Download Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour AudioBook Free
In Individuals of London, Lynne Olson has written a work of World War II history even more relevant and revealing than her acclaimed Troublesome Young Men. Here is the behind-the-scenes history of the way the United States forged its wartime alliance with Britain, advised from the perspective of three key American players in London: Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant. Pulling from a number of primary resources, Olson skillfully depicts the dramatic personal journeys of these men who, motivated to save Britain from Hitler, helped influence a careful Franklin Roosevelt and a hesitant American public to support the English at a crucial time. The three-Murrow, the good looking, chain-smoking head of CBS Information in Europe; Harriman, the hard-driving millionaire who ran FDR's Lend-Lease program in London; and Winant, the shy, idealistic U.S. ambassador to Britain-formed close ties with Winston Churchill and were drawn into Churchill's standard and personal circles. So intense were their connections with the Churchills that each of them became romantically associated with users of the prime minister's family: Harriman and Murrow with Churchill's daughter-in-law, Pamela, and Winant with his favorite daughter, Sarah. Others were honorary "residents of London" as well, like the gregarious, fiercely ambitious Dwight D. Eisenhower, an obscure basic who, as the first commander of North american forces in Britain, was motivated to do everything in his power to make the alliance a success, and Tommy Hitchcock, a world-famous polo player and World War I fighter pilot who helped save the Allies' bombing advertising campaign against Germany. Individuals of London, however, is more than simply the story of these Americans and the entire world market leaders they aided and affected. It's an engrossing account of the transformative ability of personal diplomacy and, above all, a rich, panoramic tale of two cities: Washington, D.C., a lazy Southern town slowly and gradually growing into a hub of international ability, and London, a class-conscious capital transformed by the Blitz into a style of stoic elegance under violent pressure and deprivation. Deeply human, brilliantly investigated, and magnificently written, Individuals of London is a fresh triumph from an creator swiftly becoming one of the best possible in her field.
