Churchill: A Biography - Softcover

Jenkins, Roy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452283523 ISBN 13: 9780452283527

Publisher: Plume, 2002

Synopsis

Acclaimed historian Roy Jenkins presents a comprehensive biography of Winston Churchill, an icon of modern history, from his childhood to the critical World War II period and beyond—a New York Times bestseller.

“This is a first class, well-sustained work of history and a masterpiece of biography... It will be a brave, not to say foolhardy, author who attempts to write another life of Churchill for at least a decade, perhaps longer.”—Andrew Roberts, Sunday Telegraph 

Roy Jenkins combines unparalleled command of British political history and his own high-level government experience in a narrative account of Churchill's astounding career that is unmatched in its shrewd insights, its unforgettable anecdotes, the clarity of its overarching themes, and the author's nuanced appreciation of his extraordinary subject.

Exceptional in its breadth of knowledge and distinguished in its stylish wit and penetrating intelligence, Churchill is one of the finest political biographies of our time.

About this title

Review

Winston Churchill was querulous, childish, self-indulgent, and difficult, writes English historian Roy Jenkins. But he was also brilliant, tenacious, and capable--in short, "the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street." Jenkins's book stands as the best single-volume biography of Churchill in recent years.

Marked by the author's wide experience writing on British leaders such as Balfour and Gladstone and his tenure as a member of Parliament, his book adds much to the vast library of works on Churchill. While acknowledging his subject's prickly nature, Jenkins credits Churchill for, among other things, recognizing far earlier than his peers the dangers of Hitler's regime. He praises Churchill for his leadership during the war years, especially at the outset, when England stood alone and in imminent danger of defeat. He also examines Churchill's struggle to forge political consensus to meet that desperate crisis, and he sheds new light on Churchill's postwar decline. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author

Roy Jenkins was the author of 18 books, including Gladstone, which won the Whitbread Prize for Biography. Active in British politics for half a century, he entered the House of Commons in 1948 and subsequently served as Minister of Aviation, Home Secretary, and Chancellor of the Exchequer; he was also the President of the European Commission and Chancellor of Oxford University. He died in 2003.

Edition details

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0452283523
• ISBN 13: 9780452283527
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1024