“A judicious account of when Europe stood at the crossroads... Boyle writes with intelligence and passion.” Roger Moorhouse, author of The Devils’ Alliance September 1938. Hitler is poised to send his troops into Czechoslovakia, which is expected to lead to a wider European war. His generals are poised to remove him from power when he orders war. But somehow, none of these things took place. Instead, in an extraordinary series of betrayals, and three dramatic nail-biting diplomatic summits, the British and French gave Hitler everything he asked for. The Second World War was averted, but only for a year. David Boyle’s gripping, hour-by-hour account tells the story as it seemed at the time, so that we can make up our own minds about the controversial - and probably naive - decision by prime minister Neville Chamberlain to fly to Germany three times, to meet Hitler and to bring back what he believed was "peace for our time". Munich 1938: Prelude to War relates the tale of the huge efforts by appeasers and anti-appeasers, like Halifax and Churchill, the diplomats, translators and spies, and the heroic plotters who were hoping to assassinate Hitler before it was too late. We may never agree about what we think now about the Munich conference - whether it was betrayal or breathing space before war - but we can hear the story, and learn from it. So that we never make the same mistakes again. David Boyle is a British author and journalist who writes mainly about history and new ideas in economics, money, business and culture. He lives in Crystal Palace, London. His books include ‘Unheard Warfare in the Dardanelles’, ‘Towards the Setting The Race for America’ and ‘The Age to Come’. Praise for David Boyle 'A wonderfully elegant and pithy reappraisal of the “miracle” that saved Britain' Saul David ‘Exhilarating’ - Daily Mail
Author
David Boyle is the author of Blondel’s Song: The Capture, Imprisonment and Ransom of Richard the Lionheart, and a series of books about history, social change and the future. His book Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life helped put the search for authenticity on the agenda as a social phenomenon. The Tyranny of Numbers and The Sum of Our Discontent predicted the backlash against the government’s target culture. Funny Money launched the time banks movement in the UK. David is an associate of the new economics foundation, the pioneering think-tank in London, and has been at the heart of the effort to introduce time banks to Britain as a critical element of public service reform - since when the movement has grown to more than 100 projects in the UK. He is also the founder of the London Time Bank network and co-founder of Time Banks UK. He writes about the future of volunteering, cities and business. His work on the future of money has also been covered in books and pamphlets like Why London Needs its own Currency (nef, 2000), Virtual Currencies (Financial Times, 2000), The Money Changers: Currency reform from Aristotle to e-cash (Earthscan, 2002) and The Little Money Book (Alastair Sawday, 2003). He has written for many national newspapers and magazines, and edited a range of magazines including Town & Country Planning and Liberal Democrat News. He is the editor of Radical Economics. He lives in Crystal Palace, in south London, with Sarah and Robin (two years old). He is a member of the Federal Policy Committee of the Liberal Democrats and he stood for Parliament in Regents Park and Kensington North in 2001.
