Synopses & Reviews
Winston Churchill saved Britain and Europe by his incomparable leadership in the Second World War. His involvement in war, hoever, stretched over a far longer period and was one of the main themes of his long life. Cavalryman at Omdurman, infantry colonel in the trenches of World War I, First Lord of the Admiralty, as well as a wartime Prime Minister, he also wrote copiously about war as war correspondent, journalist and historian. Personally brave, he was both excited and repelled by war, and was a powerful strategic thinker. Geoffrey Best shows the importance of war in Churchill's career as a whole, from his early days as a hussar in India to his attempts to control the threat of the nuclear bomb. His leadership in the Second World War, which is fully covered, owed much to what he had learnt from earlier wars. Churchill and War, which is not afraid to tackle the question of his strategic bombing of Germany, is a rounded portrait of Churchill the warrior.
Review
Praise for Best's
Churchill: A Study in Greatness:
"Splendid...A marvel of densely researched scholarship expertly sifted and presented with misleading ease in an elegant prose style."--The Washington Times
"Best has avoided the pernicious tendency of biographers to pile on detail after detail; he never loses track of the big picture or the purpose of his book. As a result, this is the best first book to read about Churchill."--Daniel J. Mahoney, National Review
Synopsis
From a leading biographer of Churchill, a dramatic look at how war shaped one of the twentieth century's greatest leaders
Synopsis
From a leading biographer of Churchill, a dramatic look at how war shaped one of the twentieth century's greatest leaders
About the Author
Geoffrey Best is a senior member of St. Anthony's College Oxford, and emeritus professor of history of the University of Sussex and the University of Edinburgh. He is a fellow of the British Academy and the author of Churchill: A Study in Greatness.
Table of Contents
IllustrationsPreface1 Blenheim2 The Sudan and South Africa3 Amateur Admiral4 Antwerp and Gallipoli5 Mud and Munitions6 From Peace to War7 Democaratic Warlord8 The Grand Alliance9 Strategy10 War Direction11 The Family at War12 Atoms for War12 Atoms for Peace14 A Mind for War15 The Conduct of War16 BladonNotesBibliographyIndex