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Introduction: A Very British Experience
1. Challenges of Coalition Management: The ‘Empire
Air Training Scheme’ Negotiations
2. The Other ‘Battle for Britain’: Muddling Along on the Home
Front
3. First Victory: Forgotten Success in East
Africa
4. The Struggle of Command: Operation Crusader
and the Failure of British Leadership
5. Twelve Tumultuous Months: Britain, the Dominions and the
Politics of the Widening War
6. At War with ‘the Old Empire’: The Often Difficult Alliance
with the United States
7. Military Defeat, Political Crisis: The Loss of the Tobruk
Garrison
8. The Worst Case: The Second ‘Battle’ for Kenya
9. Blood and Treasure: Britain and the Second World War
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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“Andrew Stewart’s latest captures
brilliantly the latest scholarship of the field and sheds new
light on how Winston Churchill led Britain and the Commonwealth
throughout the war. Whether it is putting overlooked campaigns
in Africa in the correct perspective or demonstrating how coalition
warfare – especially Britain’s
relationship with the United States –
affected Britain’s postwar status, A Very British Experience
is an important addition to our fundamental understanding of
World War II. A remarkable achievement.”
Kevin W. Farrell, PhD,
Colonel, U.S. Army Chief, Military History Division
United States Military Academy
West Point
“Andrew Stewart has brought a fresh
eye to the apparently familiar subject of Britain's role in
the Second World War, and in the process has produced a gem
of a book. In particular, his critical reappraisal of Britain's
'1940 moment' is historical writing of a very high order indeed.”
Gary Sheffield, Professor of War Studies, University of Birmingham
“The nine chapters address various aspects of the war, notably defense of Britain,
intra-Commonwealth politics, diplomacy, and mobilization,
the protracted and overlooked campaign against Italian East
Africa as well as the much better documented desert war and
the political crisis sparked by the fall of Tobruk, and the
burden of the war on Britain’s purse. A mite disjointed at
times, as some of the chapters first appeared as journal
articles, A Very British Experience will be useful for those
interested in the Second World War, as it throws new light
on the inner tensions within Britain and its Empire and Commonwealth
that helped shape events.” New York Military Affairs Symposium
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