderful clarity and we will no doubt hear a lot more of his voice in future (Antony Beevor)

A brilliant and sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian. Tim Bouverie has written an account of the build-up to the Second World War that reads like a thriller. I couldn’t put it down. (Peter Frankopan)
This is the debut of an unusually talented writer, one of the most promising young historians to enter our field for years (Max Hastings)

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Brilliant

This is a brilliant analysis of the failure of Appeasement and Chamberlain’s miscalculation of dealing with the devil. If Chamberlain and his colleagues had read Mein Kampf he would have understood the nature of the Beast he was dealing with. Chamberlain may have been well intentioned but lacked the insight of a true political leader. Leadership is about analysis and showing direction which he lacked. The British Upper Classes were in a sense to blame lacking true insight and intelligence. If you give a bully free rein then what is written in the famous novel Lord of the Flies becomes true. If Chamberlain had stood up to Mussolini in the first case, and then Hitler occupying the Rhineland then indeed history may indeed been different. Essential reading for all those lambs who wish to lie down with the wolves.

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The prelude

I’ve read a lot about WWII over the years, but this is the first real in depth book I’ve engaged with about the machinations of the appeasement years. It’s a slow burn of a listen, but really interesting to learn more about this fascinating period of recent history.

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Outstanding!

I studied modern european history 1875-1945 in the early 90s and i wished i had this then as a secondary source - it blows away a lot of the fluff surrounding relations between england and germany when Hitler siezed power. How so many people in power in england who ought to have known better fell for the rubbish spewing from hitler and his cronies...Eden and Chamberlain and E.H. Carr and John Maynard Keynes!!! Apologists for Germany with the belief that germany had been treated poorly as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. If you want a great read/listen do yourself a favour and grab this!!!!

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Good material, narration average

Good material, narrator can be a tad annoying when he tries to emphasise or sound like one of the characters.

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fresh

fresh look at those years leading up to ww2 very interesting and engaging. it will help you understand way better than ever the inner struggles mr chamberlin had.

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