num_pages: 602
description: History has not looked kindly upon Neville Chamberlain. Despite a long and distinguished political career, his trip to Munich in 1938 and the 'appeasement' of Hitler have forever overshadowed his many other achievements and blighted his reputation, his name now synonymous with the futility of trying to reason with dictators and bullies. Yet, as this biography shows, there is much more to this complex and intriguing character than is generally supposed, and even the infamous events of 1938 are open to more charitable interpretations than is usually the case. Appeasement brought the British government crucial time in which to rearm, and in particular allowed the RAF to drastically increase the number of fighter aircraft it could muster for the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940. Based on the study of over 150 collections of private papers on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as exhaustive exploration of British government records held in the National Archives, it is no exaggeration to say that the author has surveyed virtually all the existing archival material written by or to Chamberlain, as well as a high proportion of that referring to him. As such, this volume will no doubt establish itself as the definitive account of Chamberlain's life and career, and provide a much fuller and fairer picture of his actions than has hitherto been the case.
language: English
title: Neville Chamberlain: A Biography
titlecomplete: Neville Chamberlain: A Biography
characters: Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, Samuel Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood, Benito Mussolini, Anthony Eden, Horace Wilson, Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George, Leo Amery, Adolf Hitler, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Austen Chamberlain, John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, Joseph Chamberlain
genres: Politics, History, Biography, World War II
ratings_count: 13
publisher: Routledge