I recently read Lynne Olson’s superb Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War, and I want to commend it to anybody who is (as I am) interested in World War Two.
It flows like a novel. It’s the kind of narrative history that I love to read.
That said, its account of the cluelessness of the politicians in many European countries in the face of the rise of the Third Reich will astonish you — and, I hope, admonish us all. Moreover, its narrative of the petty jealousies and incompetence of many leaders on the Allied side will depress you, and its tale of their coverups, betrayals, and scapegoating will enrage you.
Thankfully, there are also stories of courage, competence, loyalty, heroism, and ingenuity.
I recommend it with unreserved enthusiasm.
And please don’t forget, if you decide to order it (or anything else) through Amazon.com, that you can make donations to the Interpreter Foundation (or to one of many other charities of your choice) through AmazonSmile at absolutely no cost to yourself.
I’ve also seen a number of movies recently. (Long transoceanic flights are my best opportunity for such viewing.) I’ll mention two:
The Queen of Katwe was touching and quite enjoyable.
And, yes, on the recommendation of my movie-history-buff sons I went to see Wonder Woman. In a theater. It’s actually pretty good and lots of fun, and I didn’t find Gal Gadot entirely difficult to look at.
To give you some sense of how much I liked these movies, you need to understand that, according to authoritative testimony from several implacable and anonymous online critics who (so far as I can tell) have never met me, I’m a vicious misogynist, racist, and anti-Semite. Thus, for me, of all people, to like films centered on, respectively, a young African actress and an Israeli model and actress . . . well, there were some considerable obstacles for these two movies to overcome.
Posted from Honolulu, Hawaii
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