by Andrew Roberts Allen Lane, HK$375
Andrew Roberts' latest work attempts to cover the complex relationship between wartime leaders Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill and their military chiefs George Marshall and Alan Brooke. Roberts admittedly covers some old ground but with the bait of new source material: extensive meeting transcripts and excerpts of illegal diaries kept by a few of the main characters and their inner circles.
In anecdotal style, Masters and Commanders: How Roosevelt, Churchill, Marshall and Alanbrooke Won the War in the West follows the leaders from US neutrality until Roosevelt's death, detailing their intrigue - something the US constantly suspected of the British, often correctly - their violent disagreements and their lives outside their consuming task.
Roberts is clearly enamoured of his subject and has pored over many documents in the creation of the book. While the style precludes extensive use of figures, they are at times used well and inspire the intended awe. Roberts also tries to supply colourful asides, and generally chooses well and with a gift for the absurd. He is also a keen admirer of the fighting men on all sides and is usually on firm ground with operational history.
Including the 'Masters' makes political analysis equally important. Roberts admires Churchill but finds scope for criticism - accusing Commonwealth soldiers of 'coming for rations but not to fight' is 'libel', while Churchill's - and others' - wartime reminiscences can be 'fast and loose with the facts'.
Roberts also discusses domestic political considerations and finds such gems as Churchill on Mahatma Gandhi's hunger strike: 'We should be rid of a bad man and an enemy of the Empire if he died.'