Blood, Sweat and Arrogance: the Myths of Churchill's War
by Gordon Corrigan
Phoenix, HK$144
'The second world war has become heroic myth in Britain,' writes Gordon Corrigan in the introduction to Blood, Sweat and Arrogance: the Myths of Churchill's War, which Piers Brendon's review in The Independent likens to 'a mess polemic, with bread rolls for premiers and pepper-pots for generals'. Corrigan, a freelance historian and former officer in the Gurkha Rifles, pulls no punches in attacking the perception of British prime minister Winston Churchill 'as the man who won the war'. General Bernard Montgomery comes in for some stick too. Blood, Sweat and Arrogance is a good account of military history, a solid synthesis of what's been written about the war in Europe. Effective use of photographs and informative captioning, and useful deployment of comparative weaponry data and maps, makes for stimulating reading, and an eye for anecdote (such as King George's observation that, with the fall of France, at least Britain didn't have to worry about allies) keeps the pace brisk. Corrigan thinks it's time to re-examine the war and the performance of its key players, bearing in mind Churchill's own comment: 'History will be kind to us. I know it will, because I shall write it myself.' And he did.
