Product Description

In the early autumn of 1940, stricken with incurable cancer, Neville Chamberlain reflected upon the likely judgement of history upon his career. `Few men', he concluded, `can have known such a tremendous reverse of fortune in so short a time.' A little over two years before, following his dramatic flights to visit Hitler, Chamberlain had been lauded as the man who saved the world from the very brink of war. But the outbreak of that war in September 1939, the collapse of his own government in May 1940, and the military perils that soon followed set in motion a process that would leave him the most reviled, discredited Prime Minister of the twentieth century, the leading exponent of a disastrous and humiliating foreign policy, and the most culpable of the `Guilty Men'. Despite a mass of revisionist history over the last 30 years, the popular reputation of Neville Chamberlain remains that of a man taken in by Hitler, a man who really believed that he had won `peace for our time'.



Yet whatever the ultimate verdict on the policy of appeasement, Chamberlain's reputation deserves to be based on his career as a whole. Despite an enduring image as a right-wing Conservative, his most constructive work was carried out in the field of social reform. He was also seen at the time as a successful Chancellor of the Exchequer, who steered Britain out of the worst effects of the Depression, and a formidable party political manager.



David Dutton traces the evolution of Chamberlain's reputation, among contemporaries and those who have lived since, in the popular mind and in the changing evaluation of academic history, and gives his own appraisal of one of the most conspicuous political careers of the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #552784 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Review
Dutton shows a remarkable command of the historiographical thickets, and leads the reader through its labyrinths lucidly and with commendable dry wit. --Times Literary Supplement



The clarity of Dutton's prose, his adept use of the primary sources, and his command of the secondary literature will impress every reader. Indeed the book is an exemplary historiographical analysis. Dutton's study of Neville Chamberlain and his political career should be made compulsory reading for history undergraduates. --(The International History Review )

Review
Dutton shows a remarkable command of the historiographical thickets, and leads the reader through its labyrinths lucidly and with commendable dry wit. (Times Literary Supplement )

The clarity of Dutton's prose, his adept use of the primary sources, and his command of the secondary literature will impress every reader. Indeed the book is an exemplary historiographical analysis. Dutton's study of Neville Chamberlain and his political career should be made compulsory reading for history undergraduates. (The International History Review )

About the Author
David Dutton is Professor of Twentieth-Century British Political History, University of Liverpool, UK

Customer Reviews

Judicious, compact study
This book is most useful for the way it traces the ups and downs in Chamberlain's reputation over the past 60-odd years. It builds a good case for rejecting the view that Chamberlain was utterly incompetent, foolish and out of his depth as a prime minister. It also provides a convincing account of the severe constraints on British foreign policy in the 1930s. It also points out how Churchill's career was riddled with errors and inconsistencies up to 1938, if not later. And yet, and yet... The most serious accusation against Chamberlain must be that he simply did not grasp the type of man Hitler was and the type of regime that Nazi Germany was. It was his responsibility as prime minister to think about these matters in a far more hard-headed way than he did. It seems evident that even Hitler's Prague coup of March 1939 did not cause Chamberlain to view appeasement as a lost cause. These misjudgements were shocking and will forever stain his reputation. Overall, a good book, though it would have been helpful to include more detail on Chamberlain's three meetings with Hitler - just how underprepared, or bullied, or deceived, or nervous, or resolute, was Chamberlain?

Yet another attempt to whitewash Chamberlain
I was rather disappointed with this book as i felt that rather than give in detail what happened at Munich it merely attempted to whitewash Chamberlains reputation and savage Churchill's in the process.We all know that Churchill made many errors.After all his conduct of the Norwegian campaign lead in no small measure to the fall of the Chamberlain administration.However evry Prime Minister has a defing time in their career.For Churchill it was the Battle of Britain.For Chamberlain it was Munich.As a result The former is looked upon as one of the greateset Englishman who ever lived,whereas the laters name is still a byword for appeasement and cowardice.The fact is that neither he or his arch appeaser Halifax had any comprehension of the man they were dealing with because of their insular backgrounds.It says a lot about the society and politics of the time that foolish men like these should have held the highest offices in the land.What is almost worse is the fact that if it were not for the fact that Halifax sat in the Lords there is every likelihood that he would have become PM instead of Churchill.What an awful thought.

Excellent for studying that period
This is a fair study of a very underrated man. A PM we could do with today!!!