Blood, Sweat and Arrogance

"Gordon Corrigan investigates one of the great mysteries of British military history: why was it that the British, who had managed to beat the Germans in 1918, were unable to match them in 1940? In World War I the British pioneered the use of tanks and ground-attack aircraft, yet in World War II the Germans were the masters. When the British finally did win battles, they were against tiny detachments of the main German army, most of which was in Russia." "It was said of Churchill's own account of the conflict, 'Winston's written another book about himself, and called it The History of the Second World War.' Britain's wartime leader was a consummate politician and a brilliant writer: he concealed his own role in weakening British defences in the 1920s and shifted the blame on to his opponents. Gordon Corrigan reveals how Churchill micromanaged the war - trying to control individual ships at sea from his office during the Norwegian fiasco - meddling that nearly cost us the war." "Britain's most famous general of the war emerges with equally little credit. Montgomery inherited a winning position at El Alamein, took the credit for his predecessor's work, and, as commander in Normandy, single-handedly wrecked Anglo-American relations. Like Churchill, he leapt into print after war with a highly contentious version of events that has remained largely unchallenged this side of the Atlantic." "These are just the two most famous icons that Gordon Corrigan deals with in this devastating new account of Britain's war in Europe and North Africa."--BOOK JACKET.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.