THE influence of Churchill’s account of the appeasement years on the public mind has long been recognised and has been rehearsed here by David Reynolds. Equally influential in moulding the present view of the past has been the account of the Anglo-American alliance given by Churchill inThe Second World War. One healthy change that the twenty-first century might bring is a less romanticised and more realistic account of the so-called special relationship. Like all good revisionism, this essay will attempt to clear away some of the rich Churchillian detritus, before trying to trace some of the outline of a different version of events. Such, however, is the artistry of the Churchillian version, and so strong the need of the British to believe it, that only the boldest of seers would wager on the chances of it being dislodged in the near future.