Coffee with Hitler: The British Amateurs Who Tried to Civilise the Nazis

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Coffee With Hitler offers a rare glimpse into a motley crew who would provide the British government with better intelligence on the horrifying rise of the Nazis than anyone else. The story of Tennant, Conwell-Evans and Christie and their historical journey is an absorbing one, which casts light on many aspects of the period… They deserve the rehabilitation that Charles Spicer has eloquently accorded them.

Darren O'Byrne, History Today 'This compelling book captures the double-edged nature of "one mainstay of British values" - giving "even the most blatantly disgusting people the benefit of the doubt. Caroline Sanderson, Bookseller 'Charles Spicer reveals the bold attempt of a handful of British intelligence agents to infiltrate and civilise the Nazi hierarchy. Charles Spicer tells the chilling story of how otherwise respectable men and women became pawns in a game of international intrigue with a reprehensible regime. Richard Davenport-Hines, TLS 'Spicer's book is a resounding success, retelling the fascinating history of the Anglo-German Fellowship. I understand I can change my preference through my account settings or unsubscribe directly from any marketing communications at any time.

ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING - a major and unique contribution to the body of evidence / information on a vital period of European history. Importantly, the author has provided a reliable and strong backdrop on the positions of various nations including Russia, Austria, Czechoslavakia (now The Czech Republic), Italy, France, and Spain (who were themselves split through civil war during the same period). Charles Spicer draws on newly discovered primary sources, shedding light on the early career of Kim Philby, Winston Churchill's approach to appeasement, the US entry into the war and the Rudolf Hess affair. Julie Gottlieb, professor of modern history, University of Sheffield 'A captivating and convincing revisionist history. Charles Spicer reveals the bold attempt of a handful of British intelligence agents to infiltrate and civilise the Nazi hierarchy.

Or that Hitler himself was so adamant that neither Britain nor France would do anything if he invaded Poland, that when Britain's declaration of war finally arrived at his study in the Reich Chancellery he gave Ribbentrop an icy glare and said 'what now? The reason why this may be important is that Goering's planned trip to the UK, which was cancelled because the war broke out, was arranged by MI6. One, this is a segment of a much larger story and there are elements about which we still know little and, perhaps, that will always be the case about such a controversial area of British History. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. With support from royalty, aristocracy, politicians and businessmen, they hoped to use the much mythologised Anglo-German Fellowship as a vehicle to civilise the Nazis.This tale of the role of the (little known) Anglo-German Fellowship during Britain's slow descent into war as the 1930's progressed, is quite simply fascinating.

The process starts in June 1934 with efforts continuing right-up to the outbreak of the second world war in September 1939; with the addition of a further crucial commentary on the period from September 1939 through to May 1941. And so, the stage is set for confidences, twists, dramas, alliances, broken promises, miscommunication, and double-bluffs. Both appeasers and civilisers overrated their own abilities and underestimated the evils to which they – largely unwittingly – played handmaiden. The book works well as a companion to Tim Bouverie’s fine Appeasing Hitler, focusing less on the well-known events and figures of the era and more on the gentlemanly amateur diplomats of the day. David Lloyd George (right, with Winston Churchill in 1922) became a key figure in the Anglo-German Fellowship.A pacifist Welsh historian, a Great War flying ace, a butterfly-collecting businessman… Coffee With Hitler offers a rare glimpse into a motley crew who would provide the British government with better intelligence on the horrifying rise of the Nazis than anyone else. Coffee with Hitler should make it impossible to continue to lampoon the Fellowship as an unsavoury gang. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. When Hitler rose to power in the early 1930s, public reaction in Britain was not that of unalloyed horror. In this terrific debut, historian Charles Spicer genuinely enriches and deepens our understanding of the Thirties – the all-important decade in which the great and the good of these islands, scarred to the depths of their souls by the Great War, struggled to avoid a second global conflict.

Instead, it lay somewhere between disinterest, snobbish, if inaccurate, contempt (“the man’s a house painter! This unlikely band of mavericks – who included a butterfly-collecting Old Etonian and a left-wing Welsh pacifist – spent five doomed years wining and dining the leading henchmen of Hitler’s diabolical regime. This was accentuated by the accession of Edward VIII, a man who was described approvingly by Ribbentrop as “a kind of English National Socialist”. I could not recommend this book enough - not least because it reveals just how nuanced the whole subject of appeasement had become by1939. Kirkus, starred review 'As a lesson of history, this excellent book is a sober reminder to policymakers to look at the evidence in plain sight.

Or, finally, that it was probably Kim Philby who tipped off Moscow that Herman Göring was planning to fly to Oxfordshire for secret peace talks just before war was declared - causing the visit to be cancelled. It is also not entirely clear what their own agenda really was - where they willing to give Germany a free hand in eastern Europe, where they anti-communists or did they want a milder form of Nazism with which they could along with. The Oldie 'The extraordinary story of three men, a Welsh historian and political secretary, a butterfly-collecting Old Etonian and a Great War fighter ace.