 guilty men was a short book published in great britain in july 1940 that attacked british public figures for their appeasement of nazi germany in the 1930s. it is the classic denunciation of appeasement and it shaped popular and scholarly thinking for 20 years. ==contents== guilty men was a british polemical book written under the pseudonym "cato" and published in july 1940. it attacked 15 public figures for their failed policies towards germany and for their failure to equip the british armed forces adequately. it is the classic denunciation of appeasement, which it defined as the "deliberate surrender of small nations in the face of hitler's blatant bullying." the book's slogan, "let the guilty men retire," was an attack on members of the national government before winston churchill became prime minister in april 1940. most were conservatives, although some were national liberals and one was ramsay macdonald, the late leader of the labour party. several were current members of churchill's government. the book shaped popular thinking about appeasement for 20 years and effectively destroyed the reputation of ex-prime ministers stanley baldwin and neville chamberlain and contributed to the defeat of the conservative party in the 1945 general election. according to historian david dutton, "its impact upon chamberlain's reputation, both among the general public and within the academic world, was profound indeed".david dutton, neville chamberlain (2001) pp=71â72 the 'guilty men' were:  *neville chamberlain *sir john simon *sir samuel hoare *ramsay macdonald *stanley baldwin *lord halifax *sir kingsley wood *ernest brown (mp) *david margesson *sir horace wilson *sir thomas inskip *leslie burgin *earl stanhope *w. s. morrison *sir reginald dorman-smith  ==authors== the authors were three journalists, michael foot (a future le
1940_books 1940_in_politics 1940_in_the_United_Kingdom Books_about_politics_of_the_United_Kingdom Michael_Foot World_War_II_books