Winston Churchill: the leader of the British peoples during WWII, and much more besides. His resolve, warnings, preparation, encouragement, and persuasive powers were key to the British role in the victory of the allies in that dreadful conflict. Many- many- books have been written about the man, but I wanted to try a different approach: what if you can learn about a man solely through his own words? Not in an autobiography, but in a collection of his writings taken from various books, speeches, memoirs, and articles written throughout his life? That's exactly what Martin Gilbert (editor, and official Churchill biographer) has created.
Gilbert, having spent decades studying Churchill and reading through his prolific writings, has chosen many selections (written when Churchill was between age 7 and age 84) that form a portrait of what he believed.
This technique is interesting. Each selection is prefaced by a Gilbert paragraph explaining necessary context, and most selections are only 1-2 pages. At the top of each page, you have both year and Churchill age, so you can see how he thinks as he ages. It's certainly not as continuous as a standard biography- it's a bit choppy, bouncing from topic to topic- but at least you hear from Churchill himself what he did and what he believed. The man could write and speak, that's for sure. His "power of words" is notable. This approach gives you a great sense of what he thought, why, and when (the man was amazingly prescient in predicting the dangers of the Nazis and the Communists), which is great. It falls short in that it doesn't give you as much information about what his life was like. You get snapshots, certainly, but not a continuous story you'd expect in a standard biography. Gilbert's prefaces are generally good, but sometimes even that fails to give necessary background, and one may require prior knowledge of British history or political knowledge to fully grasp what's being said or why. As a final criticism, certain periods are covered much more than others- things like WWII. Not entirely surprising, certainly, but his war speeches could tend to get repetitive.
Overall, this was worthwhile for those who enjoy reading Churchill writings, and what he thought. For those who want to know more about just his life, and what he did, a standard biography would be more appropriate. Some quotes follow that I particularly enjoyed:
No doubt it is not popular to say these things, but I am accustomed to abuse and I expect to have a great deal more of it before I have finished. Somebody has to state the truth.
The Government simply cannot make up their minds, or they cannot get the Prime Minister to make up his mind. So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.
What a monstrous absurdity and perversion of the truth it is to represent the communistic theory as a form of progress, when, at every step and at every stage, it is simply marching back into the dark ages.
Our difficulties and dangers will not be removed by closing our eyes to them.
It is better to have a world united than a world divided; but it is also better to have a world divided, than a world destroyed.
Some final comments on Churchill, based on his writings:
- the man seemed to be a pleasant mix of conservative and liberal- fighting for rights and beliefs on both sides of the spectrum
- he excelled at being both realistic and optimistic. He didn't deny reality- he confronted it, admitted failures, and spoke of enormous tasks ahead, but he also had a boundless optimism that the Allies would prevail, and usher in a brighter future.
Rating: B
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