Macmillan's Diaries, which were begun almost casually as letters home to his wife, soon became a regular daily journal. They are considerably augmented from other documents written at the time and give a vivid picture of Macmillan’s life: the strange mixture of grandeur and austerity, of crises and tedium. At one moment recovery from illness and reading Jane Austen in bed, at another disposing of great events; relishing the visual impact of the northern African countryside, or touring the war-ravaged landscape of Sicily and Italy. These Diaries not only provide a historical record of a very unusual experience at a turning point in the Second World War, but are also a personal memoir in which the dramatis personae ranged from the familiar figures of Churchill bellowing indiscretions on the telephone and de Gaulle unpredictable in everything but his chain-smoking to the calm but effective Eisenhower. These two and a half years of the war established Macmillan as a senior and able politician and laid the ground for his political ascendancy in the later years. It is a fascinating insight into his own personality and into the strategy of the Second World War in Europe. -- From the book jacket.

Includes index. Title on dust jacket: War diaries : the Mediterranean, 1943-1945.