Erik Larson Will Keep Calm and Carry On

Inside the List MAN OF ACTION In his previous books — including “Devil in the White City” (about a murder at the 1893 World’s Fair) and “In the Garden of Beasts” (about the family of the United States. ambassador to Germany under Hitler) — Erik Larson has written about historical events where, as he puts it, “The main action might be a little out of the mainstream in terms of who’s paying attention. ” This is not the case with THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE, appearing this week at No. 1 on the hardcover nonfiction list, which explores the life and times of Winston Churchill during World War II.

Larson says, “I don’t think I understood exactly how much had been done on him. There’s an entire bookstore in Manhattan that is strictly Churchill books. I had to think strategically about how I went about the research. I read enough to know the landscape — to build what I like to refer to as my own personal Churchill — and then dove into the archives to find fresh stuff about what it was like to endure the air campaign against Britain if you were the prime minister, one of his advisers or a member of his family.

” In the process, Larson made a half dozen trips to archives across England, several pilgrimages to the Library of Congress and even had a chance to read the diary of Winston and Clementine Churchill’s youngest daughter, Mary, who was 17 at the beginning of the war. (Only one scholar had seen these writings before; Larson received permission from her daughter, who was impressed with how respectfully he treated Winston Churchill in “Dead Wake,” his book about the sinking of the Lusitania. ) What was the most surprising revelation from Larson’s research? He says, “Apart from the diary, which was so charming, what struck me the most was how much fun Churchill could be.

He was inconsiderate, he could be rude and snappish, but his staff loved him and he never held a grudge. ” Larson describes a dinner party hosted by Churchill, where he practiced bayonette drills while wearing a “gold silk dragon dressing gown” and a bespoke pale blue jumpsuit: “He called it his ‘siren suit,’ and when he put it on, because of his ovoid shape, he really did look like an Easter egg. ” As for what it was like to immerse himself in some of history’s darkest days, Larson says, “I actually found solace in this time of death and mayhem. It doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves what real leadership looks like — to have a leader who knows history, who is well-versed in the grand sweep of things, who can recite Tennyson on a rooftop during an air raid.