Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill - Softcover

Shelden, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1451609922 ISBN 13: 9781451609929

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2014

Synopsis

“Just when you think there can be nothing fresh to be said about the long life of Winston Churchill, along comes biographer Michael Shelden’s page-turner about Churchill from age twenty-six to forty” (The Washington Times).

Between his rise and his fall, young Winston Churchill built a modern navy, experimented with radical social reforms, survived various threats on his life, made powerful enemies and a few good friends, became a husband and father, took the measure of the German military machine, and faced deadly artillery barrages on the Western front. Along the way, he learned how to outwit more experienced rivals, overcome bureaucratic obstacles, question the assumptions of his upbringing, value loyalty—and how to fall in love. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden gives us a portrait of Churchill as the dashing young suitor who pursued three great beauties of British society with his witty repartee, political flair, and poetic letters. This is the first biography that focuses on Churchill’s early career—the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Shelden is the author of four previous biographies. For twelve years he was a features writer for The Daily Telegraph (London) and a fiction critic for The Baltimore Sun. He is currently a professor at Indiana State University.

Review

“Perceptive and entertaining.” Source: Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

"A vivid portrait of a young man on the make, as ambitious as he was gifted. . . Enthralling." Author: DailyBeast.com [Newsweek digital edition]

“Much has been written about Winston Churchill, but there is still much to learn, especially about those early years when he seemed destined for greatness. Michael Shelden now thoughtfully explores those years in Young Titan....An engaging as well as perceptive take on the man who believed that while we are all worms ‘he was a glowworm’ — a belief history would splendidly vindicate.” Source: Richmond Times Dispatch

“Entertaining and erudite.... Shelden is full of sharp literary insights about Churchill, as one would expect from a literary biographer of his rank.” Source: Wall Street Journal

“[A] solid biography covering the first four decades of Winston Churchill’s life, marked by both ambition and heartbreak....Shelden offers an unadorned account of Churchill’s dogged pursuit to build his legacy against some long odds.” Source: Kirkus Reviews

“Swiftly narrated.... Shelden, a noted biographer whose 1992 Orwell was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, explores the young titan in entertaining depth, with deep regard for Churchill's achievements and no end of colorful detail.” Source: USA Today

“Michael Shelden has done the nigh-impossible: he has found original things to say about the man Isaiah Berlin called ‘the largest human being of our time’—Winston Churchill. In this entertaining and deeply researched book, Shelden paints a memorable portrait of the young Churchill’s life and loves.” Author: Jon Meacham, author of American Lion

“Young Titan gives us an exciting, needed look at Winston Churchill in his years as a Liberal. Breaking with the Conservatives, he battled for better working conditions, for unemployment insurance, for improvements in education. He waged a two-front war: against the Tories on the right, the socialists on the left. It is the young Churchill at his best, a great foretelling of what was to come when Britain and the world needed him most.” Author: Chris Matthews, author of Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero and anchor of MSNBC’s Hardball

“For history buffs, Winston Churchill is the gift that keeps on giving, and in Young Titan Michael Shelden has given us the gift of Churchill’s fascinating formative years. It’s all here—the boy wonder, adventurer, romantic, orator, and eloquent man in the arena. I didn't want it to end.” Author: Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation

“A biographer of note, [Shelden] actually found a fresh angle on England's man with the big cigar that should appeal to avid history fans.” Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1451609922
• ISBN 13: 9781451609929
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 415