In 1940, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia fell, and the evacuation of troops from the French coast was just two weeks away. Residents of London and the surrounding area expected an invasion of German troops by sea and air any day now, and the “Battle of Britain”—an exhausting confrontation with the forces of the Luftwaffe—loomed ahead. At this difficult time for the country, Winston Churchill took the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain to demonstrate to the world what true political leadership is. In his book, Eric Larson chronicles the daily lives of Churchill, his family and ordinary citizens during the darkest year in 20th-century London's history, drawing on diaries, archival documents and declassified intelligence reports, some of which have only recently become available to historians. Fear and Hope is the compelling story of how the eloquence and tenacity of a great statesman united a nation against the onslaught of unrelenting terror.