Churchill

One of the glorious triumvirate of World War II and founder of the strong Anglo-American friendship that is still apparent today, Winston Churchill stands out in history as a man who led his country through one of its most difficult times, with all of the steadfastness of a fierce and loyal bulldog. Churchill was already recognized as the most diversely gifted man in British politics before, at the ripe old age of 66, he suddenly emerged as a figure of world importance. Becoming Prime Minister on the very day in 1940 that Hitler invaded France and the Low Countries, he braced the British people to continue fighting and even to counterattack the, up to that point, all-victorious Germans. A clever and confident statesman, with an obvious love for the people he served, for years Churchill's character went unchallenged and his inspiring leadership left him above criticism. Recently, however, his record has come under attack. In Churchill: A Study in Greatness, one of Britain's most distinguished historians makes sense of this extraordinary man, and his long, controversial, colorful, contradictory and heroic career.

Geoffrey Best illuminates both his strengths and his weaknesses, looking past the many received versions of Churchill, in a biography that balances the private and the public man and offers a clear insight into what made him truly great.


Reminds us that is still possible, at a time when irony and cynicism are so much the fashion, to pay tribute to greatness without being hagiographical.--New Republic

Splendid.... A marvel of densely researched scholarship expertly sifted and presented with misleading ease in an elegant prose style.--The Washington Times

An astonishingly fresh and original study that renders all previous short biographies out of date.--Times Literary Supplement

We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glow-worm.--Winston Churchill

Excellent.--New York Review of Books