Winston Churchill - best book
Discussion
Martin Gilbert's biography should cover all the bases for you.
I have a couple of shelves of books by or about WC, and to be honest his own histories of the two world wars are the best way to understand his part in history, but they are big read and a heavy financial investment.
However, Gilbert was criticised for being too rosy eyed about Churchill's more controversial aspects. But then, it has become fashionable to knock Churchill recently, and accuse him of racism, drunkenness, irresponsibility, etc. You have to realise from the off he was an Edwardian aristocrat with all that entails, and you can't judge him by today's standards. He said himself that history would be kind to him because he intended to write it himself.
He was an enormous figure and there is ample room for different interpretations. That's the fascination in studying him. In the end, make your own mind up.
One book you shouldn't overlook is his own biography, My Early Life. It's like a Boys Own adventure of his military and journalistic careers as a young man and sets the scene for his later political life. You won't regret spending some time on that.
I have a couple of shelves of books by or about WC, and to be honest his own histories of the two world wars are the best way to understand his part in history, but they are big read and a heavy financial investment.
However, Gilbert was criticised for being too rosy eyed about Churchill's more controversial aspects. But then, it has become fashionable to knock Churchill recently, and accuse him of racism, drunkenness, irresponsibility, etc. You have to realise from the off he was an Edwardian aristocrat with all that entails, and you can't judge him by today's standards. He said himself that history would be kind to him because he intended to write it himself.
He was an enormous figure and there is ample room for different interpretations. That's the fascination in studying him. In the end, make your own mind up.
One book you shouldn't overlook is his own biography, My Early Life. It's like a Boys Own adventure of his military and journalistic careers as a young man and sets the scene for his later political life. You won't regret spending some time on that.
For a fairly in-depth analysis of Churchill at war ('40 - '45) , I can recommend "Finest Years" by Max Hastings
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Finest-Years-Churchill-Wa...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Finest-Years-Churchill-Wa...
Uncle John said:
Boris Johnson ‘The Churchill Factor’ is very good believe it or not.
Also provides one with a (chilling?) insight into parallels in the author's personality perhaps?But yes, I enjoyed reading it as well.
Quite insightful I thought, though that aspect may be not so original, I don't have the expertise to judge.
I have got copies of everything Churchill published, which is quite a bit. If you like My Early Life, and you will, you should also read The River War, and The Story of the Malakand Field Force. I didn’t like Roy Jenkins book because of his idiosyncratic syntax, or Boris’s because it is a lot more about Boris than Churchill.
The problem with Churchill is that the impression is given that you can run a country through a paralytic coma, and that financial irresponsibility is a tenable lifestyle. Neither is true. For the opposite view, you should read Churchill’s War by David Irving, Volumes 1 & 2, which is a lot better than Irving gets credit for these days and may shatter a few illusions.
I much prefer the young Churchill to the older one.
The problem with Churchill is that the impression is given that you can run a country through a paralytic coma, and that financial irresponsibility is a tenable lifestyle. Neither is true. For the opposite view, you should read Churchill’s War by David Irving, Volumes 1 & 2, which is a lot better than Irving gets credit for these days and may shatter a few illusions.
I much prefer the young Churchill to the older one.
Roy Jenkins is an irritating author to read. He turns his sentences round so you have to read the set up and the operative part of the sentence is at the end, sometimes with a lot of material in between. I found it patronising, and wilfully hard to follow.
I would reiterate, People like to see Churchill through rose tinted glasses. He had great qualities, but was also very flawed. He was an extremely selfish individual, entirely careless of others lives or well being and sought to look after himself first and foremost. They say that a group of friends got together in the 30's to keep him from bankruptcy, through his extravagant lifestyle. That is a polite way of saying that he was on the take. A large number of loyal acolytes overlooked and covered up for his drunkenness. War was his element and power his objective, someone said. Gallipoli was entirely his balls up. So was Norway, the failure of which resulted in his becoming PM, ironically. Boris's book is aimed at making a hero of someone whose characteristics he implies bear comparison with those of Boris himself. Boris may be a fat self indulgent tool who doesn't give a toss about the trouble he causes other people, but he is no Churchill.
Just look at it objectively, read all the sources, and make up your own mind. Martin Gilbert is not very good.
I would reiterate, People like to see Churchill through rose tinted glasses. He had great qualities, but was also very flawed. He was an extremely selfish individual, entirely careless of others lives or well being and sought to look after himself first and foremost. They say that a group of friends got together in the 30's to keep him from bankruptcy, through his extravagant lifestyle. That is a polite way of saying that he was on the take. A large number of loyal acolytes overlooked and covered up for his drunkenness. War was his element and power his objective, someone said. Gallipoli was entirely his balls up. So was Norway, the failure of which resulted in his becoming PM, ironically. Boris's book is aimed at making a hero of someone whose characteristics he implies bear comparison with those of Boris himself. Boris may be a fat self indulgent tool who doesn't give a toss about the trouble he causes other people, but he is no Churchill.
Just look at it objectively, read all the sources, and make up your own mind. Martin Gilbert is not very good.
Edited by cardigankid on Sunday 18th March 09:00
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