No comments about Winston Churchill in the Mirror: His Life in Picture and Story.

No comments about Gladstone and Disraeli.

1 comments about Gladstone: 1875-1898.

1. As the dominant Liberal politician of the nineteenth century, William Gladstone is one of the most important figures in the history of Victorian Britain. His diaries constitute an essential source of information about his life and times, and their publication under the editorship of Colin Matthew, was one of the great historical publishing projects of recent times. This book, a follow-up to Matthew's Gladstone, 1809-1874, collects the introductory essays from the volumes of these diaries; together, they provide considerable insight into the later life and career of the most remarkable politician of Victorian England.
   
   In 1875 Gladstone was a fit 65 years old. Though he had announced his retirement the year before, this meant retirement from politics (which he always saw as a second-order activity), as he devoted himself to a number of theological and ecclesiastical debates. He remained an elemental force in politics, however, and his anger with the massacre of Bulgarian Christians by their Ottoman rulers precipitated his return to the political arena. The result was the famous Midlothian campaign, which Matthew defines as one of the great set-pieces in the history of Victorian Britain.
   
   Matthew argues that Gladstone's return to politics was defined by his earlier retirement. The Midlothian Campaign set the stage for his political activity after 1875, which took the form of "campaigns" inspired by unusual crises and special causes. As a result he discovered the politically abnormal issues and orchestrated politics around them - in effect, as Matthew puts it, giving politics a millenarian tone. Gladstone's campaign for the seat was also notable, though, for the introduction of a new type of political communication - the stump speech. This was a product of the changes that Victorian Britain was undergoing, a result of the expansion of the electorate and the emergence of the popular press - for, as Matthew notes, Gladstone's audience wasn't the listeners but the readers of the newspapers which carried his speeches.
   
   Gladstone's success was reflected in the returns from the general election of 1880, which not only saw him triumphant in Midlothian but the return of the Liberals to government as well. Matthew's account of Gladstone's second administration comprises a quarter of the book, and focuses on the main areas of the prime minister's concern. The first was in foreign affairs, where Gladstone was most committed to restoring right conduct after the excesses of "Beaconsfieldism." Here Matthew sees the prime minister as prescient in his concern about imperial "overstretch," recognizing the importance of the economy in defining Britain's strength and worrying about the burden the empire was placing upon it. Yet the occupation of Egypt in 1882 was a measure far more expansionistic than anything undertaken by Disraeli's government, though Matthew notes that Gladstone considered this intervention much more justified than those of the previous administration. Domestically, Gladstone's government was more successful, particularly with parliamentary reform, which Matthew considers the great legislative triumph of the administration.
   
   Yet it was Ireland that ultimately occupied most of Gladstone's attention, becoming the issue that would dominate the remainder of his political career. Upon returning to office in 1880, his government faced rising tension in Ireland over the issue of land, tension embodied in the rise of the Land League. In response, Gladstone wanted to readjust social and financial relationships without an expensive scheme of land purchase. This meant maintaining the predominantly Protestant landowning class, which he believed was the key to keeping order when in fact the opposite was increasingly the case. By preserving the landowners, land agitation grew, which led to more coercion, which in turn led to the demise of Liberalism in Ireland and the growth of the Home Rule movement.
   
   Faced with this problem, the prime minister eventually embraced Home Rule as the solution. Here Matthew charts Gladstone's intellectual construction of his approach towards Home Rule, noting that his conversion to the issue was by gradual evolution rather than sudden change. The key to this process was recognition of the new pluralism in the region and containing it within parliamentary absolutism - a process rooted in the assumption that the Home Rulers were willing to operate within the constitutional sphere. Yet while Gladstone courted the Home Rulers, his assumption that the Liberals would rally behind the measure - which was in line with his traditional "big bill" approach towards handling his party in the House of Commons - proved disastrously incorrect, splitting the party and setting the stage for the Conservative victory in the election of 1886. Though acknowledging the rejection of Gladstone's proposal, Matthew argues that it provided the framework for discussing constitutional revision of the United Kingdom for the century that followed.
   
   While an elderly figure after his defeat in 1885-6, Gladstone retained much of his vigor. Unlike the aftermath of the Liberal defeat in 1874, Gladstone was committed to winning another election in order to form another government which would successfully pass Home Rule. Apart from some initial approaches to Parnell (an overture that was thwarted by the sensational O'Shea divorce case), however, Matthew argues that Gladstone did little to formulate a party consensus on the particulars of a new Home Rule Bill prior to taking office once more as Prime Minister after the weak Liberal victory in the 1892 election. The legislation which emerged was more limited than its predecessor, and though passed by the Commons it was defeated in the Lords, thus frustrating Gladstone's last great legislative measure. With his age increasingly beginning to tell, Gladstone retired in 1894, dying four years later.
   
   Few books can equal this volume in its perceptiveness about Gladstone's later years. A winner of the prestigious Wolfson History Prize when it was first published, it is nessesary and rewarding reading for anybody seeking to understand the life and career of one of the most important figures in modern British history.

No comments about Churchill's Grand Alliance: The Anglo-American Special Relationship 1940-57.

No comments about William Ewart Gladstone (EasyRead Super Large 18pt Edition).

No comments about Churchill.

3 comments about WINSTON CHURCHILL - SOLDIER: The Military Life of a Gentleman at War.

1. In the popular--especially American--mind, the career of Winston Churchill begins in 1940, but in fact he had many careers, and in all of them, he demonstrated courage and a prodigious amount of energy. In Winston Churchill: Soldier, Douglas S. Russell focuses on Churchill's early life as a gentleman and lieutenant in the service of Victorian England. It was, by any standard, an impressive service and Russell takes us through all the key events, illuminating them with informative and entertaining prose.
   
   In a five-year period, Churchill saw combat in four countries, won several decorations including the Spanish Order of Military Merit, became fabulously famous as an escaped prisoner of war, wrote five books, and gained a seat in Parliament. He was not yet twenty-six.
   
   It is an intimidating task to relate the events of such a life, and it is made more challenging by knowing who your subject was to become. Russell's achievement is admirable. He begins with Churchill's childhood--it is well to remember that the future Prime Minister was born forty years before the First World War--and takes us through his days at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst before going on to his service in the 4th Hussars and combat on an international stage. (It is difficult for an American to picture Churchill fighting in Cuba.)
   
   Russell succeeds in showing the best traits of a biographer in this volume. He is engaged with his subject and yet he retains a scholarly distance. It is not easy to maintain such balance with someone who looms as large in our minds as Churchill.
   
   --David Lang at Advance Book Reviews



2. 
   I've read many books about Winston Churchill and this by far is the worst! It almost seems as if Churchill was punished for serving in the military.
   
   I wish the book would have discussed what I believe motivated Winston Churchill for military acceptance, an example; his childhood in boarding school: He was rarely visited by his mother, Lady Randolph, whom he wrote many letters begging her to either come or let his father permit him to come home and stay. I believe his father wanted Winston at home and to be part of his life, unfortunately back then (the late 1800's) a mother always seemed to get her way concerning the children, no matter how wrong she was.
   
   Another note, Churchill participated in what has been described as the last significant British cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman. He also served as a war correspondent for the Morning Post. What's terrific is that Sir Winston Churchill wrote and served in the military at the same time! I wonder if that was ever used against him when he ran for office??
   
   Back to the book, Winston Churchill was a great leader and hero, but it is not conveyed to me in this book. It seems the author did not take into account or see all sides of the picture concerning Churchill's military life, especially the truthful people who took the time to show up and support Winston in his endeavors.
   
   To me, the book was vacant, dreadful, and very one-sided. I'm sorry to say that I would never recommend this book to anyone, not even my worst enemy.
   
   Two great books to read regarding Winston Churchill's military life are "Concerning Winston Spencer Churchill," written by Sir George Arthur and "Winston Churchill: The Era and the Man," written by Virginia Cowles.
   
   I hope my review enlightened you and made you think.



3. This book is a labor of love and it shows. In an overture to his political career, Winston Churchill was graduated from Great Britain's royal military academy in 1894, aged twenty, and served as a professional officer (and part-time war correspondent) t for the next six years. He saw action on India's northwest frontier, in Cuba as an observer with the Spanish army during the Cuban insurrection of 1895, in what was then Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1898, and in the Boer War in 1899-1900. Then in 1915, after losing his post as a Cabinet Minister, a middle-aged Churchill returned to duty on the Western Front for a year. He thus saw colonial war in Africa and Asia in the late days of the British Empire, when it was considered something of a moderately dangerous sport for gentleman cavalry officers, and in his own middle age when it had become an industrial-scale slaughter in the mud of the trenches of Flanders. Russell tells the story with thoroughgoing attention to detail based on exhaustive research--including visits to the scenes he describes--skipping nothing, from details of uniforms and daily patterns of army life, to tactics and moment-by-moment experiences in battle. No one interested in military history should miss this book.
   
   But the general reader, too, will find it fascinating because the central figure, never lost sight of, is young Winston Churchill--ambitious, outspoken (sometimes to his disadantage,) eloquent, completely loyal to class and country, and absolutely without fear on the battlefields where he narrowly missed death several times. Likewise gifted with a sense of the sweep of history that he later poured into many books. Everyone should make the acquaintance of this genuine and colorful giant in his formative years to learn why he became a great wartime leader. Those of us, like this reviewer, old enough to remember that deep voice using the mightiest resources of the English language to rally Britain and the free world against the Axis even in the darkest moments of World War II will be especially thrilled. Those younger should make his refreshing acquaintance in this age of cookie-cutter politicians.

No comments about C: The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies,Spymaster to Winston Churchill.

No comments about The Churchill-Eisenhower Correspondence, 1953-1955.

4 comments about Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and His Legend Since 1945.

1. John Ramsden wrote a book of uneven quality about Winston Churchill's legend since 1945. Ramsden clearly does not target readers with no prior, in-depth knowledge of this towering presence. In some chapters, Ramsden gets bogged down in detail that, over time, annoys readers. Ramsden should have written shorter chapters about Churchill and his relationship with countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Enumerating a large number of streets, pubs, parks, etc. named after Churchill in these different countries does not add much to the narrative. Ramsden is at his best in Part One when he focuses on the controversial personality of Churchill. Churchill understood very well that he had to write his side of the story to mold the minds of his contemporaries and remain relevant to future generations. Churchill has outshined most other memorable men and women in this enterprise. Many people around the world still want to claim a piece of Churchill by quoting him in a wide variety of settings. The ultimate power of Churchill lies in the richness of his parley and writings which can still stir emotions when reason fails to mobilize for decisive action.



2. Notwithstanding Time magazine's famous judgement, I think Winston Churchill was the man of the last century. So does John Ramsden, who has written a book that will be deeply appreciated by those with a lively interest in Churchill's impact on politics and culture following World War II and up to the present. The text is somewhat uneven in that the author meanders between quite keen insights on important issues, such as Churchill's role toward what became the EU, and the more dubious, such as listing the various streets named for the great man in Australia. While a first time reader on Churchill should read a good biography like that of Sir Roy Jenkins, this book will be worthy of purchase by any true acolyte of this great, and still relevant, figure of history.



3. THis is not a biography of Winston Churchill. This is something new and fascinating. Here we have a text that seeks to examine Churchill the legend, the man, the history of him and his relationship with the english speaking world since 1945. Chapters include investigations of Churchills funeral, 'operation Hope Not' and Churchill 'failure' to lose World War Two, the Finest Hour. Here we learn of Churchill's FUlton speech and also his famous relationship with America, as an honorary citizen no less.
   
   Most interesting are chapters on Churchills relationship with Australia and Canada as well as new anecdotes about why Castro and Guliani, who agree on nothing, both are admirers of Winston. This book also examines the many biographers of Churchill, including Manchester, Gilbert and Jenkins.
   
   THe conlusion is that Churchill is not simply the 'man of the century' but perhaps of the next one as well. This is a tour de force and every Churchill admirer must read it, in fact anyone interested in histiography or in the western egnlish speaking world since 1945 will enjoy this. Every conceivable person stars in this cast, from Isiah Berlin to Dean Acheson and Robert Menzies. The English speaking world will enjoy this book about one of its greatest champions.
   
   A last note, the chapter on Churchill and Europe and Churchill and the Irish are extraordinary in their new takes on the British and their relationship with these two neighboors.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



4. Sir Winston Churchill had no shortage of admirers among the generation that knew, or saw, him during his Finest Hour, 1940-1941. And they have remained legion among later generations. But in the wake of the September 11 attacks, many people -- and especially many politicians in need of stirring rhetoric -- have turned to WSC again, attracted to his reputation, perhaps, more than to the strict details of his long and eventful life.

   John Ramsden's fascinating book is an analysis of how Churchill's reputation was born, was consciously shaped by the man himself, and how it has evolved in the years since his death. The bulk of the analysis focuses on the five English-Speaking nations, though Europe is included as well. Another large section looks at the famous "Iron Curtain" or "Sinews of Peace" speech at Fulton, Missouri, in 1946, and how it -- precisely as WSC intended -- transformed the world's view of him from heroic-but-passé war leader to very-much-active statesman, politician, and geopolitical strategist.

   A final section, which I found the most interesting, analyses many of the key Churchill biographies written over the years, from Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert's official biography, to Lord Moran, to Manchester, to Roy Jenkins' "Churchill: A Biography" (2001), which Ramsden predicts will remain "the authoritative single text for years to come" (p. 545). Ramsden also seems to have counted every Churchill memorial statue, street, pub, and park bench in the world. And while a catalog of these things could easily become tiresome, this author skillfully keeps it from doing so.

   This is no small accomplishment. People who write about Churchill are forced to deal with the sheer immensity of his life. Many respond by being prolix, or trite, or they oversimplify, or caricaturize, or fall into either blind hero-worship or equally unnuanced destructiveness. Ramsden does none of these. One way he manages this, of course, is by being fairly sparing of the details of most of WSC's life. Thus, this book will make a lot more sense to someone who already has a fairly good understanding of who the man was, what he did, and when. Another way is by filling his text with stories about, and insights into, Churchill and his contemporaries that are nearly all some combination of fascinating, entertaining, and memorable. Thus, while he's dealing with some Grand Themes, the author surrounds them with a bodyguard of anecdotes that in and of themselves almost guarantee this will be a fun read for any Churchill student or fan.

   Significantly, Ramsden is not an *uncritical* admirer of Churchill, though he is clearly an admirer. The Winston we encounter here is not sugarcoated, and some of his unattractive features do come through. That and the mountainous research on display are two signs of Ramsden's chops as a historian.

   Finally, as a many-year member of The Churchill Centre and its preceding organization the International Churchill Societies, I should note and commend Ramsden's coverage of this worthy organization. Far from the worshipful society of star-struck fans it is sometimes painted to be, Ramsden shows the CC to be a reputable and respectable association of clear-eyed admirers of the man of the century, warts and all.

   I am always amazed at the new aspects or corners of Churchill's life and impact that people can find to write books about. This one, no question, was a book that needed to be written. And for any Churchill student or fan, it's one that needs to be read.