Used. Hardcover. Before Winston Churchill and George Orwell became the towering titans of twentieth-century truth, they were both remarkably close to becoming historical footnotes via some remarkably bad timing in the mid-1930s. Thomas E. Ricks traces the parallel paths of a politically exiled bulldog and a mildly successful novelist who somehow possessed the singular spine to stand entirely alone against the rising tides of fascism and communism. It’s a cracking good dual biography about how two vastly different Englishmen recognized totalitarian threats from both the left and the right when the rest of polite society was busy appeasing them. If you’ve ever wondered how democracy managed to muddle through its darkest hour with only a handful of stubborn wits to guide it, pull up a chair for this one.