
Churchill's Triumph
A Novel of Betrayal
کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
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نقد و بررسی

January 14, 2008
Dobbs (Never Surrender
) extends his historical fiction series starring Winston Churchill with this title focusing on the Yalta Conference. As WWII winds down, Churchill, Joseph Stalin and FDR meet in Yalta to sort out postwar Europe. All in less than vigorous health (FDR is at death's door), the big three hammer out differences in their competing agendas, a process Dobbs fills with rich historical detail and dramatic flair as “Uncle Joe” Stalin extracts large concessions, particularly land reparations—such as in Russian-occupied Poland—from a deferential FDR and a scrappy Churchill. Meanwhile, Roosevelt lobbies for the formation of the United Nations and simultaneously keeps secret the atomic bomb. Minor characters, notably a Polish plumber trying to flee Yalta, point to the brutality behind what Churchill later dubbed the “Iron Curtain.” Perhaps the weakest negotiator of the trio, Churchill nevertheless maintains, with able assists from Dobbs, his famous eloquence, humor and shrewdness. History buffs and readers with at least a casual interest in Churchill will get the most out of this.

February 15, 2008
Dobbs's fourth Winston Churchill novel (after "Never Surrender"), and his 12th book, attempts to humanize the Yalta Conference of February 1945 by presenting the thoughts and feelings of Churchill with an occasional glimpse into the minds of President Roosevelt and Marshal Stalin. Interspersed with the historical events of the conference's eight days, Dobbs's novel tells the story of a Polish cavalryman who witnessed the massacre of Polish officers in the forest at Katyn and now, a plumber for the Soviets, wants Churchill to rescue him before he is unmasked. In Dobbs's reconstruction, Churchill is a drunken fighter; Roosevelt, a doddering fool interested only in creating the United Nations and in enlisting Soviet assistance against Japan; and Stalin, a ferocious bully but a shrewd negotiator. The betrayal of the novel's subtitle is that of "dull-witted" Roosevelt, who seems set on appeasing the Soviets at Poland's expense. Churchill's triumph, revealed only in the epilog, turns out to be saving France and Germany as a bulwark against further Soviet expansion. He is thus credited with the eventual fall of communism and the freedom of Poland! While the rape of Poland is graphically portrayed, Dobbs's three protagonists come across as unsympathetic caricatures. Roosevelt is so odious that one wonders if any American other than a die-hard Anglophile will enjoy this book. A marginal purchase. [The author of the best-selling "House of Cards", adapted into a popular PBS series, served as a chief adviser to prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major.Ed.]Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tuscon
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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