Munich By Robert Harris

We really enjoyed Munich by Robert Harris. It is nine of ten on our scale. It is set in the four days leading up to and including the 1938 Munich Conference with Chamberlain and Hitler as the principals. Two lower level government officials, Paul Hartmann from Germany and Hugh Legat from the UK, are the main action characters. It is a taut page turner with a riveting plot and a great understanding of the geo-political issues at hand.

First two terrible reviews we found in preparing our review. This one gets the names of the main characters completely wrong and is incorrect about when they met. When they met is important to the story because Hitler is coming to power in the 30s. While this one concludes the take-away is Hitler = The Donald:

In one brilliant scene in Hitler’s private train on the way to Munich, Sauer [a Nazi] tells Hartmann [an anti-Nazi]: “We have made Germany great again.” Think about that for a moment. 

We are thinking about it. It is a particularly disappointing example of press bias. That applause line for progressives is what the reviewer got out of an interesting and serious book? He really should have paid better attention.

We all agree it is a tight, intense plot with great depth like the girl from the 30s (Robert will get back to her), Hugh’s cheating wife, and Frau Winter. What makes Munich special is the contrary position it takes on the Conference. Munich and appeasement:

“have become among the dirtiest words in American politics, synonymous with naivete and weakness, and signifying a craven willingness to barter away the nation’s vital interests for empty promises”.

Or see VDH a few days ago in a wide ranging discussion of the problems of projecting weakness that included this:

But too many in the deluded Nazi and Japanese militaries instead judged British appeasement in the mid-1930s, American isolationism during the 1930s, and Russian collaboration from 1939 to 1941 as proof of weakness and timidity. Nothing is more dangerous than stronger powers, even inadvertently, sending signals that are interpreted as weakness by weaker powers. 

Robert doesn’t take the easy way out of castigating Neville. In many ways Neville is the protagonist. We see what influenced him including the almost 700,000 British soldiers killed in WWI. We see his popularity in Germany as crowds shout his name and in the UK as he is welcomed as a hero when he returns with what doesn’t turn out to be peace in our time. One actually great scene is when Paul takes Hugh to Dachau to convince him that Hitler is evil and Hugh says something along the lines of. “We know about Dachau. Stalin has bigger and worse camps.” Munich has serious discussions rather than applause lines.

Another argument for appeasement actually made by Neville goes like this. When we do all this in the pursuit of peace then if war comes the Dominions (remember the British Empire still exists in 1938) and the USA will be more likely to join us. We’re not convinced but Robert make a good argument because he understands both sides.

We’re not sure if Munich is a serious book with a side of intrigue or the other way around. Either way it is an excellent read.