Reviews (4)

Flawed premise but some valid criticism of Churchill
I regard Churchill as one of the alltime overrated figures in history, and certainly enjoy seeing him cut down to size. Charmley provides a veritable all-you-can-eat buffet for Churchill haters, as he recounts in excrutiating detail the extraordinarily flawed personality of Churchill.

After setting the stage by illustrating Churchill's early years as a relentless opportunist and self-promoter, Charmley begins to build his case that Churchill was not the great wartime leader that posterity would have us believe, and in fact did not even have a sound grasp of military operational strategy. The most glaring example is, of course, the Gallipoli Campaign, which was an unmitigated disaster and effectively ended Churchill's political career for more than two decades. Churchill had gotten his shot at the big time (by becoming First Lord of the Admiralty) and had blown it. When he got his second chance, he showed that he had learned effectively nothing in the intervening period about military operations. Throughout World War II, he would attempt to undertake various zany military campaigns, most of which were politely ignored by the Allied commanders.

While demonstrating Churchill's ineptitude in this area, Charmley (clearly a Neville Chamberlain apologist) builds a reasonably convincing case for Chamberlain, arguing that Chamberlain was using appeasement more as a tool for buying time than anything else. Far from being the naive optimist, Chamberlain was quite sure, argues Charmley, that Hitler was not to be trusted in any agreement. While giving Hitler what he wanted, Chamberlain was quietly building up Britain's military strength for the war he was sure to come. Because one cannot create a potent fighting force overnight, Chamberlain knew he had to buy time by whatever means necessary. Churchill, by contrast, was ready to rush into war with Germany in 1937-38, when Britain was in no way prepared to fight a continental war.

Up to this point, Charmley's treatment of Churchill is reasonable from a scholarly standpoint. He can make coherent arguments and back them up with citations and evidence. However, Charmley's main beef with Churchill has never been that he was reckless & impetuous, or that he wasn't the great military mastermind. Charmley's problem with Churchill is that he lost the British Empire. At this point, Charmley's book begins to fall apart.

Charmley is writing from the perspective of someone who thinks the British Empire was a pretty neat thing, and wishes that Britain still had its empire, just like the good old days. In subsequent writings, Charmley has taken his argument even further, casting FDR as an anti-imperial villain who had, as one of his wartime goals, the deliberate destruction of the old colonial empires. In Charmley's opinion, the primary goal of the British High Command during World War II should have been the preservation of the British Empire. The defeat of the Nazis and containment of the Soviet Union? Sure, the British could have tried to do that also, but the preservation of the Empire was the important thing.

In fact, the British High Command was trying to do exactly that, and was continually butting heads with General George Marshall over priorities in strategy. The US wanted as its goal the invasion of Europe proper, and had hoped to launch the Normandy campaign in 1943, a full year before D-Day. The British, by contrast, favored a peripheral approach, sending valuable resources to reclaim portions of British territory that had been seized by Germany & Japan. The British also wanted opportunities for their commanders (such as Montgomery) to win glory on the field. The concessions the US made to Britain, it can be argued, prolonged the war in Europe by up to a year.

So Charmley's argument that Churchill did not do enough militarily to preserve the Empire is not particularly valid. Charmley probably understands this, because he also comes as close he can to stating (without actually doing it) that maybe, just maybe, Churchill might have been well-advised to cut a deal with the Nazis, keep the Empire intact, and focus on the real enemy, which was (in Charmley's conservative viewpoint) the Soviet Union. Charmley does not explicitly say this, because he would then run the risk of being lumped into the same category as the likes of David Irving. However, he makes this argument repeatedly, in as an oblique a fashion as he can muster.

The whole problem is that Charmley bases his argument on the premise that the British Empire could in fact have been saved, and this is where the biggest flaws in this book creep in. Charmley would like to ignore the fact that the British Empire had been slowly coming apart at the seams since the Boer War. Even during Victoria's reign, Britain had been struggling to provide the resources necessary to maintain Imperial control. The attrition of World War I was effectively the final nail in the Imperial coffin; it was only a matter of time before the inevitable occurred. One only has to look at post-war France, which tried to restore its colonial empire by force, to see how things probably would have turned out for Britain.

One can also ask the question, is Charmley's belief that the Empire deserved to be preserved valid? This is definitely a matter of perspective. Did the British Empire ultimately do more harm than good? Conservatives like Charmley and Thomas Sowell may think that the British Empire overall was a good thing, but I do not agree with that at all. When you get right down to it, the Empire was simply the subjugation by Britain of other peoples & cultures by naked military force. I don't recall too many subject people voluntarily entering the British Empire. If FDR wasn't bent on destroying the British Empire, he should have been.

While Charmley does provide some valid criticism of Churchill in this book, overall his most important criticisms are based on some seriously flawed premises. In the end, this calls into question the ultimate scholarly value of the book. While it has certainly been controversial enough, does this book truly contribute much to the scholarly debate over Churchill and the history of the 20th century? I don't believe so.

An Abridged Work
I was sorely disappointed when finishing the book, not because of poor authorship, but, on the contrary, because Charmley's abrupt ending after a laborious examination of Churchill's political career did not seem at all adequate. He begins with a lurid examination of Churchill's early life and transformation into a political maverick, assaying his beginnings as a freshman MP in 1901 to his rise as one of the most powerful statesmen in the world. Among the most engrossing, although not necessarily new, criticisms are the Prime Minister's deference to the Roosevelt administration's foreign policy, which the author believes, with very much justification, was a catalyst that helped to bring about the Cold War and the eventual dismemberment of the British Empire. Charmley also draws parallels with Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler in 1938 with that of Churchill's handling of Stalin in 1945, and infers Churchill was hypocritical in his criticism of the Munich Pact, in part because of his later policies with regard to the Soviet Union. But after the chapter on the fall of the Churchill government in 1945, the book wraps itself up with a conclusion of little more than two pages; this is hardly befitting such a monumental undertaking. Charmley does not take interest in documenting Churchill's postwar exploits, and makes almost no reference to his Fulton speech or his return to power in 1951. For those already familiar with the standard "song and dance" given by most Churchill biographers, this work is definitely worth your time, but those expecting a more plenary reference on all of Churchill's political career, not just that until 1945, should look elsewhere.

Misses the mark in trying to be a revisionist on Churchill
John Charmley did not do his homework. There are so many things about Churchill he missed. He greatly understates his case that Churchill, by fighting World War II, lost Britain's empire. Far from being a vigorous and foresighted leader, Churchill was incredibly lazy and inept, and Charmley misses this. Churchill failed to prevent the spread of television, failed to stop the invention of the transistor and the integrated circuit, was completely asleep at the switch during the invention of the jet engine and the intercontinental jet airliner. And these are only a few of the things that Churchill didn't stop! Of course, it was these, combined with the continued outward spread of the Enlightenment from Europe, that lost Britain its empire. So, if the lost empire is the "fruit" of Churchill's leadership, at least let's be complete in our condemnation of the man. Otherwise, he might be seen as a leader of bottomless courage, able to inspire an entire nation to rise above itself and distinguish itself for all time, while in the bargain saving Western Civilization. Churchill knew evil when he saw it. Given how difficult it was to launch the D-Day invasion, the mind boggles at what would have happened had Britain gone down.

Churchill as you never knew him.
I think people of European descent should ask the question too often avoided by "respectable" intellectuals. Was the destruction of much of Europe and the conservative forces there worth the price of defeating Hitler? In point of fact, once the liberal democracies decided to confront the evil Nazi regime, it was too late. Along with the defeat of Hitler, the anti-communist conservative Christians, who were no friend of Hitler, were mortally wounded. Decent conservatives ended up powerless. The radical socialists in the West crept into power inexorably. The end of a war that saw American involvment only ended up paving the way for an even more evil communist regime in the East and the complete evisceration of Christian Europe. Keep in mind that the "victory" over Germany meant fighting another 45 years of global cold war whose total destructiveness probably exceeds that of WW II itself. Charmley dares to suggest that Churchill, a Christian, was completely out of his depth when he tried to match wits with the Roosevelt administration...an administration that trusted Stalin more than Churchill. The truth hurts. In hindsight, it is clear that the USA is not the torchbearer of Western Civilization, however you may define it. We are the torchbearer of something entirely different...a relentless democratic egalitarianism propelled by the power of free market enterprise. Charmley is passionate about this subject, and is saddened by the downfall of a Europe which he feels was betrayed by poor leadership and myopic statesmanship. The feckless Europe of today is the result, and we may be witnessing the final decades of what was once known as Western Civilization. What will it be replaced by? ... Read more

Book Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of Churchill, a towering historical biography, available for the first time in paperback.

William Gladstone was, with Tennyson, Newman, Dickens, Carlyle, and Darwin, one of the stars of nineteenth-century British life. He spent sixty-three of his eighty-nine years in the House of Commons and was prime minister four times, a unique accomplishment. From his critical role in the formation of the Liberal Party to his preoccupation with the cause of Irish Home Rule, he was a commanding politician and statesman nonpareil. But Gladstone the man was much more: a classical scholar, a wide-ranging author, a vociferous participant in all the great theological debates of the day, a voracious reader, and an avid walker who chopped down trees for recreation. He was also a man obsessed with the idea of his own sinfulness, prone to self-flagellation and persistent in the practice of accosting prostitutes on the street and attempting to persuade them of the errors of their ways. This full and deep portrait of a complicated man offers a sweeping picture of a tumultuous century in British history, and is also a brilliant example of the biographer’s art. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A very British biography of a very British subject
When my company was acquired by a British corporation in 1996, one of the new managers purchased the original edition in Britain and forwarded it to me. I had read a review in the Economist and was dying to read it, especially after reading a fine biography of Disraeli.

I will admit that it was not the easiest book I have ever read, however I think some of the other reviews quoted here are unjustifiably harsh.

Gladstone was a man of his time and reflected the values and concerns of the Victorian era. Probably, neither Gladstone nor Disraeli would be remotely electable today, and having read excellent biographies of Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson, I have begun to truely understand the adage, "the past is another planet."

I believe Roy Jenkins achieved the goal of capturing the essence of Gladstone as it related to the values of his time. Albeit, Jenkins has a very dry, British sense of humor, and that can throw off American readers and made certain passages harder to read for me.

(Incidently, the original British edition had a timeline at the top of the page to make the chronology easier to follow.)

In summary, I feel the this is an eloquent biography that, perhaps, is a little more difficult to read and fully understand. But I believe that is more do to the amazing complexity of the subject than Roy Jenkins' prose.

A Weighty Book for a Weighty Subject
Given the somewhat mixed reviews on Amazon of Roy Jenkins's biography of William Gladstone, the towering giant of Victorian politics, I thought I would throw in my two cents on the matter. Jenkins is an interesting biographer, and even though he is not a professional, academic historian (so he does not always follow the standards of the historical craft), much of his work has received celebratory responses, including his earlier biography of Asquith and his more recent one of Churchill. As a long-serving Labour MP and a member of the House of Lords, Jenkins understand British politics from the inside out, and, as a result, he brings a unique perspective to his subjects. Jenkins also has a lovely, fluid writing style and a penchant for the telling quotation; his biographies read extremely well, and this biography of Gladstone is no exception. Jenkins also offers a point of view, although he does not do so explicitly. His interpretations of his historic subjects tend to be subtlely placed within the rolling prose of his books. But he does not interpret the way a typical historian would, and so his biographies have a different effect upon the reader.

William Gladstone certainly requires a lengthy biography, and Jenkins gives him one. Gladstone was one of the premier figures of nineteenth-century British politics, four times prime minister, leading light of the Liberal party, defender of Christianity, and champion of the Irish. He transformed Victorian politics by taking issues to the masses and by bending policy and his party to his will. No prime minister during his long lifetime cut quite a historic and controversial figure, not even those who, in some ways, were better politicians, including Peel, Palmerston, and, above all, Russell (who truly deserves a great biography). No one, even Disraeli, seemed to dominate and define the age as much as Gladstone. But even then Gladstone was deeply flawed; his idiosyncratic, personalized Christianity and his pursuit of what were at the time questionable political policies alienated members of his party. And as right and humane as his demand for Irish Home Rule might have been, it was politically disastrous, dismembering the Liberal Party in 1886 and allowing room for the Conservative Party to acquire prominence, something it had not done for decades. Gladstone's budgets were legendary and perhaps his best accomplishments; his speeches were equally legendary as well, and his personal habits and adventures, in addition to his life in politics, make him undoubtedly one of the most fascinating subjects in British history.

Jenkins's biography is certainly worthwhile as a life of Gladstone, and it leaves almost no stone unturned. Most of all, it truly conveys a direct sense of the grandness of its subject, even if, as some have pointed out here, it does not reveal enough of the individuals who surrounded Gladstone. Jenkins adequately covers Gladstone's early life and adventures, as well as his entry into politics, and then provides relatively substantial discussion of Gladstone's political activity in the middle and end of the century.

As a "popular biography" (meaning not one written by a professionally-trained historian) Jenkins's Gladstone is the best available, even with its flaws. It is not, however, the only biography of the Grand Old Man. H.C.G. Matthew, who edited the Gladstone diaries, took all of the essays he wrote for the volumes of those diaries and compiled them in a single biography for Oxford University Press. It does not read as fluidly, but it is an excellent piece of work. Richard Shannon's two volume biography of Gladstone is longer than the one by Jenkins (it is too long) and benefits from a solid historian's lifetime of reflection. Many years ago, Peter Stansky wrote a small assessment of Gladstone called Gladstone: A Progress in Politics. And Eugenio Biagini has written a brief political biography for St. Martin's Press. It's the best small biography of Gladstone available. All of these works are by professional historians and provide some of the assessments and evaluations missing from Jenkins's biography.

All in all, few in modern history, whether prime ministers or presidents, are as fruitful subjects for biography as Gladstone. He kept a diary for 70 years, lived for most of the nineteenth century, worked incessantly because of his hyperactivity, and transformed British politics. If you have any interest in British history, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading at least one biography of the Victorian statesman.

Enchanting - An absolutely exceptional book.
Gladstone was a remarkable, complicated, even enigmatic man and Jenkins does not waste our time with the sort of pop-psychology projection and junk theories that ruin so much contemporary biography. Instead, Jenkins lets the facts speak for themselves, weighting them based on their demonstrable impact on Gladstone's own life and on British society viewed from the vantage point of 100 years or more of subsequent history. Gladstone emerges through records of his actions, the memoirs of his contemporaries, and his own diary. Jenkins resists the too-common modern conceit of pretending intimate knowledge of Gladstone as if through some astral mind-meld. Although he admits his own affection for the man, Jenkins lets readers decide for themselves what they think of this stubborn, courageous, long-winded, sanctimonious, and usually dead right -- even prophetic -- dynamo.

Along the way there are delightful, balanced, spot-on portraits of some of Gladstone's contemporaries. The often-deified Disraeli comes out as a man of great talent, imagination, and political genius who was a self-absorbed, underhanded lightweight. (A portrayal such as that some modern critics have applied to Bill Clinton.) The slow intellectual and emotional curdling of Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert is as eloquent a meditation on the corruptions of isolation and power as I've read in some time. Spencer, Parnell, Hartington, Rosebery, Balfour, Joseph Chamberlain, Manning, Wilberforce, Palmerston -- all are here drawn with flavor and economy and no trace of bitterness or partisanship.

One of the great strengths of this biography is that it never talks down to the reader. Jenkins is clearly an almost frighteningly literate individual, and his vocabulary occasionally sent me to the dictionary, but I consulted it in delight as every rare word was clearly used unselfconsciously by an author who knew it well and knew exactly what he was trying to say. (As Simon Winchester has noted, there are very few true synonyms in English.) More challenging in this regard may be the fact that the book, having been written for a British audience, assumes an elementary knowledge of the outlines of British history, which many American readers don't have. Just as a book about a prominent American nineteenth-century figure would not feel it necessary to produce extensive background on, say, the industrial revolution, the transcontinental railroad, or abolition, so Gladstone assumes the reader's familiarity with the Indian Raj, the expansion of the franchise, Britain's own industrial progress, and other subjects. My advice is to just jump right in anyway -- I myself was not well versed in these topics yet found the narrative so strong that the author's insights were easy to follow.

Not very revealing
One of the reviewers below, Donald Press, has expressed my views in clear terms so it was with some disappointment that I note that three of the first four readers of that review found it unhelpful. The fact is that Jenkins, who has a lively erudite writing style and who is very knowledgible about his subject, gives us little understanding of what kind man Gladstone was and, if anything, even less understanding of how Gladstone fit into his times. If you didn't know why Gladstone was important when you started the book, you will be no closer to understanding why when you finish. You will, however, know where he slept almost every night of his life, how long most of his major speeches were, how many trees he chopped down, and how many times he used particular symbols in his diary.

I agree with the comment that this is good stuff for future researchers but for the general reader looking to understand Gladstone or to learn more about Victorian Great Britain, I found this book to be a disappointment.

a very different time
If you share any of Gladstone's passions - his bibliophilism, his religious ardor, his adulation of Homer, his breaktaking political energy - then you'll like parts of this book. The writing itself is also a plus, for Jenkins writes beautifully. ... Read more

Book Description

THE CHARACTER AND GREATNESS OF WINSTON CHURCHILL: HERO IN ATIME OF CRISIS

by Stephen Mansfield

Winston Churchill was one of the most extraordinary leaders of the twentieth century. What enabled him to stand so steadfastly when all those around him seemed to turn back in fear? What enabled him to inspire whole nations to endure the unendurable and to achieve the unachievable when all those around him had already surrendered all hope?

The Character and Greatness of Winston Churchill is a remarkable study of Churchill’s leadership skill and answers these questions and more. The result is an account that is no less inspiring today than it was three-quarters of a century ago when the great man’s shadow fell large across the world stage.

According to Henry Kissinger, "Our age finds it difficult to come to grips with Churchill.

The political leaders with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the … future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of their inner values." Winston Churchill was a hero. ... Read more

Book Description

An intimate expert on Sir Winston-his own granddaughter-offers insights on Churchill's greatness and explains his leadership strategies that managers can easily emulate.

Winston Churchill has long been one of the world's preeminent leadership role models and certainly one of the most important motivational voices of the twentieth century. That was illustrated on the night of September 11, 2001, when New York mayor Rudy Giuliani read a biography of Churchill for inspiration on how to guide the city through the aftermath of tragedy.

In We Shall Not Fail, Celia Sandys, with coauthor Jonathan Littman, offers a new take on the greatness of Churchill, highlighting the traits he employed throughout his life, especially the remarkable strength he displayed leading the British people through the horrors of World War II. Among the lessons she highlights:

€Nothing works like a simple passion for excellence
€Encourage a culture where what counts is thinking, trying, and testing
€Champion innovators and protect them from bureaucrats
€Do not allow different standards for top executives and workers
€Put bad news in perspective. Things usually get better, especially if a positive attitude prevails

Part biography, part leadership manual, We Shall Not Fail is a brief, enjoyable guide to one of history's greatest leaders. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

WSC's Influence Lives On
This thouhtful book by Churchill's Grandaughter again reminds us of his influence in our world yesterday and today. Ms Sandys has once again captured the essemnce of this great but complex man whom she knew so well. Anyone interested in leadership or in assesing others capacity to lead would be well advised to read this imp[ortant book.

Leadership principles you can use
Most of us admire the great leadership of Winston Churchill, many of us would like to be more like him! This book is a very useful guide as to how we might get a few steps closer to that goal. I bought the book to find some ideas on leadership that I felt I could follow, it worked.
Celia Sandys has managed to condense her grandfathers thoughts and actions on leadership into a set of easy to follow Churchillian Leadership Principles. The book was easy to read and is well organized for quick reference afterwards.
The examples of modern leaders following Churchillian principles helped to make the book relevant to issues facing today's business leaders. I enjoyed it. It inspired me to want to learn more and also inspired me to never, never, never give in!

Leadership Principles we can all use!
We all know Churchill was great, many of us would like to be more like him! This book gives us an insight into how we might go about accomplishing that goal. It was a good read, easy to pick up, easy to read and great for refering back to for reminders of the key 'Churchillian Principles' of Leadership which Celia Sandys has so ably condensed from all of her grandfather's words and actions.
There are plenty of other books about his speeches, what this gives you is a guideline to the type of leadership behaviors which made Winston Churchill such a great man. The value for me was that these are real, down to earth, practical principles which we can adopt to try to model the leadership behavior of such a great man. The book also has plenty of more recent business examples which lend substance to the leadership principles as things which modern leaders can use effectively.
This book really inspired me to want to learn more!

JM Mill Valley,CA
With all of the 500 page business books with their myriad proclamations as to what constitutes good leaderhip, I found this book refreshing. To me, the important key message of this book is that great leadership comes from one who has has integrity, fortitude and a keen sense of what is right, and one who has been challenged to apply those qualities when making, sometimes unpopular, critical decisions. Those reading this book looking for a cookbook for leadership will be disappointed. Those looking to better understand how Winston Churchill exemplified the qualities of great leadership and how he applied them throughout his life, not just when faced the adversity, will be inspired and motivated by this book. It is also a particularly good book for young people who are still shaping their own senses of personal values.

Don't waste your money
As stated in other reviews this book is an attempt to apply Churchill's leadership characteristics to modern day business problems. It has rememberences from Sandys "spiced up" with allusions to modern business leaders by the hack writer Jonathan Littman. The organization of this book is very poor and the insight is worse. The thoughts and paragraphs jump around as though the manuscript was put together from scrambled notes. Much better to actually buy the writings of Winston Churchill and hear his story in his own words. I got much more about reading a three page account of Churchill's crash while learning how to fly from one of his early books than I got out of this entire book. I would suggest that Sandys republish this as a pamplet without the help of Littman and just stick to the words and acts of Churchill. ... Read more

Book Description

An adventurer and charlatan? A clever rogue? Or perspicacious politician, founder of the modern British Conservative party? These different characterizations have all had their supporters: Disraeli rarely inspired indifference from his contemporaries, and later commentators have often mirrored these divergent evaluations.

By the time he at last became Prime Minister, in 1874, he was no longer the exotic, dandified figure who nearly forty years earlier had obtained protection from his creditors by the simple expedient of election to a seat in the House of Commons. But he was still a one-of-a-kind figure in Westminster politics, favorite of his monarch but distrusted or disliked by most of the members of his party.

Disraeli was a novelist as well as a politician, and he showed in his political life a novelist's command of the potent image and pregnant phrase. His speeches and writings remain memorable and influential. But any icon is open to manipulation and selective understanding, and Disraeli in particular has been claimed as a spiritual ancestor by an exceptionally diverse group of conservatives.

Edgar Feuchtwanger's lively new study does justice to Disraeli's controversial life and ambiguous political legacy, providing a portrait of one of the great personalities of the age as well as shedding light on key political developments of Victorian Britain. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must read for English politics and history.
This is an insightful lesson into the man. Edgar Feuchtwanger makes the subject more interesting than ever with an easy to read style. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

As good as there is on Winston Churchill
This volume is the finest hour in the massive "official" biography which was started in the mid 1960's by Winston's son Randolf and continues to this day with the relese of the "document" volumes of the later years of Churchill's life.

Most of the narritive volumes in the biography (there are eight) nessasarily cover a long period of time; after all, Churchill lived into his ninth decade. But Finest Hour covers only a little over two years, from September of 1939 to Pear Harbour in 1941. They were, however, two of the most important years in Churchill's life. There were also two of the most important years for the free world.

This volume, like the others in the series, is magnificently written and reproduces the drama and fear of living in those deadly times. From the begining of the second world war to the entry of the United States in the conflict, every action of Churchill is closely examined. Particular attention is paid to the spring, summer and fall of 1940, as Churchill readied his nation for invasion even as he inspired his people to never surrender. Churchill would say that that that summer would be his nations finest hour, when the tiny Island stood up alone againsed the most deadlly power in the world, and won. Gilbert's message is clear: yes, it was the nation's finest hour, but it was also Churchill's. Only he could lead the nation, not only because of his moral position (he had opposed Hitler from the begining) and oratical skills but also because, after appeasement, his nation wanted to beleive in him. He gave them something to believe in.

The book is highly detailed, at times going to an actual day by day description of Churchill's life. The casual reader who simply wants to learn more about Churchill would do well to read Gilberts one volume Churchill: a life or William Manchester's biography. But for anyone truly interested in World War Two and how the allies won, this book is a must read. More importantly, if anyone wonders why Churchill will soon be named man of the century, reading this bok will provide all the answers.

It is without question the finest biography of its kind that I have ever read. ... Read more

Book Description

Winston and Clementine Churchill wrote to each other constantly throughout the fifty-seven years of their life together, from the passionate and charming exchanges of their courtship until the year before Winston's death in 1965. Their letters provide rare and revealing insights into both the great political and social events of a turbulent century and the intimate world of an extraordinary partnership. Mary Soames, the only surviving child of this remarkable couple, has brought her parents to life as no biographer could. In moving detail we hear of Churchill's dramatic career and his final, deeply felt reflections on the fading of his enormous powers. And we hear Clementine, responding with her love and advice, and her belief in his destiny. Bringing these letters together for the first time, WINSTON AND CLEMENTIME is a surprising portrait of one of history's most significant figures. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Lesson of Life Behind an Extraordinary Partnership
When I considered buying that book, I first felt quite uncomfortable about the idea of reading an exchange of private letters between Winston and Clementine. Fortunately, I overcame my discomfort fast. I quickly enjoyed reading that thick epistolary volume about their political and personal matters. The personal letters of the Churchills revealed to me how influential Clementine was on Winston across the board. Their deep love and trust was the secret of their successful marriage, even if Winston was not always an easy husband and politician to deal with. Corresponding by written messages (today perhaps by email) with each other on a regular basis, even when they were together, proved to be an excellent way to help them keep their enduring flame for each other intact. Today, too many marital and extra-marital relationships get dissolved prematurely because of a lack of enough communication between both players. Life is after all a comedy in which men and women play their part and need to know or rediscover how to communicate their joys and pains to one another in order to increase the odds that they will be successful in their relationship.

An intimate insight
This book was introduced to me through a friend and, quite frankly, my first reaction was to cringe at the idea of reading such a bulky historical book. But from the first letter I was transfixed by the dialogue between husband and wife on both political and personal matters. This book brings with it a new aspect of Churchill's personality - he was not only a great statesman but he was a passionate man who loved his wife dearly which is seen clearly in the letters that were intended for her eyes only.

I often wonder how he would have felt to know millions would one day read the letters he wrote to his "clemmie-cat". In any case, its a great read :)

Cheers, Meagan.

Facinating look into the private life of a great statesman
The real service that this book performs is to remind the reader that great historical figures are not one dimensional. Chuchill was a renaissance man, warrior, journalist, historian, memoirist, politician and statesman. He was arguably the single greatest personage of this century and his name has become a symbol for the indominitable spirit of a free people. The collection of letters sent to and received from his wife are entertaining as well as educational. They provide a feel for the time in which they were written and place many of Churchill's famous accomplishments (and failures) in proper context. Amazingly, unlike today when the more we know of a public figure, the smaller they seem, in Churchill's case one comes away convinced that this was a great man in the truest sense, and that much of his greatness is due in no small part to his marriage to Clementine.

Churchills: Not Just a Political Partnership but a Marriage
Winston and Clementine: Happily Ever After

This is the story of a political marriage. In some ways it will be familiar to the contemporary reader, though it began and ended a long time ago.

Both husband and wife in this marriage were interested in politics. The husband was elected again and again over decades to high office. For decades his wife fought at his side, entertained at his table, offered her judgment to him and his colleagues and his enemies. She took his place in his absence, and sometimes in his presence. She became an international figure. She had power, and she used it. Always she had a mind of her own.

Sometimes this couple would quarrel. Once a serving dish was thrown. There was a period, not too long, when one of the partners was out of sympathy with the other, or anyway in sympathy with another.

They knew trouble. They lost a daughter and many friends to death, and some friends to betrayal. They fought political wars at home in which their own party tried to deprive them of office. They fought shooting wars abroad-including the worst ever. More than once, they seemed down and out. Their livelihood as much as their career was threatened. After decades of struggle they reached the summit of power and they knew the adoration of a nation and a world. By then they had grown old together.

Readers of this story will find that wives did not enter politics yesterday, and private lives were influential in politics before last week. But in other respects this story is unlike anything we have known in this time. Here are two people who won every honor that human affairs can offer, and they won them together. Meanwhile they operated upon those natural and traditional lines that involve that deepest of partnerships. Their division of labor augmented the strength of them both beyond what either could do, apart or together, if they both had done the same parts of the job. True, this is the story of a political partnership. More than that, it is a marriage.

The editor of this book is the youngest child of Winston and Clementine, Mary, now Lady Soames. She brings to the work care, intimacy, and insight. She has adopted some of the best devices of Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, to make the book available to the reader unfamiliar with the times and the people. Her notes are useful. She lets the letters themselves convey the story.

One sees right away the amazing pace at which these people lived. Winston Churchill was a soldier whose bravery and judgment in battle were beyond doubt. He wrote every line of every speech he ever gave, save perhaps one, and they are not surpassed in eloquence or impact or amplitude. He wrote serious books, nearly forty of them. He served in the British House of Commons, and mostly in the Cabinet. Meanwhile he made his living writing and speaking in publications and before audiences all over the world. Their house teemed all day and much of the night with secretaries, researchers, and colleagues. He wrote once that statesmen should exist in a condition of "stress of soul." Ever he took that advice for himself.

And necessarily, then, he imposed it upon his wife.

Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier were married in September 1908, and they remained so until parted by death in 1965. Martha Washington, wishing to keep her relations with our Founding Father private, burned most all of the letters that passed between them. The Churchills' letters are preserved intact in their remarkable abundance. Partly because they were so busy, and partly because they took many vacations apart, occasions to write were frequent. In their day the post traveled rapidly-Fed Ex was not necessary; e-mail was unavailable; the telephone came along, but its frequent use developed later. And so they wrote, and well they wrote.

Nuggets are found in every shaft of this mine. Sir Winston is candid with his wife as with no other, especially in times of triumph or stress. When the first war begins, he unveils his character: "Everything trends towards catastrophe & collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that? ...Yet I wd do my best for peace, & nothing wd induce me wrongfully to strike the blow." Another time, in a very different mood, he writes: "you have seen me very weak & foolish & mentally infirm this week...." And then the man of unbreakable will proceeds: "I cannot tell you how much I love & honor you and how sweet & steadfast you have been through all my hesitations & perplexity."

Clementine often bears the burden of saying to her husband what others cannot. When the first war begins, she cautions him about the feelings of a dismissed Admiral: "there only remains the deep wound in an old man's heart. If you put the wrong sort of poultice on it, it will fester." When the second begins, she writes: "...there is a danger of your being generally disliked by your colleagues & subordinates because of your rough sarcastic & overbearing manner.... Therefore with terrific power you must combine urbanity, kindness and if possible Olympic calm."

The letters of Winston are often more abstract and reflective than those of his wife. Sometimes they are effectively first drafts of things he will later publish. His life is saved once in the trenches by an annoying general who makes him walk two miles under fire just for a little chat; when he returns his dugout and all in it are destroyed. He reflects: "it is all chance or destiny and our wayward footsteps are best planted without too much calculation. One must yield oneself simply & mentally to the mood of the game: and trust in God which is another way of saying the same thing...."

At the same time, one sees in the husband a sharp need for his wife. It is he who is "lonely among crowds." It is he who has no one but her "to break the loneliness of this bustling existence."

History has more to say of Winston than of Clementine. He saved his country and more in a desperate crisis, and he leaves behind him a written account of prudential wisdom that is not surpassed. Both his words and his deeds exhibit a longing for honor. He fought for it. He met its demands with utter resolve and lifelong resilience. But of course there was more to his life than that. Honor itself is limited by the high purposes that define it, including the promises and affections that make a family. So he could write to her, at one of the lowest points in his life: "the nearer I get to honor, the nearer I am to you."

Churchill ends My Early Life, his explicitly autobiographical work, with the passage: "Events were soon ...to absorb my thoughts and energies at least until September 1908, when I married and lived happily ever afterwards." And so together they did. And do. ... Read more

Book Description

Winston Churchill is without question one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. Famous as the bulldog who rallied his wavering and war-weary compatriots to lead the Allied resistance to Hitler, he will forever stand as Britain's savior. Unceremoniously thrown out of office after the war, he was considered brilliant, occasionally impolitic, but morally principled by his friends, and fearsome, opportunistic, and an unruly trouble-maker by his enemies. For much of his long political career he was the most detested and mistrusted man in British public life. Yet when he retired he was acclaimed as the "greatest Englishman of all time." Which is the real Churchill?

In the past several years, a wave of revisionist scholars have attacked Churchill's wartime strategy, domestic politics, and private life, and have even claimed that he could have responsibly kept England out of the war. Now Norman Rose, the first historian to be granted access to the Churchill archives since the publication of Churchill's authorized biography, sets the record straight, combining a proper assessment of Churchill's achievements with a legitimate strand of revisionism. Rose's Churchill is impetuous, and capable of disastrous miscalculation -- as in the Dardanelles expedition and the Norwegian campaign of 1940. Yet Rose defends Churchill's place in the pantheon of history, showing that through his story runs a tragic thread -- how the scion of a great aristocratic house, in many ways the quintessential English aristocrat, conservative and imperialist, came to preside over his country's decline. It is this theme, at once dramatic and poignant, that Norman Rose handles with fine understanding and perception in this comprehensive and fully documented account of Churchill's life.

British critics widely hailed Norman Rose's Churchill as quite simply the best biography yet written, calling it a "masterpiece." Finally now available to American readers, Churchill: The Unruly Giant is a definitive interpretation of one of the twentieth century's greatest leaders. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good But Not Great
Rose does a good job of providing a one volume biography of Churchill. However, it was obvious to me that he was neither as familiar with Churchill as Martin Gilbert nor as talented a writer as Manchester. His strength is in his objectivity which yields a fair view of the giant.

Excellent short volume
I am a great fan of Churchill and am always expanding my collection of books about and by the great man. I purchased this book shortly after its publication. I was impressed by Rose's crisp narrative and ability to describe the salient points of Churchill's life. He is able to do this in one volume - not easy to do when the offical biography runs 8 volumes! The only negative about this work is the length to which Rose goes to remain as impartial as possible. I say this is a negative because oftentimes there is much enjoyment to be gotten by reading a book about Churchill where the author's bias is clear. (Since most Churchill biographies are written by obvious admirers - like the yet incomplete William Manchester series; or evident detractors like Charmley.) This work is, sometimes painfully, without bias. This attribute makes "Churchill: The Unruly Giant" a fine introductory work for any reader wanting to learn more about Churchill; and form their own opinion on the greatest man of the 20th Century. ... Read more

Book Description

Churchill's often prophetic writings from 1935. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Churchill on "great" men
Although Winston Churchill is remember best as a statesman (and in my mind the greatest man of the 20th Century), he made his living through his pen.Churchill though of aristocratic background, was not extremely wealthy.While he could have survived on the family fortune, his expensive tastes and zest for living would have bankrupted him.So he turned to writing to earn his living.

Great Contemporaries is a series of essays written between 1929 and 1937 on the "great" leaders of the day.Churchill knew many of these leaders personally, and is able to supplement what might otherwise be a dry recitation of the facts of a career with personal stories and vignettes.

Perhaps the most famous of the essays is on "Hitler and his Choice, 1935."This essay is often cited by neo-Nazis and far leftists as proof that Churchill actually admired Hitler.But finally getting the chance to read the essay shows that any such analysis takes Churchill's words extremely out of context.Hitler was to be Churchill's great antagonist in the coming decade.In 1935, Churchill recognized that Hitler was facing a choice - would Hitler take a moderate road and perhaps be remembered as the leader who restored German honor, or who Hitler take the road of war.Churchill ends the essay with a warning, that German rearmament was continuing, and, of course, tragically, Churchill's misgivings were played out.

One problem, with this book is that many of the "great" men described are almost forgotten today, at least outside their home countries.Men like the Earl of Rosebery (Prime Minister in the 1890s) or King Alfosno XIII of Spain probably make no impression on the American reader while George Curzon is remembered, if at all, as the man who roughly proposed the border between Poland and the Soviet Union (the "Curzon Line").

The book includes essays on well-remembered men such as George Bernard Shaw, Clemenceau and Churchill's protégé T.E. Lawrence (better known as "Lawrence of Arabia).These essays, full of personal remembrances by Churchill, are well worth the time.

Winston Churchill writing while between jobs--magnificent!
Consider this passage, about the political climate in Britain before World War One:

"At the time, conflict unceasing grew year by year to a more dangerous intensity at home, while abroad there gathered sullenly
the hurricane that was to wreck our generation.Our days were spent in the furious party battles..., while always upon the horizon deadly shapes grew or faded, and even while the sun shone there was a curious whisper in the air."

Who could the author of such Churchillian lines be but Winston Churchill himself?The stately but rarely stentorian pacing and tone, imitations of which are rarely successful, still impresses upon the reader the power and beauty of the English language.

These biographical essays, written while Churchill was in political exile in the Thirties, were collected in book at the end of that decade.His majestically simple (or simply majestic) writing brings long-gone controversies and personalities back to life, if unavoidably suffused with the aura of the author's own personality.

Some notables that would seem to have been natural subjects for this book are missing: Gandhi, Lloyd George, Edward VII.But an American reader only passingly acquainted with the luminaries of early 20th century Britain would be interested in Churchill's memories of the First Earl of Birkenhead, Herbert Henry Asquith, and George Nathanael Curzon.The pieces are light on biographical detail and heavy on evaluation, but Churchill's estimation of most of these people is generous.He dismisses George Bernard Shaw as a jester, gallantly defends the ex-Kaiser from the worst of the late war-time propaganda, and warns of the rising influence of Germany's new chancellor, Adolf Hitler.The reader is also reminded from time to time that Churchill was indeed a politician, as in the essay on Lord Fisher, in which he deflects blame for some WWI naval setbacks onto that gentleman.

Excepting Walpole, probably no statesman's collected bread and butter writing has ever been so memorable, or made for such good reading.

Everything was on a grand scale.
There is very little about Sir Churchill that can be considered routine, average, or some standard he can be compared to. Everything he did wasgenerally on a scale that helped to create the Legend he has become, andthat he will remain. Even when he erred, it generally was not minor,however rare, but on balance we do not, nor will we have his kind again. Heloved his Country, and he loved the US, for he was 50% American, so thateven in Washington D.C. today, a statue of him striding forward has onefoot on British, and one on American soil.

His life was long, stretchingpast the 90-year mark, allowing him ample time to write and give speeches,which are routinely quoted to this day. He was a master at bothdisciplines, with his writing awarded the Nobel Prize For Literature in1953.

"Great Contemporaries" is a book that is more about the men andwomen he knew than about the Author. He is evident throughout the read, asthe impressions of these people of History are his. The 21 profiles heshares with the reader are incredible in their range, and that they werehis "contemporaries" is one testament to the History he created and was apart of.

Contemporary people of fame are often identifiable by a first orlast name alone. However as we live in an age where you can chat in realtime across the planet, fame does not require the same level of notoriety.The fame is of a different character and caliber.

The Kaiser, Shaw,Chamberlein, Hindenburg, Foch, Trotsky, these are only a fraction of theessays this man of history will share. Too, there is Lawrence of Arabia whorequires a bit more than a last name, but it is not do to his renown,rather the generic nature of the end of his sobriquet.

Thesereminiscences are different than those of today's leaders, there was verylittle distance between these people, they often met alone, and they didnot bring an array of lackeys, translators, and gadflies.

A tremendoussweep of one man's impressions of people whose actions resonate to thisday, and in all likelihood will not cease. ... Read more

Book Description

Margaret Thatcher unalterably changed the face of Britain. This volume, the first book-length bibliography on Thatcher, will help the researcher to evaluate her impact. The volume opens with a brief biography, which includes coverage of Thatcher's monetary and social market policies, her special relationship with Ronald Reagan, her foreign and domestic policies, and her attitudes toward women and equal opportunity issues. The bibliography, which comprises the bulk of the book, provides a comprehensive guide to works on Thatcher's life and career. Entries are annotated except when a title is self-explanatory. Coverage is devoted primarily to English-language materials. The book includes full indexes. The book will be an important aide for all scholars, researchers, and students concerned with British politics. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

fdlkj
the book was BORING and who pays 100 dollars for a lame book like that....DONT BUY IT ... Read more

Book Description

In the latter part of the eighteenth century the Quaker minister John Woolman journeyed and preached throughout the American colonies. His Journal, a recognized American classic, portrays an ethical sensitivity comparable to St. Francis of Albert Schweitzer; and his keen sense of social injustice speaks directly to our affluent and increasingly divided mass society. Woolman's essays widely influenced social thought in the United States, and in England as well, where he was esteemed by Lamb and Coleridge.

Professor Moulton's edition of Woolman's major works - based on a thorough examination of all relevant manuscripts in America and Britain - is the first to reflect Woolman's final intentions with fidelity and scholarly accuracy.

Only this edition of the Journal includes Woolman's whole discussion of tax refusal as a form of anti-war protest and civil disobedience.Also included are "A Plea for the Poor" and "Considerations on Keeping Negroes" one of the earliest attacks on slavery.

The present volume includes an introduction by the editor,a chronology and glossary, biographical notes, an annotated bibliography, detailed notes on the text, appendices, and an index. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The definitive John Woolman, accessible at various levels
A classic in Christian engagement with the world, by a Quaker minister best known for his role in convincing others in the Society of Friends - as individuals and as a group - to withdraw from the slave trade and stop holding slaves. Woolman also contributed insights into the nature of war and conflict, wealth and simplicity, right livelihood and spiritual humility.

This is the definitive edition - as in, this is the one that scholars and serious readers want, with a solid introduction, explanatory footnotes, and notes on which passages were changed along the way. Woolman based his Journal on personal diaries, rewriting and editing it with his Quaker audience foremost in mind. His essays apparently were aimed for a wider audience; they show his familiarity with Enlightenment trends that many Friends ignored. The essays "On Keeping Negroes" and "A Plea for the Poor" are included in this edition.

After his death in 1772, the Journal has passed through the hands of a succession of editors, including Quaker poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier, whose edition can be found on the web.From one generation to the next, Friends and others have rediscovered John Woolman and cherished his sweet reflections on human relations and Divine leading. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must for the Churchill admirer, student, or skeptic
Sir Winston Churchill had no shortage of admirers among the generation that knew, or saw, him during his Finest Hour, 1940-1941. And they have remained legion among later generations. But in the wake of the September 11 attacks, many people -- and especially many politicians in need of stirring rhetoric -- have turned to WSC again, attracted to his reputation, perhaps, more than to the strict details of his long and eventful life.

John Ramsden's fascinating book is an analysis of how Churchill's reputation was born, was consciously shaped by the man himself, and how it has evolved in the years since his death. The bulk of the analysis focuses on the five English-Speaking nations, though Europe is included as well. Another large section looks at the famous "Iron Curtain" or "Sinews of Peace" speech at Fulton, Missouri, in 1946, and how it -- precisely as WSC intended -- transformed the world's view of him from heroic-but-passé war leader to very-much-active statesman, politician, and geopolitical strategist.

A final section, which I found the most interesting, analyses many of the key Churchill biographies written over the years, from Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert's official biography, to Lord Moran, to Manchester, to Roy Jenkins' "Churchill: A Biography" (2001), which Ramsden predicts will remain "the authoritative single text for years to come" (p. 545). Ramsden also seems to have counted every Churchill memorial statue, street, pub, and park bench in the world. And while a catalog of these things could easily become tiresome, this author skillfully keeps it from doing so.

This is no small accomplishment. People who write about Churchill are forced to deal with the sheer immensity of his life. Many respond by being prolix, or trite, or they oversimplify, or caricaturize, or fall into either blind hero-worship or equally unnuanced destructiveness. Ramsden does none of these. One way he manages this, of course, is by being fairly sparing of the details of most of WSC's life. Thus, this book will make a lot more sense to someone who already has a fairly good understanding of who the man was, what he did, and when. Another way is by filling his text with stories about, and insights into, Churchill and his contemporaries that are nearly all some combination of fascinating, entertaining, and memorable. Thus, while he's dealing with some Grand Themes, the author surrounds them with a bodyguard of anecdotes that in and of themselves almost guarantee this will be a fun read for any Churchill student or fan.

Significantly, Ramsden is not an *uncritical* admirer of Churchill, though he is clearly an admirer. The Winston we encounter here is not sugarcoated, and some of his unattractive features do come through. That and the mountainous research on display are two signs of Ramsden's chops as a historian.

Finally, as a many-year member of The Churchill Centre and its preceding organization the International Churchill Societies, I should note and commend Ramsden's coverage of this worthy organization. Far from the worshipful society of star-struck fans it is sometimes painted to be, Ramsden shows the CC to be a reputable and respectable association of clear-eyed admirers of the man of the century, warts and all.

I am always amazed at the new aspects or corners of Churchill's life and impact that people can find to write books about. This one, no question, was a book that needed to be written. And for any Churchill student or fan, it's one that needs to be read. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A flawed account of a morally corrupt great man
As Stafford says that Churchill appreciated the value of good intelligence and how it could influence the outcome of any struggle .But on the whole I must express my profound disagreement on some of the information contained in this book. The LUSITANIA episode: Fortuitously-Magdeburg incident 26th August 1914- the Room no.40 of the British Admiralty cracked German Navy's tactical codes .Bulk of naval traffic related to the movements of U-boats and German High Seas Fleet it was able to read .Churchill as the First Lord of Admiralty was privy to this fact .What now follows is difficult to digest for a rational mind .If one were to believe the author the movement of U-20(which sank the American ship)was detected and all ships in the immediate vicinity warned of its presence.Message received by LUSITANIA but ship's captain instead of changing course continued with the voyage thus courting disaster. In other words author has implied the American ship was commanded by a mad man who sent her to the watery grave, a chain of reasoning difficult to follow.It looks as though Stafford wanted to defend the British leader from accusations of his detractors who have claimed the latter staged the incident to bring America on a collision course with Germany. It is very hard to accept Churchill's innocence in certain matters because I know him as a shrewd practitioner of Realpolitik .Desmond Morton ( an influential figure in the Whitehall corridors of power and later SIS officer )connived with Churchill to forge Zinoviev's letter which damaged Labour Party's electoral prospects in the early 20's. Coming to the Second World War, soon after the captitulation of France there came invasion hysteria . Now it must be said when it came to invading Britain the Nazi dictator was strangely reluctant . Early July 1940 Hitler disclosed his intention of invading Soviet Union to Schmundt his chief-adjutant and Von Brauchitsch the Army Commander-in-Chief .Churchill via ULTRA decrypts knew that much of German troop deployments along Channel coast was sham. Yet he kept up the invasion bogey because this was bringing public support. Later in January 1941U.S.Presidential envoy Harry Hopkins visit to war-torn Britain was stage-managed to draw American support for Britains' war effort. Author has demolished claims that Churchill sacrificed Coventry (heavily bombed by Luftwaffe on 14 November 1940) for protecting ULTRA. The target was identified very late but the argument that it was not brought to PM's attention sounds skeptical. Instead Crete was sacrificed .However I am of the view that Britsh Commonwealth forces could have defended the island without blowing ULTRA.The battle for Crete hinged upon the possession of Maleme airfield . A spotter aircraft could have been sent to show it had detected the approach of German aerial armada carrying elite paratroops instead of denuding Maleme defences for masking ULTRA.The exercise is cleverly contrived attempt to cover up British Middle East Command's lack of resolve in defending Crete.I endorse Stafford's view that British leader was not knowing Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor.However it is difficult to accept the naivete of US political establishment in this matter . Suffice to say the US intelligence had broken codes used by Tokyo to exchange information with Consul -General Kita in Honolulu.String of messages showing Japan taking unusual interest in Pearl Harbor were intercepted . One such message intercepted divided the place into five areas asked for exact location of Pacific Fleet warships and carriers . Washington correctly guessed this could be a grid system for a bombing attack.Had Roosevelt and his men been shrewd ,vigilant, the ensuing tragedy could have been averted The author has misinterpreted the train of events that led to the German intervention in the Balkans April-May 1941. It was Mussolini who dragged Hitler into the Balkan mess .On 28 October 1940 Italian troopsinvaded Greece . Invaders were soon bogged down which gave British the pretext to land troops in that country .Besides RAF bombers started operating from bases in Crete.They had the range to strike Ploesti in Rumania from where Wehrmacht drew bulk of its oil..British deployment also menaced the southern flank of German armies slated to take part in Barbarossa :invasion of Soviet Union .Germany intervened to neutralise the flank threat . Churchill's role in fomenting guerilla warfare in Nazi-occupied Europe forms underlying theme of this book. British leader's brush with partisans in the far reaches of the Empire during heydays of his youth made him advocate this mode of fighting. It must be said , however , in the final analysis the role of the guerillas in the victory over Nazi Germany appears minimal.Owing to reasons of geography guerilla warfare never struck roots in Europe,much of the continent lay inert under the Nazi jackboot.Exceptions being Greece , Yugoslavia where mountainous terrain favoured large -scale guerilla operations .Finally a few things I like about this book: Churchill during prewar years exaggerated the capabilities of Luftwaffe,failed to appreciate the role tanks would play in the coming war ,underestimated the threat posed by Japan . Information such as that he bought Spain's neutrality in the war through bribes , came very close to compromising ULTRA during the speech marking German invasion of Soviet Union , approved a plan to assassinate Hitler , 'Operation Foxley', came close to carrying it out. Upon reading this book I gained the impression that Stafford has condoned the British leader's misdemeanours ,author no doubt is a Churchill apologist. To me Churchill was the most reactionary politician thrown up by the Western World. He stroved to ensure the Britains' domination of the post war world .He resisted Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy not because they were fascist regimes rather to their interference with Britains' imperial interests. Neverthless a remarkable man ,patriot who presided his country's fortune at a critical time of her existence .To his credit it must also be said Churchill realised, unlike other leaders of the Conservative party, the threat posed by Nazi Germany could only be contained by entering into a defence alliance with the Soviet union .In June1940 he took the decisive step in his career by deciding to continue the war against Germany.

Groundbreaking work on Churchill
"Churchill and Secret Service" documents the life long connection between him and secret intelligence. The author traces this back to Churchill's experience as a journalist in the Cuban revolt against Spain. His romantic nature, combined with the undisputed effectiveness of the guerillas, instilled in him a faith in guerilla warfare and its requirement of good intelligence. The book continues through Churchill's association with "room 40" during WWI, and his continued receipt of intelligence reports during the years "in the wilderness". Naturally the bulk of the work concerns itself with the Second World War, the creation of SOE and the secret armies. The author delves into the "special relationship" between the UK and US and reveals in detail the serious conflicts between SIS/SOE and the OSS-an area that often does not receive much attention by historians. Churchill's second term as prime minister,and subsequent retirement conclude the work. What it shows is that Churchill, probably more than any other political leader, understood the value and the dangers of secret intelligence, and knew how to employ it (most of the time). His experience provides excellent lessons to those who collect or use strategic/operational intelligence,"intelligence was not an end in itself and did not belong to those who produced it." Would that our current intelligence structure followed this advice...

Stafford does his homework !
This is an excellent work from an author that thoroughly researches every detail of the subject before it is put to print. As all of Staffords work, the factual basis is unquestionable. Anyone that reads this work will have a deep understanding of the time period and the personalities involved. ... Read more