Appeasing Hitler: The Diplomacy of Sir Nevile Henderson, 1937-39 [Hardcover]

The origins of the Second World War remain clouded in Churchillian mythology. Sixty years on, Peter Neville's controversial book provides an essential reassessment of the appeasement myths by examining a central yet understudied figure. Sir Nevile Henderson has been vilified as 'our Nazi Ambassador in Berlin' by historians and popular memory alike. He has remained in disgrace despite the widespread historical rethinking of appeasement in recent years. Yet there has never before been a book-length study of Henderson despite his central role as Britain's Ambassador. Peter Neville's important reassessment draws upon primary documents to overturn orthodox interpretations. While Henderson's analysis of the Nazi regime was seriously flawed, history has vastly overstated his influence. In presenting the first full and close analysis of what Henderson himself called 'the failure of a mission', the author has made a pathbreaking contribution to the history of appeasement.Preface Acknowledgements Introduction The Emergent Diplomat A Man with a Mission The Anschluss From the Anschluss to the 'May Scare', 1938 From the May Crisis to the Nuremberg Rally. May-September 1938 From Nuremberg to Munich Interlude. October 1938-February 1939 The Polish Crisis Conclusion Bibliography Index

'An essential corrective to the image that has been created of Nevile Henderson as an invertebrate appeaser... Written in a lucid and cultured way, and based upon a very wide variety of sources, this is one of the most outstanding contributions to appeasement scholarship in recent years.' - Andrew Crozier, Reader in History, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London

'This important book fills a chronic gap in the historiography of appeasement. Peter Neville's book is the first major study of a subject far too long neglected and slighted. For over fifty years Sir Nevile Henderson, Britain's ambassador to Berlin 1937-9, has been almost uniformly written off by histlƒ%