Six Days in May

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The coverage of the Norwegian campaign of early is thorough and well explained. Churchill's rise to the premiership could not have been predicted even days -- or minutes -- before it happened, and Shakespeare goes into a great amount of detail, including mini-biographies of the main players. The detail drives rather than impedes the narrative, and Shakespeare's smooth and witty prose makes this book a top-class addition to the coverage of this part of WW2.

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Everybody knows that Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England in May of , gave his famous, "Blood, toil, tears, and sweat," speech, and went on to glory. Volume 1 of Churchill's book, "The Second World War," ends with a chapter describing the fall of the Chamberlain government and his own appointment as Prime Minister. Churchill deals with the whole subject in less than 9 pages, which amount to no more than a very brief summary of events, with almost no background or exploration of competing interests.

William Manchester's "The Last Lion," disposes of the same subject in 35 pages.

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Both accounts leave the impression that Churchill was the inevitable -- indeed, the only possible -- successor to Chamberlain. Now, at last, Nicholas Shakespeare has devoted a whole book to the serious negative baggage that Churchill carried, the backstory of each other contender, the jealousies, the back-room meetings, and the what-ifs that led to Chamberlain stepping down, and Churchill being appointed.

Nicholas Shakespeare is English his father was a Member of Parliament, and was present during the events described , and naturally assumes a familiarity with English politicians of the WWII era that most American readers lack, so it is necessary to read the book with Wikipedia at hand to keep up with the cast of characters. That said, we finally get the story behind the story, which -- as might be expected -- contains more political maneuvering by Churchill and his supporters than either Churchill or Manchester include in their accounts.

My only criticism of the book is that Shakespeare blames everything that went wrong during this campaign on Churchill, then serving as First Lord of the Admiralty. While Churchill as First Lord certainly bears responsibility for convincing the Cabinet to take action in Norway, he bears no responsibility for the failures of the Army once that decision was made.

Everyone plans for the last war, and the British Army might have been prepared for a repeat of trench warfare in France, but it was wholly unprepared for the contested landings across open beaches and the flexible cross-country maneuvers that were required in Norway. Perhaps the worst mistake out of hundreds was entrusting the campaign to reserve troops, instead of transferring a first-line unit from France.

That, as well as every other mistake guns landed without ammunition or gunsights, no maps, muddled chain of command, etc. If you have an interest in the details of how and why Churchill became Prime Minister, read this book. Use the HTML below.

You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 2 Oscars. Learn more More Like This. Birdman of Alcatraz John Frankenheimer, Charles Crichton. The Manchurian Candidate The Young Savages The Gypsy Moths Edit Cast Complete credited cast: James Mattoon Scott Kirk Douglas Martin 'Jiggs' Casey Fredric March President Jordan Lyman Ava Gardner Eleanor Holbrook Edmond O'Brien Raymond Clark Martin Balsam Paul Girard Andrew Duggan William 'Mutt' Henderson Hugh Marlowe Harold McPherson Whit Bissell Frederick Prentice Helen Kleeb Esther Townsend George Macready Christopher Todd Richard Anderson Edit Storyline An unpopular U.

The astounding story of an astounding military plot to take over the United States! The time is or or, possibly, tomorrow! Mono Westrex Recording System. Edit Did You Know? Trivia A liberal Democrat, Burt Lancaster was hesitant to take the role of Scott, as he felt the character and film unfairly vilified the conservative Republican party.

Kirk Douglas persuaded him that the role of Scott was a morally ambiguous figure rather than a villain. Goofs When the president's secretary, reporting Paul Girard's death, tells Secretary Todd that the plane's wreckage is scattered for miles, she is seen moving her arms to her sides twice - as the president is shown leaving the room, then again immediately after as he's shown entering the side room.

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