Book Review-‘The Norway Campaign and the Rise of Churchill, 1940′ by A. Dix

Abstract

Unfortunately, every so often, some books come along which force the reader to ask the question ‘why on earth was this written?’ It is not so much that The Norway Campaign and the Rise of Churchill is a dreadful book, but rather that it is an unnecessary one, although it must be said that this reviewer is inclined to agree with the author’s own assessment, on page xvi of his introduction, that he has ‘little creative talent’. He rather unfortunately goes on to state that he believes himself to be ‘better suited to the plodding nature of trying to write history’, thus simultaneously patronising the many fine modern popular historians who have gone to great lengths to make their books both authoritative and exciting, and revealing his own amateurish approach to historical research and writing. Writing good history is a skill which has to be learned painstakingly over years, and not everyone can do it. It is perhaps one of the great frustrations of this profession that, unlike most others, even today one encounters a steady stream of individuals who just feel like having a stab at it. This reviewer cannot help wondering how Dix would have responded in his professional life as first a lawyer and then a stockbroker, had a retired historian drifted into his chambers and announced that he or she intended to have a dabble at bond trading…

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Filed under: North Sea | WW2
Subjects include: Battles & Tactics