Interesting story of the man whom most preferred as Prime Minister ahead of Churchill in the dark days of 1940. Halifax was an aristocrat, devout Christian, devout hunter, canny and popular politician (hence the Churchill family nickname of Holy Fox), but possessed of the certain knowledge that Churchill, not he, was the man to lead Britain in the worst crisis it had ever faced. Now generally dismissively associated with pre-war appeasement, in fact he was one of the first British politicians other than Churchil to recognise that Hitler could not be deterred other than by war. Before his political career he was a skilful and reasonable Viceroy of India, who did much to advance the cause of Indian independence. Fascinating book that concentrates mostly on Halifax's career and very little on his private life, but the perspective of the pre-war years is dramatic and engrossing. A better than average biography ( )