This slim work reads like a courtroom defense. Sir Nevile Henderson, Britain's Ambassador to Germany from 1937 to 1939 has been condemned by many historians for what is perceived to be a pro-German policy that ran counter to some Whitehall administrators. Neville debunks this charge by citing diplomatic correspondence that portrays the Foreign Office frequently at odds with the Prime Ministers they served. Unspoken is the argument that if the Western powers had chosen to rearm and demonstrate courage, they could have stopped Hitler in the Rhineland and on other occasions up to the start of the war. But Chamberlain and Henderson were so anti-war, their memories of the slaughter of WWI so pervasive, that they could not conceive of any other strategy than to avoid military conflict at all costs, which, of course, in dealing with Hitler was simply throwing oil upon a fire. Neville never mentions an alternative reality in which the democracies defeat the fascists in Spain, roll back Mussolini's conquests, and squelch Hitler when he began to violate the rearmament provisions of Versailles. Another important point is that the British upper classes' loathing of Moscow practically forced Stalin and Hitler into their non-agression pact. So this defense of Henderson, while successful on a line by line reading, totally ignores the damage he and Chamberlain (together with the appeasers in France) inflicted upon the world. ( )