Churchill: A Biography [Paperback]

I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend, who said it was a good read for someone who wanted to read about Churchill, but had minimal previous experience or exposure to the great man.

The first point to note is that this is a big book, with the paperback I bought being nearly 1000 pages. Each is in small and tightly packed type which in sheer content terms, makes one page of this book equal to two of most other books. It will take a while to read, but persevere. Having spent several months reading it to its conclusion, I thought that the book and the life of Churchill have some strange parallels. Both have several superb qualities, but are balanced out by irritating bad points.

The first few hundred pages are excellent. There is much to learn about Churchill and his exploits as a solider at the turn of the (19th) century before he became seriously involved in politics. Much enjoyment is also gathered from the bare faced cheek and insolence Churchill shows to his peers and superiors, who he regarded as idiots and fools. His tentative early steps into government and his involvement in WW1 are not well known and explain where his later life opinions and beliefs were formed. Be careful to take time to understand the workings of the British governmental system - some extra reading into this may be beneficial.

Many people forget that when Churchill was at an age that most of us are contemplating retirement, he became prime minister of Britain and led the country through WW2. For me, this is where the book fades badly. The war years are covered sufficiently to give the reader a more detailed understanding of the behind-the-scenes activities that were not well know at the time. The reasons and justification for some of the Churchills decisions are surprising and not the immediately obvious. However, I felt that the author focused to much on Churchill the British politician, at the expense of Churchill the war leader.

An example of this is Churchill's frequent wartime summit visits abroad to America and Africa, where he met with the Americans and Russians. These get lengthy and in depth coverage, showing Churchill somewhat unfairly as attention seeking and vain. While they were undoubtedly key to the conclusion of the war, they distract from other critical events that Churchill was involved in. There is little coverage or insight into events such as the Battle for the Atlantic, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, the second front and the last days of Hitler.

The last section of the book which covers Churchill's post war years is noticeably weak. He was an active politician and had a second term as Prime Minister, but there is not much coverage of this - possibly because he achieved very little. I was especially disappointed with the scant few paragraphs that were devoted to Churchill's final few years. I felt this to be a bit disrespectful to the great man.

I am also in agreement with several other reviewers in stating that the authors frequent use of unrecognisable French phrases, and long forgotten old-English language that is no longer in common use extremely irritating. Not all of us have an Oxbridge background and I frequently had to use a dictionary to translate and understand the point that the author was making. The publishers editor should have stopped this in the drafting stage.

However it is easy to be critical of what is a very good book as there is so much in it. The amount of research to compile such a book, and the time required simply to write it must have been considerable. It is an excellent book and a rewarding read.

Even at this late stage there is something to be added to our appreciation of WSC, Roy Jenkins has the perception to do so. Whatever view we may have formed of RJ as a politician- and I imply nothing by that-RJ as an author is enjoyable and one soon settles down to his style with it's many sharply observed asides which lets us in on political life. There are so many facets to WSC, many of them were perhaps not admirable but RJ takes them all in his stride with tolerance and understanding of some of the less succesful phases of WSC's career.

What strengthens the book are the many one-liners summarising the important politicians and other notable characters of the day pithily. It is so important to understand the context in which WSC operated.

This is a political biography with sufficient personal details to round out the character. We learn that the quarrels between WSC and son Randolph were legendary but we do not know the detail of them and do not need to.

I was reluctant to come to the end of the book.

Critiscism or errors? Very trivial. RJ is less than sure in handling some militarisms eg Rawlinson's Fourth Army was a headquarters formation and replaced Gough's Fifth Army headquarters after it took the brunt of the March 21st attack. Most of the front line units in the order of battle were lost, many of the other units came under command of Fourth Army, new units joined. Not quite the inpression RJ gives but it really does not matter and has no effect on the centrepiece of the book. Why mention it? because RJ 'compelled' me to pay attention to every word that he wrote.

I must read more Roy Jenkins and have ordered Gladstone

How Churchill make so many costly mistakes and still be the greatest English politician of the 20th century? This book goes a long way to answer this whilst being generally a good read. RJ unveils the story with judgement and balance and obviously has a good mastery of the source material. However, there are niggles related to unecessary use of obscure vocabulary and foriegn phrases that will narrow its appeal. Also he assumes more historical background knowledge than I think is reasonable, for example he neglects to overview the Dardenelles fiasco sufficiently even though this was crucial to Churchill's early career. Also we are constantly reminded that it is RJ telling the story which comes over as self aggrandisement. This is epitomised in the last paragraph of the book when RJ grandly tells us that, having written this book, he now rates WSC higher than Gladstone. There is no analysis to back up this assertion and we are expected to accept it as a nugget of wisdom generously handed to us by the esteemed author. Still, its essential reading fans of political biography and I would not hesitate to recommend it with the above caveats.