'Ministers at War' Named Book of the Month by BBC History Magazine

Posted May 19, 2015

Jonathan Schneer’s book Ministers at War: Winston Churchill and his War Cabinet (Basic Books, 2015), was named Book of the Month by BBC History Magazine just one month after its March release in the U.K.

Schneer’s book was reviewed by fellow expert in the field David Stafford, the author of Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets (Sphere, 2000), recommends the title as a vivid celebration of national unity at the supreme moment of crisis in 1940 when Britain faced the possibility of defeat as well as a study of the often fractious relations within Britain’s Second World War government.

“It’s always refreshing to read a book that covers familiar terrain yet brings a different eye and perspective to bear on it. Jonathan Schneer has succeeded with considerable aplomb,” said Stafford in the published review. “This highly readable book makes it clear that Churchill was surely the right and only man for the job.”

Schneer, a prize-winning historian, reveals in the book that Churchill depended on a team of powerful ministers to manage the war effort as he rallied a beleaguered nation. Selecting men from across the political spectrum, he assembled a War Cabinet that balanced competing interests and bolstered support for his national coalition government. The outcome of the war thus lay not only in Churchill’s individual brilliance, but also in his skill as an executive and the collective ability of men who set aside their personal differences.

Jonathan Schneer, professor in the School of History, Technology, and Society, teaches modern British and European history to undergraduate and graduate students. His research areas include class, colonialism and empires, labor politics, and evolutions with a regional focus on Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.