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Title: Churchill: A Biography by Roy Jenkins ISBN: 0-452-28352-3 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (75 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Heroism in Politics
Comment: Is there any more fascinating figure than Winston Churchill? I have found him interesting since I read a children's book on him back in 1972 and continue to find him interesting to this very day. There are many books to come out on Churchill. The definative work was begun by Randolph Churchill and continued after his death by Martin Gilbert. This runs several volumes and includes lengthy extracts from Churchill's papers. There is also a one volume abrigement which Gilbert has written. Others have taken up the task of writing the life of the most significant British statesman of the 20th century and these are as a whole a mixed bag. However, despite the vast number of books Roy Jenkins book stands apart from many others.
The main reason is that Jenkins is a former British politician. When he writes about Parliament, he does so with authority as he has walked the same halls as Churchill and has held many of the same positions. Although he was Labor and Churchill Conservative/Liberal/Conservative, Jenkins is able to lay aside party rancor and write a kind of "Churchill without tears." Jenkins saw himself as a moderate member of the Labor Party and left it in the early 80s in reaction to the extremely radical views of the Michael Foot era.
The essential truths about Churchill as Jenkins sees them are personality driven. For although Churchill was a great man, many of the elements that served him well during the second World War, his tenacity, eloquence, and belief in his destiny did not always suit all environments. Traits that were useful standing up against Hitler were not as useful in planning the Dardanelles campaign. There is an object lesson here which Jenkins devotes some attention to.
Other than his book on Churchill, Jenkins has also written books on Asquith (PM during part of the First World War) and Gladstone (Prime Minister during Churchill's father's time). It probably is good that he wrote these works first as they prepared him to produce what amounts to a masterpiece of Churchillian scholarship.
Rating: 4
Summary: Humility Didn't Fit
Comment: Winston Churchill knew he was talented and spent his adult life proving it. This wonderful book tells the story. I would give it five stars if it weren't so long, yet the details are captivating and well worth the effort.
Jenkins, biographer of earlier British PMs (Gladstone and Asquith) and himself a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and a Member of Parliament for decades, writes with extraordinary skill. He brings Churchill to life and, in this chronological biography, brings the reader close to the person who led Britain through the darkest days of World War II.
For anyone with even a passing interest in the political life of Great Britain during the twentieth century, this is a "must read."
Rating: 4
Summary: A Good Book but Maybe a Bit Heavy Going
Comment: I do not want to get into the accuracy of this book since I am not a Churchill scholar, or comment on if it is political or fair etc. Let us just say as a reviewer I am an average reader. I have read many books where Churchill was the author. Now the tables are turned and the book is about Churchill. It certainly gives a different perspective of the man and all his weaknesses as a human with a politician's ego.
It is good to make one point to put the book in context. I have read that there are over 65 biographies in print on Churchill. So the idea that one might read the present book is motivated in part because it covers his personal life and it is written by a fellow politician, even if he was not in the same party - a liberal/socialist writing about a conservative.
As a book I found it a bit heavy going. It is 1000 pages long and could be a bit shorter. It does not flow well or hold the reader. It took me a year to read the book. I would read 100-200 pages at a time and lose interest for a while and then go back.
Would I buy the book again? Yes because it is a unique book with lots of details.
It is a workmanship like job even if it is a bit too long. Four stars.
Jack in Toronto
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Title: Why Dogs Do That: A Collection of Curious Canine Behaviors by Tom Davis, Peter Ring, Steve Smith ISBN: 1572231394 Publisher: Willow Creek Press Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Wit & Wisdom of Winston Churchill by James C. Humes, Richard M. Nixon ISBN: 0060925779 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 25 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris ISBN: 0812966007 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Gladstone : A Biography by Roy Jenkins ISBN: 0812966414 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 12 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: An Italian Affair by Laura Fraser ISBN: 0375724850 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 07 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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