No comments about I Was Winston Churchill's Private Secretary.

No comments about Teacha: Autobiography, Colonel C.L.G. Harris of the Maroons.

No comments about LLOYD GEORGE (BRITISH HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE).

No comments about The Two Mr. Gladstones: A Study in Psychology and History.

No comments about Disraeli and the Art of Victorian Politics (Anthem Nineteenth-Century Series).

2 comments about Winston Churchill: A Brief Life.

1. Rather than throwing another heavy scholarly tome at the public, Piers Brendon opted for a short portrait of Churchill, the man. In fact, the cover of the British paperback edition (which, unfortunately, you can not see here) tells the whole story: on the top half is a photograph of a youthful Churchill flaunting an urchin's grin under a flamboyant top hat; on the bottom half is a photograph of Churchill in his sixties squinting against the sun while he inspected a battlefield during WW II.

   Churchill was a complex personality, "yet the essence of Churchill, which this book has attempted to explore and to celebrate, was his heightened vitality, the terrific immediacy of his existence. Life as it was ordinarily lived was too tame for him: he needed the stimulus of constant adventure." He was grandiose, yet had self-deprecating charm; he could remark that although we are all worms he really believed himself to be a glow-worm.

   Graced with a benign character and a sunny disposition, he nevertheless displayed an authoritarian bent ("All I wanted was compliance with my wishes after reasonable discussion") and was driven by an unabashed, egotistical ambition. His disregard for hierarchies and naval tradition was legendary: "Don't talk to me about naval tradition," was his famous reply, "it is nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash."

   Churchill's greatest gift was his "alchemical power with words: by means of fiery eloquence he could transmute the dross of disaster into the gold of triumph." Rhetoric was "the most powerful weapon in his armoury and he took immense trouble with it, constantly practicing: 'Winston leads general conversation on the hearth rug addressing himself in the looking glass - a sympathetic and admiring audience.'" His demagogic skills and self-advertising flair served Britain well at a time when the Nazi tanks seemed unstoppable: "Churchill's well nigh miraculous achievement during the dire summer months of 1940 was to convert the nation to a mystical faith in its own providential destiny. ... Courage is as contagious as cowardice and Churchill infected everyone with his heedless fortitude."

   Churchill was a sanguine choleric, if ever there was one. His "scowling sulks made his moods of sunny cheerfulness all the brighter. His charm compensated for his rudeness; his loyalty redeemed his cruelty. His fundamental kindness of heart and generosity of spirit were never altogether obscured by perennial egotism and fleeting rages." Nobody could say of his intellectual arrogance that his brains went to his head: "When the mood took him he bubbled with good humour. He never stood on his dignity. He had once amazed guests by getting down on all fours under the Chartwell dining-room table and shaking swimming-pool water out of his ears like a dog."

   Churchill could be charming and demanding, as it suited him. After he had the US safely in his camp, he rejected the advice to approach America cautiously with the comment "Oh! That is the way we talked to her while we were wooing her; now that she is in the harem, we talk to her quite differently." And, a rarity among politicians, he spoke a foreign language: "'Je sweeze oun frair ehnay de la Trinnity'" Churchill, the Elder Brother of Trinity House, was said to have told the French ambassador who supposedly congratulated him on having such distinguished relations.

   Piers Brendon's intention was to write a "vivid, balanced, complete but miniature portrait" set against the background of Churchill's career, because "the vast accumulation of knowledge about Churchill is in some ways an obstacle to understanding him. Comprehensiveness impedes comprehension [and] incidental vignettes can often reveal more than reams of pedantry - Churchill's telling Stalin that he was very fond of goldfish, for example, and the dictator hospitably suggesting that he should have some for breakfast."

   I understand that some critics may get the impression that this biography is a light-weight when they read a tongue-in-cheek summary like "Winston's fate was determined by his toy soldiers." But that's a question of style, not substance. Don't be deceived. This is a fine portrait of Churchill - a bit brief on the historical background, I admit - but you will have a good time reading it.




2. This easy to read book is one of the shortest life descriptions of Churchill there is. It's foreword already tells us that the focus will be on Winstons character, with his career only as background.

   If you keep that in mind, and don't expect details on his campaigns, government and financial policy, this is an interesting biography, that depicts Chutchill as a larger than life, somewhat unbalanced and egocentric bully, with some ideologies that on a closer look are a dubious mixture of conservatism and fascism. A man that fortunatly lived in the right time, when there was active need for such a man, to combat Hitler.

   The reason I only gave 3 stars for this book, is that I firmly believe that any biography should have footnotes and references to liturature, so that you can check some of the wrirters assumptions, esspecially if the focus is not on facts but on character, as is the case here and that this is completely missing here.

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

No comments about THE BIG THREE: CHURCHILL, ROOSEVELT AND STALIN IN PEACE AND WAR..

No comments about The Gentle Persuader: A Biography of James Gladstone Indian Senator.

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