Europe - Diplomatic Relations with the U.S., Great Britain - Political Biography, 20th Century American History - Relations - General & Miscellaneous, Great Britain - Diplomatic Relations

Churchill and America

Name: Churchill and America
Author: Martin Gilbert
ISBN: 9780743259934

by Martin Gilbert

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Overview

Named Churchill's official biographer in 1968, renowned historian Sir Martin Gilbert has amassed exclusive archival and personal documentation to explore the statesman's famed affinity for and relationship with the United States. Churchill and America tells the intensely personal story of Winston Churchill's profound connection to America, which resulted in an Anglo-American alliance that has stood at the center of international relations for more than a century. Drawing on this extensive store of Churchill's own words -- his private letters, his articles and speeches, and press conferences and interviews given to American journalists on his journeys throughout the United States -- Gilbert paints a rich portrait of the Anglo-American relationship, illuminated by its most famous proponent.

Synopsis

In this stirring book, Martin Gilbert tells the intensely human story of Winston Churchill's profound connection to America, a relationship that resulted in an Anglo-American alliance that has stood at the center of international relations for more than a century."This is a fascinating story, straightforward and well told, of one of the 20th century's most important leaders and the critical connection he forged between the world's fading superpower and its rising one."-Publishers Weekly

Publishers Weekly

In many ways, Winston Churchill embodied the "special relationship" between America and Britain-his mother was American, and he admired the country even before he courted the United States' assistance during WWII. In this thoroughly researched, consistently enjoyable study, Gilbert-the statesman's official biographer-covers the subject with his usual diligence and rigor, from the American roots of Churchill's mother to his first visit to the U.S. in 1895 and on to the end of his life. Historically, the most important connections were between Churchill and the two WWII presidents, Roosevelt and Truman, and the book is filled with detail on the war years, especially his indefatigable efforts to get America involved in the war. He tells his son, "I shall drag the United States in." But it's just as interesting to discover how Churchill embraced America so early in his life, not of necessity but out of temperament. In a letter home during his very first visit, he notes American vulgarity, but adds, "I think... that vulgarity is a sign of strength." This is a fascinating story, straightforward and well told, of one of the 20th century's most important leaders and the critical connection he forged between the world's fading superpower and its rising one. Photos and maps not seen by PW. Agent, Caradoc King, A.P. Watt (U.K.). (Oct. 6) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Martin Gilbert

Martin Gilbert was named Winston Churchill's official biographer in 1968. He is the author of seventy-five books, among them the single-volume Churchill: A Life, his twin histories The First World War and The Second World War, the comprehensive Israel: A History, and his three-volume History of the Twentieth Century. An Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and a Distinguished Fellow of Hillsdale College, Michigan, he was knighted in 1995 "for services to British history and international relations," and in 1999 he was awarded a Doctorate of Literature by the University of Oxford for the totality of his published work.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

It is doubtful whether anyone on this planet knows more about the life and times of Winston Churchill than his official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert (honorary fellow, Merton Coll., Oxford; Churchill: A Life). Gilbert has published numerous works about the great Englishman. This time he focuses on Churchill's lifelong attachment to America, an attachment that stemmed from his American-born mother, Jennie Jerome, who married Randolph Churchill. Gilbert traces Churchill's various voyages to America, from his first visit in 1895 to his last in 1961. He recounts how Churchill's fondness for America and its denizens shaped both his personal outlook and the policies of the different governments he headed. Foremost among the special relationships he maintained over his lifetime was the remarkable friendship he crafted with Franklin Roosevelt during FDR's presidency. Their relationship often softened the antagonisms that erupted between the English-speaking allies as World War II progressed. Every year a new biography of Churchill appears (Roy Jenkins's Churchill: A Biography being a good recent example), but no one can surpass the deep understanding of the man that Gilbert displays. This latest contribution is highly recommended.-Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Crusty old Tories long complained that Winston Churchill wasn't quite British. His official biographer shows that they were right. Churchill's mother, nee Jennie Jerome, was born in Brooklyn in 1854. It thrilled Winston more to know that one of his ancestors was what he called, in the parlance of the time, "a Seneca squaw." Writes Gilbert (The Righteous, 2003, etc.), "the quintessential Englishman was not only half American but also one-sixty-fourth Native American." Being half American did not keep Churchill from serving as an advisor to the Spanish government just before war broke out with the U.S., nor did he shy from answering the call when it appeared that the U.S. and England were on the verge of war over some tangled dealings in Venezuela. Yet Churchill's affinities were always with America, and the feelings were mutual; Churchill's powers of persuasion were such that Charles Schwab, the head of U.S. Steel, gladly violated neutrality laws to build submarines for England during WWI, and even FDR figured out a way to skirt those same laws to supply Churchill with airplanes before the U.S. entered WWII. Close feelings apart, though, Churchill often found himself flummoxed by American politics: He was irritated when Congress pressed for quick repayment of war debts after WWI; unhappy when, in his view, the U.S. allowed Russia to swallow up half of Europe; and downright irate at Eisenhower's obstinate refusal to hold informal talks with Soviet diplomats, which might have ended the Cold War much sooner. Much of this will be a revelation even to those who know Churchill's work and career, and Gilbert does a fine job of charting the statesman's sometimes mixed feelings for the land heconsidered a second home-and his closest ally. The ties that bind the two countries today are, at least in part, of Churchill's making.

From the Publisher

"This is a fascinating story, straightforward and well told, of one of the 20th century's most important leaders and the critical connection he forged between the world's fading superpower and its rising one."