Previous
Brian Latell
Neville Chamberlain was the British Prime Minister in the years leading up to World War II. In 1938, Adolph Hitler hinted at his interest in invading the Sudetenland (an ethnically German region of Czechoslovakia). Fearing that the invasion would culminate in a world war, Chamberlain traveled to Germany to negotiate with Hitler to keep the peace. Hitler ensured Chamberlain that his interest lay only with the Sudetenland, the men signed an agreement, and Chamberlain returned to the U.K. satisfied with the negotiation. However, Hitler ended up breaking the agreement and invading Poland only months later. Gladwell examines how world leaders like Chamberlain who met Hitler in person could misread him so badly while other leaders, such as Winston Churchill, who never met Hitler, saw through his deceit.
Neville Chamberlain Quotes in Talking to Strangers
The Talking to Strangers quotes below are all either spoken by Neville Chamberlain or refer to Neville Chamberlain. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2 Quotes
“Yesterday afternoon I had a long talk with Herr Hitler,” he said. “I feel satisfied now that each of us fully understands what is in the mind of the other.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
We think we can easily see into the hearts of others based on the flimsiest of clues. We jump at the chance to judge strangers. We would never do that to ourselves, of course. We are nuanced and complex and enigmatic. But the stranger is easy.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Talking to Strangers LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Neville Chamberlain Character Timeline in Talking to Strangers
The timeline below shows where the character Neville Chamberlain appears in Talking to Strangers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Two: Getting to Know der Führer
1. On August 28, 1938, Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, met with his advisor to discuss the crisis of Adolf Hitler’s...
(full context)
Chamberlain was determined to learn more about the elusive Hitler and determine if he could be...
(full context)
Chamberlain arrived in Munich on September 15 and met Hitler at his retreat outside Berchtesgaden. Hitler...
(full context)
2. History sees Chamberlain’s negotiations with Hitler as having been completely botched by Chamberlain’s misreading of him. How such...
(full context)
While one might blame Chamberlain’s misreading of Hitler on his naivete and inexperience in foreign affairs, Gladwell counters this with...
(full context)
...the accused’s mother sitting in the gallery. Gladwell compares Solomon’s predicament to that which Neville Chamberlain faced with Hitler in 1938: figuring out how to make sense of a stranger.
(full context)
5. Neville Chamberlain’s final visit with Hitler occurred in September 1938. After Hitler verbally agreed to limit his...
(full context)
