The depths that Churchill plumbed during wartime

Churchill’s Bunker, By Richard Holmes, Profile, €18

Such is the prevailing fascination with World War II that even now, more than 60 years after its conclusion, books on the subject continue to be churned out and devoured by readers.

Amid the numerous fascinating, weighty tomes that exist on the war, there are inevitably lighter, anecdotal works which, although not devoid of historical merit, have no real place in the upper echelon of the ...