Churchill: A Major New Assessment of His Life in Peace and War

by Robert Blake (Editor), William Roger Louis (Editor)

Overview

A look at the life and accomplishments of the former prime minister presents essays by twenty-nine renowned contributors that examine all phases of Churchill's life—from his youth in the aristocracy to his career in Parliament.

Essays examine Churchill's family life, foreign policy, social reforms, economic ideas, views on Zionism, and relationship with the monarchy and fellow statesmen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393034097
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/17/1993
Edition description:	1st American ed
Pages:	632
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.50(d)

Editorial Reviews

Although the introduction to this estimable, invaluable collection of essays on the life of Winston Churchill says the book will take the "full measure of the man," readers will see that to be a formidable undertaking. These lively and erudite contributions are the result of a symposium of English and American scholars in 1991. The result is impressive. Churchill's energy outlasted his contemporaries. His majestic command of language will last as long as the history of Great Britain's "finest hour" is written in books. Churchill, we see, was headstrong, "forever prodding," a master of parliamentary procedures, courageous, stubborn and foolhardy, a "man of war" who saw it as an adventure, a radical in government who switched from conservative to liberal to conservative. Churchill's family, "a textbook case of declining and degenerate dynasty," would have defeated other men. A monologuist and egotist, he was very difficult to work with. Richard Olland's essay "Churchill and the Navy," in particular, leaves one feeling sorry not just for his enemies but for his friends as well. But these essays sustain his greatness despite flaws.

Eugene Sullivan