Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War: 1938-1941

'Simultaneously incisive but nuanced, and studded with sharp pen portraits, Britain at Bay offers a scholarly, invigorating and beautifully constructed tour d'horizon of perhaps the four most crucial years in our island story.' - David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain, 1945-51Britain at Bay might be the single best examination of British politics, society and strategy in these four years that has ever been written ... beautifully written, thoroughly researched and cleverly presented. I put my copy down with deep satisfaction. - Wall Street JournalBritain's wartime story has been told many times, but never as cleverly as this. Alan Allport begins with JRR Tolkien writing The Lord of the Rings, and moves on to the IRA bombing of Coventry in August 1939. Familiar stories such as Munich, Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain are here, but the social and cultural framing is always unexpected. ... A bracing, surprising, provocative book, and an enormous pleasure to read - Dominic Sandbrook, The TimesThis extraordinary book punctures many of the myths that have become so influential about Britain in the Second World War without robbing the period of its spectacular drama - Professor Richard Vinen, author of The Long 68 and National Service