Churchill: A Life

September 22, 2014 A review of the book “Churchill: A Life” by Martin Gilbert by Anthony T. Riggio I bought this book from Amazon in the Kindle format. I did not know the heft and size of this book but I love history and biographies of great people who have positively impacted on Man’s accomplishments. Winston Churchill was a figure of immense importance to the history of the West. His life covered the most important time periods of the 19th and 20th century. He was born of privileged parents and his education was pretty much formulated for him by his Randolph who was a member of British parliament. His father was a sometimes irritant to the majority in parliament but was highly principled in his beliefs. Randolph sent Winston to Harrows school as opposed to Eaton, where the most privileged attended. There was a belief that he did not have the academic power, thus the lesser of the principle schools most influential people sent their boys. As a consequence of this thinking, Winston’s father sent him to the military school, similar to West Point, rather than the classical school of choice, Oxford. Winston was an average student and had an aversion to exams thus his grades fluctuated from fair to good. You learn very quickly that he was a prodigious writer from his correspondences to friends and family, especially, his mother who he was devoted to even though the reality even though she was somewhat distant to him always travelling and never in attendance of his immediate needs. His father was also preoccupied by the demands of government. During the Boer war, he was an officer and saw combat. His penchant for both innovation and independent thought was manifest during this period and would accent his career in politics and leadership. He began his writing career in earnest and commenced work on a biography of his father as well as a number of multi-volume works and auto biographies. As his political career progressed he was not always full of successes; there were failure too from which he learned and developed in his statesmanship. Churchill was a budding political force prior to the Great War (WWI) and his leadership in the Admiralty led to both successes and some perceived failures. Many of his decisions were hampered by Army, Navy and Parliamentary conflicting ideas. He recognized the great evil Hitler posed as he was coming into power in Germany and tried to herald these thoughts to a Great Britain weary of war and desirous of peace. In some cases that desire was detrimental to later deficiencies when World War II commenced. Throughout this period he developed a very close relationship with Franklin Delano Roosevelt before and after he became the Prime Minister of England. This association with the United States was the principle reason why England survived the early onslaught of the Germans during the 30’s and early 40’s. Churchill’s forward visions of the War and its aftermath were of great benefit to England and the free world allies. He saw the Soviet Union as the world next threat and provided statesman guidance to both FDR and Truman. Wayne Gilbert’s biography is probably not the most voluminous work on Churchill, but excellent starting point to understand Winston Churchill. The world is also the beneficiary of his (Churchill’s) prodigious auto biography and multi volume works on both WWI and WWII. I thought Gilbert’s work was well written and gave the readers great insight into the history of Europe during these times. I believe “Churchill, A Life” by Martin gilbert is an excellent primer for future studies on Churchill. I purchased this book on Kindle and was initially intimidated by the fact that my Kindle said, at the beginning of the book that there were 40 hours left until completion of the book. I checked the hard bound page count at 1047 pages. Certainly not light reading but I found the work both captivating and compelling and difficult to put down over the eight or nine days of reading. Even though this book was originally published in 1991, my maturity level was not at that point until recent times. I gave this book five (5) stars and would highly recommend it to those who love history.

Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century, and probably one of the greatest men in history, lived a long, rich and controversial life. Martin Gilbert is his official biographer. "Churchill: A Life" is based upon Gilbert's much larger multi-volume biography, but it is not an abridgment. Gilbert tells Churchill's story in an elegant and straightforward manner. He moves the reader smoothly from Churchill's troubled childhood, through his brief military career and into his long career as a Member of Parliament. Churchill's rapid rise from House of Commons "back-bencher," to cabinet minister was phenomenal. So were his numerous falls from power, caused mainly by his uncanny ability to alienate nearly all his political colleagues. After eight years in the "political wilderness," Churchill reached the pinnacle of British political power, becoming Prime Minister in May 1940, just as Nazi Germany launched its attack on the Low Countries and France. Gilbert's treatment of Churchill's wartime and post-war premierships is fascinating, as is his narrative of Churchill's later years. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I felt I didn't get to know Churchill as well as I did after reading William Manchester's two-volume Churchill biography, "The Last Lion." Gilbert's prose is much more scholarly sounding, and lacks some of Manchester's flair for dramatic storytelling, and his incisive commentary. Still, "Churchill: A Life" is a fascinating, if not especially penetrating, study of this colossus of British history. Highly recommended! Review updated June 15, 2015.

As a high school student, I have seen through Martin Gilbert's book, the astonishing and unique life of Mr. Winston Churchill. Although the book was rather long, I enjoyed that the author used precise details and added quotations from letters to, about, and from Mr. Churchill. Many have said that such a character as Mr. Churchill would surely be a tedious subject to study because of his political life, however, through Martin Gilbert’s research on Mr. Churchill and how he made the reader feel as though they were apart of Mr. Churchill’s life. I did find myself rather weary of the length of the book; however, when reading the book, I was captivated by the stories and events that made up Mr. Churchill’s days. My favorite parts of the book included his early life as a troublesome child, and the life that he lived devoted to his wife Clementine. As the book was clearly written in chronological order, it made looking up information in the book easy. In the sense of a student outlook, I would say that this book would be perfect for students who need to have extensive knowledge of Mr. Churchill and I would recommend this book as a good read for the intellectual reader that enjoys history and factual information.

It is very hard to put this book down! I am now just starting the WW2 part, and was really amused by the book so-far. Great mix of facts, personal views from different sources, and british humor. This is a must-read not only for Churchill admirerers

Iniciei a leitura em poertuguês - 1º volume. Considero uma excelente biografia. Resolvi adquirir a edição em Inglês que tem a obra completa em um único volume e por umvalor mais baixo que o 2º volume em português.

Churchill as a man is simply awesome. This book makes him even more so. The style of writing is so gripping.

Very comprehensive biography. Incredible research and great writing. A phenomenal "life"

squeezed into a pocket paperback it's nearly impossible to keep book open whilst trying to read the tiny writing - not happy and now must buy the kindle version - no hardback is available which is bizarre