mikegprint's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
bryanfox's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
sarvs18's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
marisbest2's review against another edition
5.0
This was an excellent single-volume biography of Churchill. Churchill is fascinating, so I'm not sure what a bad biography would be like. He's funny on his own, he's charming, he's smart and biting and incisive and stimulating and he was a prolific writer so there's infinite material for a biographer. And so books that do a lot of quoting are going to be good. Both in this book and in Manchester's magnum opus (the Last Lion), I found myself laughing out loud at Churchill's witticisms.
This book has a strong (and clearly stated) thesis: Churchill's life up to 1940 prepared him point-for-point for leading in WW2. Theres a secondary thesis about the impact his father had on his life. To that end, all the episodes in the first half of the book are written either to highlight the father-son dynamic, or with explicit reference to how the things he learned prepared him for 1940. Its not a bad framing, and isnt overstated or overdetermined.
The flipside is that the things that don't fit these two themes are under stressed. Compared with the Last Lion, theres much less detail on his friendships (there's like 2 sentences about the Prof for example, and almost nothing about any guests at Chartwell or maintaining the grounds), much less on his family (his engagement story is like 3 sentences), the story of his escape from the Boer prison is condensed, etc. This is how you fit it all in 2 volumes.
Content-wise its not as good as the first two volumes of the Last Lion, but I think it was much better at the WW2 PM era. Theres good balance between the war and the politics of it all. There are ample chances to laugh or gasp or tear up. There's probably a bit too much about certain aspects but overall I liked that part.
The post-war years are somewhat rushed, because its more boring. I think this was a good choice for a 1-volume biography.
Theres a decent summary chapter at the end that I appreciated
The writing is good and modern and not too dense which is great. Eminently readable.
This book has a strong (and clearly stated) thesis: Churchill's life up to 1940 prepared him point-for-point for leading in WW2. Theres a secondary thesis about the impact his father had on his life. To that end, all the episodes in the first half of the book are written either to highlight the father-son dynamic, or with explicit reference to how the things he learned prepared him for 1940. Its not a bad framing, and isnt overstated or overdetermined.
The flipside is that the things that don't fit these two themes are under stressed. Compared with the Last Lion, theres much less detail on his friendships (there's like 2 sentences about the Prof for example, and almost nothing about any guests at Chartwell or maintaining the grounds), much less on his family (his engagement story is like 3 sentences), the story of his escape from the Boer prison is condensed, etc. This is how you fit it all in 2 volumes.
Content-wise its not as good as the first two volumes of the Last Lion, but I think it was much better at the WW2 PM era. Theres good balance between the war and the politics of it all. There are ample chances to laugh or gasp or tear up. There's probably a bit too much about certain aspects but overall I liked that part.
The post-war years are somewhat rushed, because its more boring. I think this was a good choice for a 1-volume biography.
Theres a decent summary chapter at the end that I appreciated
The writing is good and modern and not too dense which is great. Eminently readable.
annettes's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0