The Americans who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour

by Lynne Olson, 2010, Random House, New York

This book is about three Americans who played prominent roles in London during World War II, ambassador John Gilbert Winant, Edward R. Morrow, and Averill Harriman.  While Morrow and Harriman are well known, Winant seems to be pretty much a forgotten figure in our history.

Lynn Olson not only portrays the roles each of these played, but she also outlines many other aspects of the war, including many aspects of the relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill as well as some of the stress that Eisenhower endured .  She focuses particularly on the issues that strained the relationship between Britain and the U.S. prior to and during the war years.

The book is extremely well researched and is very readable.  I was somewhat surprised, however, by her depiction of Roosevelt and a vacillating, dithering leader and Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s dislike of one another.  The book left me with the impression that Olson focused a bit too much on negative incidents and discounted the positive accomplishments and aspects of these situations.  Why, for instance, did Churchill go into a complete emotional funk on hearing of the Roosevelt’s death when he supposedly didn’t like or get along with him all those years?  Why do the British seem to recall the all the American soldiers who were in England during World War II with such nostalgia if they wreaked such havoc on its citizens?

Despite what I think is possibly too much focus on the negative, the book provides a telling framework of the relationship between the British and the Americans in World War II and the differences in our cultures.  It also provides a lot of information about John Gilbert Winant who played a significant role in helping to ameliorate our differences during that time, even though he seems to be largely forgotten.