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"Yet still he could not act. And if he couldn't do it, who would? In that moment, in a flash of clarity, he saw that nobody--not him, not the Army, not a lone assassin--that no German would disrupt their common destiny until it was fulfilled."
- Robert Harris, Munich



I'm a fan of Robert Harris. He writes smart historical ficiton (sometimes, as was the case with, Fatherland alternative-historical fiction). His areas of interest primarily revolve around Nazi Germany and the Roman Empire. I've read several of his books. His prose is never quite at the John le Carré-level of fiction. But, if you like history and are OK with utilizing fictionalized minor characters to tour you around certain times, his books are certainly not a waste of time or money.

'Munich' focuses on Fall of 1938, specifically the time when Hitler and Chamberlain (and France and Italy) are meeting in Munich to appease Hitler by basically giving Germany the Sudetenland. The primary characters are two old friends from Oxford: Hugh Legat works at 10 Downing Street, Paul von Hartmann is a secretary in Germany's foreign ministry. The book ends up being a bit of a bureaucratic cat-and-mouse, while Chamberlain's "Peace at all Costs" basically gives the game away. The book doesn't lead one to walk away with a positive view of Chamberlain, but puts his actions in context (both politically and militarily). It fleshes out the man who will ever be associated with appeasement, political ineptness, timidity, and the phrase: “Peace for our time.�