Six Minutes in May: How Churchill Unexpectedly Became Prime Minister [Paperback] Shakespeare, Nicholas

May 1940. Britain is losing the war. Neville Chamberlain is losing his grip on Parliament. And Winston Churchill — erratic, unpopular, mistrusted by his own party — is about to become Prime Minister almost by accident. Nicholas Shakespeare (yes, really) reconstructs the six frantic minutes on May 9th when Lord Halifax, the man everyone expected to lead, hesitated just long enough for history to swerve in another direction. This isn't the Churchill hagiography you've read before. It's a forensic examination of ambition, timing, and the razor-thin margins that separate catastrophe from salvation. Shakespeare draws on newly released diaries and Cabinet papers to show how close Britain came to negotiating peace with Hitler — and how a man nobody wanted ended up saving them anyway. For readers who thought they knew this story.