The Great Republic: A History of America (Modern Library Paperbacks) - Softcover

Churchill, Winston S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375754407 ISBN 13: 9780375754401

Publisher: Modern Library, 2000

Synopsis

Sir Winston Churchill's The Great Republic consists in large part of a magnificent narrative history of America, culled by his grandson and namesake from the Nobel Prize-winning, four-volume A History of the English Speaking People. Historian and journalist Winston S. Churchill has added his grandfather's noteworthy speeches and essays on twentieth-century America, so that The Great Republic stands as the definitive state-ment of Churchill's thoughts on the history of the country he so admired and fondly called the "Great Republic." Arguably as gifted a historian as he was a statesman, only Sir Winston Churchill could have written a book that captures America's history, destiny, and character with such brilliance.

About this title

Review

Drawn from uncollected speeches and articles as well as from the author's four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples, this anthology of the great statesman Winston Churchill's writings on American history highlights both its author's vigorous prose style and his commitment to the idea that the United States and the United Kingdom shared not only a common past but a common destiny.

As a young man, writes his namesake and grandson in his introduction, Churchill toured some of the battlefields of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and it is in writing of these two epochs and the expansionist years between them that Churchill is strongest. Of particular interest are his remarks on the ideological origins of the colonial revolution in such documents as the Magna Carta and the teachings of the Puritan elders, although, as an eminently practical politician, Churchill gives attention to less lofty causes of dissent--for instance, the English crown's logistical difficulty in governing an overseas empire with ideas of governance and resources of its own. Churchill's reflections on the Second World War are also of much value, and he provides an insider's view of the defeat of Nazism and the birth of the cold war.

Devotees of Churchill's work will not find much new here, but readers approaching him for the first time will find this volume to be a fine introduction to Churchill's writing and thought. --Gregory McNamee

From the Back Cover

"In this absorbing volume, skillfully culled by his grandson from

Winston Churchill's vast literary output, the greatest Englishman of the twentieth century paints with surpassing elegance his

portrait of American history and the American character. This is

a good book to read--and a book to savor."
--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

"This excellent volume gives the gist of all Winston Churchill's writings and observations about American history. It is a wonderful read for Americans, and tells them a great deal about their country which many of them do not know and ought to know."
--Paul Johnson, author of A History of the American People

Edition details

• Publisher: Modern Library
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0375754407
• ISBN 13: 9780375754401
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 480