Great Britain - Political Biography, Britain - Historical Biography - 20th Century, 20th Century British History - Politics & Government, Great Britain - General & Miscellaneous - Politics & Government
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Overview
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 troublemaker 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". 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 provides the first fully informed and even-handed biography of Winston Churchill. In its balance and breadth, its sympathy and detachment, and its wide-ranging historical vision, this book has been rightly called a "masterpiece" (The Sunday Times). 30 photos.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Rose lays more stress on Churchill's struggles and flaws than on his successes and strengths. He presents Churchill's early career as preparation for the hour of supreme crisis when, as England's wartime prime minister, he inspired his countrymen to confront the Germans despite seemingly hopeless odds: ``No man was ever more prepared, more fitted, more willing to fulfill this historical task, one that he accomplished with consummate artistry.'' Rose recounts how Churchill became a political pariah after the 1915 Dardanelles fiasco, his career apparently ruined until David Lloyd George appointed him minister of munitions in 1917; and again, during most of the 1930s, distrusted by both major parties and thought to lack judgment and stability, he suffered political exile until he was appointed first lord of the admiralty by Neville Chamberlain after the outbreak of WWII. Rose takes a frank look at Churchill's faults-his inability to admit mistakes, his colossal ego, his profound self-centeredness-and demonstrates that these were the flaws of a great man rather than tragic flaws in the Aristotelian sense. Rose teaches history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)Book Details
Published
May 1, 1995
Publisher
The Free Press
Pages
516
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780028740096