Raising Churchill's Army

With considerable verve French takes up the thankless task of defending the army's performance ... French's analysis of the doctrinal debates of the interwar period is a refreshing and at times startling revision of the standard account. Canandian Military History A work which is both rich in its documentation and provocative in its conclusions ... an important book as well as a rewarding one. English Historical Review Raising Churchill's Army is wide-ranging, thorough, lucid, and compelling. It will deservedly become a central text on the British Army in the Second World War ... deserves to be read by anyone seriously interested in the emerging debates surrounding the nature and performance of the British Army in World War II. Twentieth Century British History It will become required reading for any study of the British experience in the Second World War. The Journal of Military History David French cuts through both the cant of the memoirs and the claims of the revisionists in a study that is scholarly, cogent and profoundly important. Hew Strachan, Army Historical Research Masterful and fascinating book ... not just a military history but a carefully woven account of the political, economic, social, and personal elements that illustrate the way that an army is equipped and led, and how and why it fights. CHOICE A formidable study of the British Army before and during the Second World War. Dr. Matthews Hughes, University College Northampton, RUSI. This book makes a key contribution to the debate about how the British fought the Second World War, and why the Allies took so long to win it ... David French's book makes compelling reading for any serious student of the Second World War. Max Hastings, Yorkshire Post Arresting new study ... a bold book - the boldness of its conception too easily taken for granted - as stimulating and discriminating as anything in the field since the iconoclastic Firepower: British Army Weapons and Theories of War 1904-1945 (1982) by Shelford Bidwell and Dominick Graham ... His work is a comprehensive exercise in ground-clearing, and a searching assessment of each element of fighting power ... It is a noble calling, and it makes a convincingbook. Alex Danchev, Times Literary Supplement