Most people know Winston Groom as the guy who wrote Forrest Gump, or at least the guy whose book was used to model one of the best movies of the 20th century (although the film and the novel are quite different).
However, as I discovered years ago, Groom’s best and most underrated work is his nonfiction. I stumbled onto this when I found The Aviators, a book about Eddie Rickenbacker, James Doolittle, and Charles Lindbergh — I couldn’t put it down. Then I found out Groom had picked all sorts of trios to do similar books, which leads us to Book #5 in the History Pie Literary Society … The Allies.
The Allies, like The Patriots and The Generals, Groom takes three important historical figures, sketches them out, shows how they intersect, and most importantly, remembers that storytelling makes history a lot more interesting than just collecting facts. This book focuses on Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin.
I’ve read more World War II books than I can count, but I learned all kinds of new things from The Allies. For example, did you know Churchill was quite the dashing young man? Many know about his crazy escape during the Boer War and how he dodged a massive manhunt, but the details in The Allies put the reader there. Did you know that he was so good at polo that once, when he was injured, they just tied the bad arm to his body and he carried on?
While telling the story of these three leaders, Groom gives a full view and offers lots of subtleties. None of his books are hero-worship projects, but he gives his subjects a fair and rounded shake, pointing out shorcomings as well as huge accomplishments. In other words, Groom keeps them all human. The research is there, but the writing and organization make it really hard to put any books in this series down. I read and enjoyed them all and am now working through Groom’s Civil War books, although I haven’t taken on any of his novels.
The book reads fast and is not a dense history. It puts the relationship between America, Britain, and Russia in context to tell a story from a slightly different view. Winston Groom is in my Top 5 favorite writers (Ernest Hemingway, Ron Rash, Erik Larson, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Frazier, Ted Kooser, Mary Oliver … okay, maybe that’s eight, but two are poets). I highly recommend The Allies.
Discussion Questions: How can you make stories interesting about people who already have a ton of writing out in the world about them already out there? Why is Churchill so darn interesting? Is FDR still considered as great as he once was?
Writing Prompt: Think of a figure in history whose story has not been told enough and write an introductory paragraph about him or her. Why have they been overlooked? What is so compelling?