Join UTK professor Vejas Gabriel Lieulevicius and "Zoom in" to discuss this WWII chronicle of Churchill, THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE by Erik Larson. The event takes place on Wednesday May 13th @ 6pm on Zoom as Union Ave Books and University of Tennessee Humanities Center continue a new Public Books Masterclass series. 

About the Book

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis

“A bravura performance by one of America’s greatest storytellers.”—NPR

“Churchill’s lessons of resilience and his style of steady-handed leadership are essential to the state of mind of American readers.”—Vanity Fair

On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.

In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.
 
The Splendid and the Vile takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.

Step 1 - Purchase a Book: We encourage you to purchase a book to attend, but it is not required. Union Ave Books is offering curbside and home delivery of books, as well as $3.00 shipping at this time. You can order online at www.unionavebooks.com (book link at the bottom of THIS page), or call the store at 865-951-2180.

Step 2 - RSVP: RSVP for the online masterclass discussion at RSVP@unionavebooks.com and you will be sent a link to the Zoom discussion. Please note, attendance is limited to the first 250 people who log in to the Zoom link. The hosts cannot provide technical assistance for the online event and will not provide book refunds if the broadcast experiences technical difficulties. 

About the Presenter

Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, our discussion leader, is Distinguished Professor in the Humanities in the UT History Department and director of the UT Center for the Study of War and Society. He has authored two books on German relations with Eastern Europe: War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity and German Occupation in World War I and The German Myth of the East: 1800 to the Present. He also has produced eight recorded lecture series with the Great Courses company on topics that include global explorers, turning points of modern history, espionage, World War I, diplomacy, dictatorships, the history of Eastern Europe, and communism.

About the Author

Erik Larson is the author of five national bestsellers: Dead Wake, In the Garden of Beasts, Thunderstruck, The Devil in the White City, and Isaac’s Storm, which have collectively sold more than nine million copies. His books have been published in nearly twenty countries.

This event is part of the UT Humanities Center’s Public Books Masterclass series. For more information about the series, visit their website.  https://uthumanitiesctr.utk.edu/public/reading.php