John F. Kennedy's work includes Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience. He's known for his contributions to literature, particularly within the American experience.
Why England slept.
Why England slept.
Synopsis
John F. Kennedy wrote "Why England Slept" in 1940, adapting it from his Harvard senior thesis. The book examines why Britain was unprepared for war with Nazi Germany during the 1930s, tracing the political and psychological pressures behind the government's appeasement policy, its slow pace of rearmament, and the broader question of how a democracy responds to the threat of totalitarian aggression. Kennedy weighs the role of public opinion, disarmament sentiment, and defense spending debates in shaping Britain's response to Hitler.
The title echoes Winston Churchill's own account of the same period, "While England Slept," published two years earlier. The book sold roughly 80,000 copies in the UK and US after its release; Kennedy donated his royalties from British sales to the bombed city of Plymouth.
Genres
Subjects
Edition
Why England sleptUnknown, 1981
252 pages
Greenwood PressLanguage: EnglishISBN: 97803132287425 editions available
You May Also Like
More History from 1940
More Political Thriller books
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same book as Winston Churchill's "While England Slept"?
No. They are two different books by different authors on a similar theme. Winston Churchill's "While England Slept" (1938) is a collection of his speeches warning about Britain's military unpreparedness. John F. Kennedy's "Why England Slept" (1940) is his Harvard senior thesis, later published as a book, analyzing why Britain was slow to rearm and confront Nazi Germany. Kennedy's title is a deliberate echo of Churchill's.