Churchill: A Life

I have to admit I enjoyed listening to Churchill: a Life much better than if I had read the print. Christian Rodska's Churchill imitation is hysterical. I particularly enjoyed the humor Rodska inserted into Gilbert's prose. There were parts that had me laughing out loud, so much so I had to share them with with my husband, something I almost never do. One small example - when Churchill was young his schoolwork suffered greatly. He was constantly getting in trouble for not being diligent enough. Writing home to "mummy" from boarding school Churchill hoped she would not ruin his summer with a tutor because he promised to be very busy with such things as "butterflying." It is hard to imagine a great leader such as Winston Churchill worrying about the time he could spend catching butterflies, but then again he was only twelve!
Martin flies through the first part of Churchill's life with uncomplicated ease. His detailed pauses are like butterflies landing on well timed and important moments like Churchill's education, his capture and subsequent escape from a Boer prison during the war, and his introduction to the political arena. Using Churchill's own words his character comes alive. Unfortunately, the biography only covers the years 1874 to 1918. ( )

Gilbert is a good writer and his subject here is well worth the length of the book (could have extended it to my own pleasure). ( )

Even the most historically illiterate students are familiar with the role Winston Churchill played in the victory over Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, many students of history remain uninformed of the true breadth and scope of his life. This work, a condensation of Martin Gilbert's earlier two volume history, is an excellent antidote for such ignorance.

It is no exaggeration to credit Winston Churchill for the survival of England in the years between the fall of France and the U.S. entry in the conflict with Germany and Japan. Such was the lingering horror of the events of World War I, that Churchill was virtually alone in fighting the appeasement policies of his own government which contributed to the early success of Nazi Germany.

But, it should be noted that Winston Churchill was in his mid-60s when he became Prime Minister of a coalition government formed to prosecute the war with the Axis powers. He already had 40 years of parliamentary service under his belt, stints as First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I (where he presided over the disastrous Gallipoli campaign) and Chancellor of the Exchequer, service in the trenches of World War I as well as the Boer War and the Sudan campaign, time as both a war correspondent and published author.

Despite this nearly unprecedented scope of accomplishments, were it not for the rise of Nazi Germany and Adolph Hitler, he would be virtually unknown outside the realm of British historians. For, as great protagonists and great events are required to bring out the greatness of our heroes (Grant needed Lee, Caesar, Pompeii), none is a better example of this than Winston Churchill.

Were it not for Adolph Hitler, Churchill would have likely served out his later parliamentary years as little more than a back bench Conservative crank, labeled as a warmonger and kept on the fringes of party politics. Even in the months preceding the invasion of Poland, Churchill was kept outside of the Cabinet of his own party's government. He was never neatly pigeonholed in the existing English party system. It was only the formation of a coalition government that allowed his ascension to the Prime Ministership. As it was, the perfect combination of personalities and events allowed Churchill to achieve greatness on a historical scale. It is no accident that almost immediately following successful conclusion of the war, Churchill and the Conservative party were bounced from power by the Labour Party, only to be returned to face the Soviet Union in the early stages of the Cold War. Churchill was a "crisis" manager and ill suited for periods of peace and tranquility.

As a man in his late 60s and early 70s, Churchill displayed an endurance and a level of accomplishments nearly unprecedented in human history. Consider that he likely logged more miles of travel (both in the air and on sea, during a time of great danger for each) and wrote and published more works of literature than nearly anyone else alive during a period when he was quite literally standing alone in what was almost a personal fight for the continued existence of the British Empire. The catalog of heart attacks and strokes suffered and recovered from are a source of absolute amazement

Now, it is a common failing of many biographers to enhance the accomplishments and gloss over he failings of their subjects, and I doubt not that Gilbert has done so here. However, the historical record is quite clear and Churchill's life and accomplishments are well documented. His love of the grog is rarely mentioned, though it was obviously a personal vice which he passed on to his children. His relationship with his wife seems quite unusual, though perhaps not so in the context of Victorian and early 20th century upper class English society.

Gilbert's writing style consists almost entirely of reference to and quotation from letters, diary entries and other correspondence to, from and about Churchill. While this would seem to create a work both choppy and halting, it is quite the opposite. Gilbert does a masterful job splicing these observations into historical events and produces a smoothly flowing and captivating narrative which should be required reading for any serious student of modern history. ( )

Immensely enjoyable and informative, albeit a little tedious in a few places. Gilbert is a master at gathering information and using it in a way that makes one feel directly attached to the central figures. His skilful use of documents woven into the main text is also remarkable. One criticism - I found the end of the book disappointing and anticlimactic. It is almost as if Gilbert had only 15 pages remaining to cover the last decade of Churchill's life and so he galloped to the finishing line without tying up all the loose ends. Having already ploughed through over 950 pages, would another 30 to cover the last few years in more detail have been too much to expect? ( )

First published in 1991, this is a story of adventure. The author uses Churchill's personal letters and the recollections of his contemporaries, friends and enemies, to go behind the scenes of some of the stormiest and fascinating political events of our time revealing his qualities in peace and war, not least as an orator and a man of vision.