In June 1938, Future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill published a book entitled "Arms and the Covenant". It was then published in the US in September 1938 as "While England Slept; a Survey of World Affairs, 1932-1938". It highlighted the United Kingdom's lack of military preparation.

At that time the war was looming but had not started yet. The majority in England wanted to stay out of the war and to rely in England's natural barriers. However, the views of Churchill ultimately prevailed and it was largely on the strength on this book that Churchill was elected Prime Minister.

In 1940, future President John F. Kennedy, then a student in his senior year at Harvard University, found he did not agree with the analysis by Churchill of the reasons for the war, so he wrote a book with almost the same title. Kennedy wrote this essentially as a critique and a rebuttal. In it, he in he examined the reasons for the UK's lack of preparation.

Why England Slept by John F. Kennedy was first published in 1940 and went through at least five reprintings. It has become a rare book, virtually impossible to get, because of the fame of the author, until this reprinting by Ishi Press.