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Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour |  | Author: Lynne Olson
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
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Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 2401
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1St Edition
Pages: 496
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Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 1400067588
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.531
EAN: 9781400067589
ASIN: 1400067588
Publication Date: February 2, 2010
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Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2010: Citizens of London is the story of the American firebrands who broke rank with popular opinion and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with England during the bleak infancy of World War II. Author Lynne Olson more than lives up to the critical acclaim of her last book, Troublesome Young Men, by exploring the origins of an Anglo-American alliance that helped turn the tide during the most widespread conflict in history. Although other "Yanks" rallied against the hesitancy of their isolationist government before Pearl Harbor, few matched the impact of U.S. ambassador John Gilbert Winant, businessman Averell Harriman, and broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. Each recognized the insidious dangers of Nazi aggression, and with the help of meticulous research, Olson elucidates the challenges they endured to help bridge political and cultural gaps between the United States and Britain. At a time when the English capital was described as "swimming in the full tide of history," Citizens of London echoes Tennyson in its tribute to those who strove, sought, and refused to yield. --Dave Callanan
Exclusive Q&A with Lynne Olson Amazon.com: Your last three books (Citizens of London, Troublesome Young Men, and A Question of Honor) have focused on England during the late 1930's/early 1940's. As a historian, what draws you to this period?
Olson: I’ve been fascinated with the place and the period ever since my husband, Stan Cloud, and I wrote our first book, The Murrow Boys, about Edward R. Murrow and the correspondents he hired to create CBS News before and during World War II. Several scenes in the book take place in London during the Battle of Britain and the 1940-41 Blitz. In doing research for The Murrow Boys, I got caught up in the story of Britain’s struggle for survival in those early years of the war – and the extraordinary leadership of Winston Churchill and courage of ordinary Britons in waging that fight. I discovered that there were still a number of stories about the period that remained largely unknown and untold, so I decided to tell them myself.
Amazon.com: Had Pearl Harbor not forced America's hand, how much longer could England have lasted against Germany?
Olson: That’s an excellent “what if” question. Churchill, for one, was desperately worried that Britain would be defeated by Germany in 1942 if the United States didn’t enter the war. In the days immediately before Pearl Harbor, he knew that the Japanese were also on the move, and he was afraid they were going to strike at British territory in Asia. If that had happened, his country would have been forced into a two-front war, with no lifeline from the United States – which almost assuredly would have meant the end for Britain. So it’s no wonder than when he heard the news of Pearl Harbor on the night of Dec. 7, 1941, he was euphoric. It meant, as he later wrote, that no matter how many military setbacks lay ahead, “England would live.”
Amazon.com: In contrast to Winant and Murrow, Harriman was a bit of a bourgeois playboy. What made you include him in this book?
Olson: There’s no question that Harriman’s social life was considerably more hectic in London than that of Winant and Murrow. At the same time, however, he was a dogged, extremely hard-working administrator of Lend Lease aid for Britain, who did what he could to speed up the flow of American help to the British and who pressed the Roosevelt administration hard for more vigorous action and more direct involvement in the war. He also carved out for himself quite an influential role as conduit and buffer between Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill.
I also wanted to include Harriman for another reason – to point up the contrast between his tough-minded pragmatism and the idealism of Winant and Murrow. These three men, I think, reflected the complexity of America and its attitude to the rest of the world at that time. Winant and Murrow, who championed economic and social reform as well as international cooperation, reflected America’s idealistic side. Harriman, who was intent on broadening his own power and influence, as well as that of his country, became an exemplar of U.S. exceptionalism. In the postwar era, it was his world view that, for the most part, dominated American foreign policy.
Amazon.com: You note an almost apathetic Churchill response to American dalliances within his family. Was this a diplomatic necessity or was he simply too focused on the larger picture?
Olson: I’m not sure I would call him “apathetic.” I think that “pragmatic” would be a better word. I should also point out that it’s not an absolute certainty he knew about the affair that occurred between Averell Harriman and Pamela Churchill, the wife of his son, Randolph, which began in 1941. When Randolph later accused his father of condoning adultery under his own roof, Churchill denied any knowledge of what was going on. That being said, I do believe, as did Pamela, that he was aware of what she and Harriman were up to. Churchill loved Randolph, and while I’m sure he was not thrilled about the Pamela/Harriman affair, he knew how important Harriman and the other Americans were to the survival of Britain, and he had no intention of letting personal matters interfere with the national interest. Besides, Pamela proved to be a useful conduit for him and Harriman, passing on to each man information and insights she had found out from the other.
When Pamela took up with Edward R. Murrow later in the war, she was already separated from Randolph, and I doubt that Churchill cared one way or the other. As for the affair between his daughter, Sarah, and John Gilbert Winant, the couple kept their involvement exceptionally discreet. Sarah believed her father knew about it, but he never said anything, and I don’t think he would have minded.
Amazon.com: Talk about the lower-profile "Citizens of London" -- the brave Americans who violated their own country's laws to volunteer for the RAF.
Olson: In the late 1930s, as part of its desperate effort to keep the United States out of war, the American government did, as you note, make it illegal for any U.S. citizen to join the military service of a warring power. But, after Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, thousands of young Americans disregarded that law and traveled to England to join the British or Canadian armed forces. Unlike the hordes of Yanks who descended on Britain just prior to D-Day, the early U.S. volunteers became an integral part of Britain’s military and society.
The best-known volunteers were those who joined the Royal Air Force. Seven U.S. citizens were counted among “The Few” – the celebrated band of RAF pilots who, in their Hurricanes and Spitfires, successfully beat back the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in the summer and fall of 1940. Over the next several months, an additional 300-plus Americans enlisted in the RAF -- so many that they were soon given their own units, called the Eagle Squadrons. Churchill, who instantly saw what a powerful propaganda tool the American squadrons could be, enthusiastically endorsed the idea.
When the U.S. finally entered the conflict, virtually all the Americans serving in the RAF transferred to the U.S Army Air Forces. Of the 244 pilots who flew in the Eagle Squadrons, more than 40 per cent did not survive the war.
Product Description
In Citizens of London, Lynne Olson has written a work of World War II history even more relevant and revealing than her acclaimed Troublesome Young Men. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how the United States forged its wartime alliance with Britain, told from the perspective of three key American players in London: Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant. Drawing from a variety of primary sources, Olson skillfully depicts the dramatic personal journeys of these men who, determined to save Britain from Hitler, helped convince a cautious Franklin Roosevelt and a reluctant American public to support the British at a critical time.
The three—Murrow, the handsome, chain-smoking head of CBS News in Europe; Harriman, the hard-driving millionaire who ran FDR’s Lend-Lease program in London; and Winant, the shy, idealistic U.S. ambassador to Britain—formed close ties with Winston Churchill and were drawn into Churchill’s official and personal circles. So intense were their relationships with the Churchills that they all became romantically involved 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.
Others were honorary “citizens of London” as well, including the gregarious, fiercely ambitious Dwight D. Eisenhower, an obscure general who, as the first commander of American forces in Britain, was determined to do everything in his power to make the alliance a success, and Tommy Hitchcock, a world-famous polo player and World War I fighter pilot who helped save the Allies’ bombing campaign against Germany.
Citizens of London, however, is more than just the story of these Americans and the world leaders they aided and influenced. It’s an engrossing account of the transformative power of personal diplomacy and, above all, 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 class-conscious capital transformed by the Blitz into a model of stoic grace under violent pressure and deprivation. Deeply human, brilliantly researched, and beautifully written, Citizens of London is a new triumph from an author swiftly becoming one of the finest in her field.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
 "These are the times that try men's souls." January 9, 2010
Leonard Fleisig (Here, there and everywhere)
102 out of 107 found this review helpful
It is with no small amount of irony that the words Thomas Paine used to rail against a Britain who had an "army to enforce her tyranny" so aptly describes the aura captured in Lynne Olson's "Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood With Britain in its Darkest, Finest, Hour." But it is must be no coincidence to Ms. Olson that those few U.S. citizens who did stand with Britain during the dark days of the fall of France, the 57 consecutive nights of the bombing of London (and cities throughout the UK) from September 7, 1940 through May 10, 1941, and the evisceration of British merchant shipping by U-Boats in the North Atlantic richly deserve Paine's view that those "that stand by it now, deserve[s] the love and thanks of man and woman."
In Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, Olson told the story of the small group of Conservative MPs who opposed Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement toward Hitler's Germany from the mid-1930s until Churchill's accession to power. Olson's focus on a small group of relative unknowns (at least as far as an American audience is concerned) provided a valuable perspective of the era of appeasement and the premiership of Neville Chamberlain. Similarly, in "Citizens of London", Olson focuses on a small group of U.S. citizens resident in the U.K. who saw earlier than their compatriots that Britain's battle would soon be their own and who found it within themselves to do everything possible to aid a nation on the brink of starvation and despair. In so doing she provides valuable perspective on U.S.-British relations which are often cast(like the policy of appeasement) in the most superficial way.
The three `Yank' citizens were Averell Harriman, Edward R. Murrow, and John Gilbert Winant. Of the three, Harriman and Murrow's stories were known to me. Harriman, a child of wealth and privilege, was by all-accounts up to his time in the U.K. something of a cavalier playboy. He wasn't known for his substance at all but did manage to secure the position as the director of the U.S. lend-lease program in England. Murrow rose from relatively lowly beginnings to become the man whose radio broadcasts during the Blitz helped transform U.S. popular opinion from its isolationist base and in so doing created a remarkable news organization. Gilbert's story was unknown to me. A prep-school and Princeton graduate Gilbert succeeded Joe Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to England. Taken together the lives of these three men and the story of how their time in London resulted in the substantial transformation of their lives as well as the lives of the peoples they shared a war with constitute a pretty remarkable story.
Olson's book works admirably well. Although impeccably researched it remains an easily-read and digested work of history. I think the strongest aspect of the book is the fact that despite its rather heroic title this is no hagiographic treatment of three men on a white horse coming to rescues a helpless nation. Similarly, Olson's treatment of the overriding relationship between the U.S. and Britain is not cast in the light of the firm and eternal `special relationship' in which there was no tension or conflict. The relationship was no easy thing and Olson discusses the flaws and troubles that flowed from that relationship with a critical, even-handed eye.
On the (slightly) negative side I think there is some small loss of focus in the latter third of the book. The story of three men `standing with Britain' gets a bit swallowed up once the U.S. enters the war and millions of men and tons of materiel begin to flood Britain. Needless to say I think that diffusion reflects accurately what happened but the respect and admiration that these men obtained (particularly Winant) did endure. Despite that the book holds up throughout and by the time I was finished I felt I had gained a fuller understanding of the times that tried Britain's soul.
If I had to pick one aspect of the book that will stay with me the longest though it will not be that of the big picture painted by Olson. Rather, it will be of the portrait of the one man, John Gilbert Winant, whose story was totally unknown to me. His story astonished me and moved me as his life played out in the book and I was saddened by the fact that his story seems to have faded from our collective consciousness. For that alone (although there are other reasons to be sure) I hope this book is read and enjoyed by a broad audience. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
London at war January 11, 2010
Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA)
39 out of 41 found this review helpful
This extremely well-written book details the lives and careers of three Americans, Edward R. Morrow, W. Averell Harriman and John Gilbert Winant, who went to London during the height of Britain's struggle to survive, and details how each man contributed to the forging of the Anglo-American alliance.
Of the three, Winant is by far the most important, as he was the U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James and came in almost constant contact with high British officials, including Churchill. In fact, all three become great friends of Churchill and his family, to the extent that each had an affair with one of Churchill's daughters.
London at the time of the Blitz was a city in danger, with bomber attacks almost nightly, and death and destruction all around. The people lived a very precarious lifestyle, with rationing and deprivation on every side. Of course, as with any situation of that type, it seems that only the common people were deprived. The upper classes and the diplomats, officials, and military men had very little deprivation. Thay had access to private clubs and plush hotels, not to mention very filling meals that wreren't available to everyone. They also played "musical beds", even the ones who were already married.
When it comes to the political side of things, FDR does not come off very well. He is seen as a cool and calculating politician, more concerned with how he could rearrange Europe to his taste, and caring nothing for the small countries, such as Poland, which he was very ready to surrender to Stalion's tender mercies. He's a much more venal figure than we usually read about, but it seems to be much truer to the man than the worshipful biographies about him that abound.
There's a lot in this book that I didn't know before, and I enjoyed every page of it. If you are interested in World War II and want to learn something new, I highly recommend this work.
Outstanding New Book on WWII January 10, 2010
Booklover (United States)
29 out of 32 found this review helpful
Congrats to Lynne Olson for a wonderful new book on World War II. This book focuses on the relationship between England and the United States during World II. More specifically, it examines the influence of three Americans: Edward R. Murrow, John Gilbert Winant, and Averell Harriman.
The strength of the book is the research. Wow. I don't know how long it took Olsen to finish this book, but I was blown away by her hard work. It doesn't appear that anything escaped her attention.
The writing is also very good. I'm a history buff, but I also want a good story. The content is compelling, and I expect someone will buy the film rights. It's got it all. War, romance, conflict, intrigue, tragedy, heroic actions, and suspense.
Olson also makes real the horror the people of England faced during World War II. Some of the passages are heartbreaking to read.
This a fine effort, and one I will be recommending.
Really outstanding, but could have been a 6 star book January 13, 2010
Jeff (Northern California)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I liked this book a lot, but it really is 3 books in one. It's a 6 star book for how well 2 of them turn out and a 4 star for the other.
The first 40% of the book follows three American's who moved to London and were essential in tying the two countries together: Edward R. Murrow, Averill Harriman, and John Winant, respectively the great CBS radio correspondent, the presidential special envoy on Lend Lease, and the American Ambassador who replaced the wrong-headed Joseph Kennedy. Lynne Olson has done excellent research on this period and she includes interesting (and sometimes saucy) anecdotes about which are very informative.
This part of the book is history writing at its best. She has a wonderful narrative style and she also got a very good editor. This part of the book flies by and is exceptional for its prose and the tale it tells.
The focus then shifts to a host of other characters who also helped on one side or the other and well as tracks Harriman after he was posted to Moscow as ambassador over his strenuous objections. The focus also shifts to telling us more about the progress of the war and the campaigns.
When the secondary characters are interesting, this part of the book is as good as the part referenced above. The section about Tommy Hitchcock who single mindedly drove adoption of the P-51 by the Army Air Force over the objections of senior staff because it had a British engine tells a seldom told tale and tells it very well.
However, the general narrative of the war and all of the squabbles really loses a lot of energy from the first part. This tale has been done before, and done better (see John Keegan's History of World War II as an example.) The shift in narrative focus was jarring for me as she shifted off Murrow/Harriman/Winant.
Finally, there is the 'color' section of the book that really tries to look at the experience of living in England from the points of view of many people, such as the African American soldiers stationed in England or the East Anglican farmers who lost their land to bomber bases whom history has passed over. These stories are also very unique and very compelling. Olsen is strongest when she is telling us about the experiences of people inside the larger context of the war. She's less strong on the pure 'Here is what was happening' narrative of the war itself.
Two other complaints: one, discussing military campaigns without any maps in the book just makes no sense. The vast majority of readers do not know North African geography well enough to understand the North African campaign. In these desert battles, geography is everything, and for some reason no one felt compelled to put a single map into the book. That's an elementary oversight.
The other is the lack of pictures. For a book whose strength is in its depictions of people (often-photographed people as well), it is amazing that the only picture is on the front of the book, and that is not a very good one. Since Pamela Churchill is a very significant player due to her liaisons with both Harriman and Murrow, and since Churchill's biography (Reflected Glory, referenced as source material by Olsen in the bibliography) has well over a score of pictures, it doesn't make sense to me to have none in this fine volume.
So, read this book for the tales of the key characters (especially the not so well known John Winant, a towering, tragic figure of a man) and you'll be richly rewarded. This book is recommend most highly for anyone interested in WW II and who understands that strong players often stamp large moments in history to match their particular personality. That happened in spades here. Olsen writes as if she were on the spot, and it makes for very compelling reading.
Men of vision in humanity's darkest hour. January 15, 2010
Graves (Pennsylvania)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Today the relationship between Great Britain and the United States is noted by its particular closeness and the two nations are greatly enamored of each other. When it comes to World War 2 it is thought the two people's had an instant rapport but it wasn't always that way and in 1940 a great many Americans were actively prejudiced against the British.
Citizens of London, follows the careers of three Americans who knew better. Who knew that this was not just another European squabble but a war between freedom and oppression. They understood it was a war that was worth fighting and their nation must enter the fray to decide a conflict ultimately between good and evil. And it was their job to explain this to their countrymen and once war was declared, smooth over the relationship between Britons and Americans who had only the barest knowledge of each other.
Although the three men had intertwined goals and fates, they each had their own missions. Politcal animal Averell Harriman ran the Lend-Lease program, whereby FDR twisted the Constitution into knots to give aid to the British people without violating the letter of neutrality laws. John Winant, Ambassador to the court of St. James, who had to undo the damage done to the alliance by Kennedy and smooth over relations between two very powerful personalities, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, neither of whom was accustomed to dealing with an equally strong will. Lastly Edward R Murrow, the reporter, set out to change American's view of the war as something distant and unworthy and his calm style made him the archetype of the media reporter to this day.
Olsen writes as if her readers have only a very basic knowledge of the war and while she never talks down to the reader, for someone with a knowledge of the war you sometimes have the urge to say "Yes, yes I know, get on with it!" which she does. She also spends an excessive amount of time on setting up the people. I didn't need, for example, all of John Winant's career as governor to know he was a man of amazing personal integrity or that Edward Murrow didn't have indoor plumbing until age 14 to know about his ability as a journalist.
I don't think Olsen is padding. She is trying to show the extent of her research and trying to paint as vivid as picture as possible of her heroes, but she doesn't need to. Olsen is a good enough writer that in very short order we know who these men are and what they face. Her style is enough that we are aware of what they must do, to convince their country men of the desperate importance of their cause.
What she does do is to write so well and so vividly it is as easy for the reader to visualize the `smoke filled rooms' of political planning as the smoke filled streets of London during the blitz. She gives a fair description of both sides American and English, and what they wanted out of the alliance and what they feared, something that we looking back with 60+ years of hindsight take for granted but was certainly up in the air as Britain stood alone.
In the end Olsen has written an amazingly good book. She gets a little wordy in places but it contributes to a rich work or men who were in the right place at the right time. Men who understood that Britain was indeed the "bridgehead of humanities hopes" against what one man said was, "a new dark age, made more protracted and evil by the light of perverted science." Citizens of London is the storey of men who had the vision and courage to stand up to complacency and popular sentiment until the rest of their countrymen understood the need to take up the sword.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 68
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