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Churchill A Biography (Paperback)

by Roy Jenkins (Author) "CHURCHILL'S PROVENANCE WAS aristocratic, indeed ducal, and some have seen this as the most important key to his whole career ..." (more)

3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (82 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 1024 pages
Publisher: Plume; 1 edition (Oct 29 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0452283523
ISBN-13: 978-0452283527
Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.1 x 4.1 cm
Shipping Weight: 994 g

Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (82 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #110,824 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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#15 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > Churchill, Winston
#17 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Churchill, Winston
#18 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > U.K. Prime Ministers

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Product Description

From Amazon.co.uk

Book buyers will never tire of reading about Winston Churchill, for "the greatest adventurer of modern political history" (RA Butler's verdict) led a life of action-packed drama and global significance. Roy Jenkins' Churchill is the latest biography of this great Briton, following closely in the tailwind of Geoffrey Best's Churchill: A Study in Greatness. Where Best restores altitude to Churchill's dipping reputation, seeing off academic critics of the last decade or so, Jenkins provides a jumbo-size old-fashioned biography, lauding his subject's achievements, sympathising with his quirks, and stepping lightly over his well-known mistakes. As he did in his earlier biographies of Dilke, Asquith and Gladstone, Jenkins sticks closely to the published record, utilising in particular the definitive researches of Martin Gilbert, but he brings the authority and the inside knowledge of British politics to his book, slipping in his own memories of Churchill, and his own comparable experience sat the Cabinet table. It is all here, from the Boer Wars to the nuclear bomb, from the hustings in Oldham to the diplomacy of Yalta, with due coverage of the big moments--at the Board of Trade and at the Admiralty in Asquith's peacetime and wartime cabinets, taking on the appeasers in the 1930s and Hitler in the 1940s. All the books are here, and all the political relationships tetchy and touchy alike, from Lloyd George to Baldwin, Smuts to Stalin, and of course, the British people. Like its subject the book is bulky and at times indulgent, but impossible not to enjoy.--Miles Taylor

From Publishers Weekly

Winner of the Whitbread Prize for Gladstone (1997), Jenkins offers a bloated yet idiosyncratic and accessible life of England's greatest modern prime minister. Jenkins's wry wit and judgments of great men, untainted by awe, partly offset the fact that, as he admits, he has few new facts to add to an already exhaustively recorded life. Jenkins has a propensity for unnecessary French and curious adverbs (unfriendlily), adjectives (spistolatory) and nouns (peripherist) and is at his best exploring Churchill's three out-of-office "wilderness" periods and his writing jobs (requiring a staff of loyal, ill-paid researchers and secretaries to take his clangorous dictation), which helped support his expensive lifestyle. ("I lived in fact from mouth to hand," Churchill confessed.) But as the statesman's many decades wind down, the biographer himself seems to tire, resorting to a litany of itineraries. American audiences may be drawn to Jenkins's revisionist views of Churchill's relationships with Roosevelt, with whom he sees "more a partnership of circumstance and convenience than a friendship of individuals," and with Eisenhower, a "political general" who was "always a little cold for Churchill's taste, with the famous smile barely skin-deep." Jenkins is hard on Churchill for being soft on alleged mountebanks like Lord Beaverbrook. He dwells only briefly on Churchill's family affairs, aside from expressing skepticism about his reputedly warm marriage to Clementine; she often advised her husband wisely, but "managed to be absent at nearly all the most important moments of Churchill's life." Jenkins's judgments and the fact that he has boiled this eventful life down to a single volume will attract many readers to this entertaining, though often exasperating study. 32 pages of photos and maps not seen by PW. (Nov.)Forecast: A main selection of both BOMC and the History Book Club, with a respected author, who will tour New York and Washington, D.C., and an iconic subject, the biography is guaranteed media attention and sales.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

82 Reviews

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (82 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IF WE CAN'T HAVE MANCHESTER, Sep 8 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Churchill: A Biography (Hardcover)

Like most students of the life of Winston S. Churchill I was anxiously awaiting the third volume in the Last Lion series on Churchill's life by William Manchester. Sadly Mr. Manchester has recently announced that, due to extreme health issues, his much-anticipated book would never be written. Having read the first two books I was absolutely stunned.

After the shock wore off I immediately began the prospect of finding a biography that would complete the Churchill history and do it in a way that would complement my earlier study through the Manchester biographies.

May I recommend Churchill by Roy Jenkins. This book, written by a man who has the unique perspective of actually having served in Parliament and in a variety of other important posts in British government, masterfully fills the void. Concise and well written, Churchill by Roy Jenkins is easily the finest single-volume biography of Britain's greatest leader.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible Disappointment, Mar 1 2003

By	Daniel Schiff (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Churchill: A Biography (Hardcover)

Roy Jenkins turns the life of one of history's most interesting men into one of the world's most boring biographies. He is more interested in footnotes and asides than story arcs and feelings...I barely have any idea what Churchill was like as a person from reading this artless bio. Please avoid this book at all costs.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine work worthy of a fine man., April 22 2009

By	Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Perhaps it takes a politician of Roy Jenkins' stature to write a work worthy of a man who was once described as "The greatest living Englishman." Whilst not an uncommon surname, the very word "Churchill" conjures up an image of one man and one man only. That man was Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill - soldier, journalist, painter, Nobel laureate, politician and leader of nations. I am not given to defacing books but I well remember being 15 years old when this great man died and going to the school library to read a short biography of his life. Directly after his name were brackets inside which was printed the year of his birth followed by a dash and a blank space reserved for the year of death. Having read the item, I carefully wrote "1965" into that blank space and closed the book.

For those who may not be unaware, Roy Jenkins was a leading British politician who, in post-war years was a fellow Member of Parliament alongside Churchill - although of a different political persuasion. In his preface, Jenkins describes having met Churchill as a boy and observing him at work in later years - although he is very careful to admit he did not know the man. With an honest and intuitive comment, he also declares his belief that a biography does not necessarily demand or even profit from such personal knowledge and that such familiarity can "distort as much as it illuminates."

Any biography should be a dispassionate account of whoever is under the microscope and should include those good, bad and even ugly aspects which combine to comprise the very qualities which made that subject exactly who and what they were. As biographies go, this is a first-class work. As a life story on Churchill, this will very probably stand the test of time to become recognised as the best ever. It really is all here; From an opening Chapter entitled; "The Brash Young Man (1874-1908)," through two world wars (Churchill was one of only two people holding ministerial office at the outbreak of both WW1 and WW2 (he was First Lord of the Admiralty on both occasions although he did hold other posts in between) and, of course the post-war years right up to 1965. In a word, this book is complete.

I always begin reading such factual works by studying the illustrations in order to get a feel for the product. In this instance, I spent almost 30 minutes just reading the captions and comparing them to the relevant image. There are 84 historic photographs arranged together in 2 areas and another selection of 12 pictures which are works of art reproduced in colour. Whilst some of these are portraits of Churchill, others reveal his own skills with a paintbrush.

This is a comprehensive work on one of the greatest statesmen of all time. Consequently, I would suggest would-be students of Churchill ensure this work is elevated to the top of their list as far as their own studies are concerned.

NM

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed With Knowledge!
Perhaps the greatest tribute to the work of author Roy Jenkins is that, at times, he seemed to know what Winston Churchill was actually thinking - and you're pretty sure he's... Read more

Published on Jun 9 2004 by Rolf Dobelli

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read
First off, its important to note that this is a political biography and focuses on Churchill's career in parliament, not his family or friend relationships. Read more

Published on Mar 19 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars Well detailed.....perhaps a bit too much so
This book, while well researched, is a tedious read. Overwhelming detail in areas of limited relevance tend to clutter excellent underlying content and compromise big picture... Read more

Published on Mar 19 2004 by David D.