Churchill at War 1940-45 [Paperback]

Lord Moran (Sir Charles Watson) (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0786710411 | ISBN-13: 978-0786710416

In January 1940, at Scapa Flow on the northern tip of Scotland, when the United States committed its support to Churchill and England; at the White House twelve months later, after Pearl Harbor, when President Roosevelt and the prime minister sealed their alliance; at Casablanca, Moscow, Teheran, Quebec, Yalta, and Potsdam—wherever Churchill traveled, conferred, maneuvered, and negotiated throughout the course of the Second World War—Lord Moran, his personal physician and confidant, was also there. An eyewitness to history in the making, Moran recorded in his diaries Churchill’s perspectives on momentous world events and on the world leaders who shaped them, men like Roosevelt, Stalin, and Charles de Gaulle. Out of Moran’s keenly observant and deeply felt diaries, however, emerges more than a heroic portrait of a twentieth-century titan. Illuminated, too, is the more private and supremely human man: his strengths and failings, his jokes and rages, the flashes of wit, the occasional foolishness, an endearing playfulness. With 8 pages of black-and-white photographs, this candid and controversial memoir truly profiles the singular statesman who embodied the soul of a nation—if sometimes with his shoes off. “Illuminating and engrossing ... highly intelligent and very well-written ... the prose is lively, sometimes amusing, often illuminated by apt metaphors.”—The New York Times Book Review “Eloquent and amazingly forthright.... Lord Moran’s pages scintillate with the thrust and parry of famous men’s verbal exchanges.”—Chicago Tribune

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (October 11, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786710411
• ISBN-13: 978-0786710416
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a "magnetic, monstrous, oddly lovable man", December 30, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Churchill at War 1940-45 (Paperback)

Those who share my high regard for Martin Gilbert's and then Roy Jenkins' comprehensive biographies as well as John Keegan's brief but insightful biography of Winston Churchill (within the "Penguin Lives" series) will gratefully welcome Lord Moran's discussion of Churchill during World War Two. His access was direct and unlimited, serving as Churchill's personal physician until his death on January 24, 1965. According to Lord Moran, shortly after the war ended, G.M. Trevelyan strongly encouraged him to record his thoughts and feelings about Churchill as well as anecdotes which otherwise would have been lost. Thus began a process which continued until 1966, a year after Churchill's death, when Lord Moran published an 850-page memoir. Much of that volume has been reprinted in this new edition.

Having read and then re-read the three previously cited biographies, I already knew a great deal about Churchill's life and career. Of greatest interest to me in this volume are the anecdotes, dozens and dozens of them, which reveal Churchill the man in ways and to an extent not previously indicated by other authors. Many of these anecdotes suggest that the Churchill was an especially "difficult" patient, one almost totally lacking in patience. Over time, he had several health problems which even his epic will power could not overcome: a number of heart attacks, three pneumonias, two strokes, one abdominal operation, a hernia, deafness, and a virulent skin disease as well as countless minor ailments. Refusing to reduce (much less eliminate) his daily consumption of cigars and alcohol certainly didn't help, nor did the quick cures of quacks whom Churchill insisted on retaining. Because of quite legitimate concerns about Churchill's health, therefore, Lord Moran accompanied him on numerous trips, recording his own opinions of dozens of contemporaries such as Roosevelt, Stalin, Atlee, Eden, and Truman. These comments leave no doubt that Lord Moran was a keen observer and a shrewd judge of other people.

Alistair Cooke once said of Churchill that he "told a listless nation it was heroic, and it became so." Perhaps you are already familiar with Churchill the public figure. In this lively and informative volume, Lord Moran enables you to take Churchill's measure as (in Cooke's words) a "magnetic, monstrous, oddly lovable man."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unknown aspects of a complex personality, July 8, 2003

By 

E. Rodin MD (Sandy, UT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Churchill at War 1940-45 (Paperback)

This book is a reprinted excerpt of Lord Moran's diary who was Churchill's personal physician from May 1940 to his death. As his doctor Moran accompanied him to all major conferences. The diaries provide, therefore, fascinating glimpses into the lives of the people who have shaped the twentieth century. Although only the war years are covered here the interested reader might want to look up the complete diaries in libraries because they are no longer in print.
Nevertheless, even the book under discussion shows that the Churchill who is so admired today also had his darker side and that by 1943 the Atlantic Alliance was no longer as firm as we are led to believe. At the time of the Teheran and Yalta conferences, which shaped the post-war world, Churchill had lost all influence over Roosevelt, who had gravitated instead to Stalin. Lord Moran also shows clearly that Roosevelt was no longer capable of understanding what he was up against and at Yalta it was apparent that the man was dying. He should never have run for re-election in 1944.
The insights which Lord Moran brings to our understanding of the tragic twentieth century should be seriously considered because the fate of the world hangs on the physical and mental health of a handful of leading politicans.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rewarding look at Winston Churchill's war leadership, March 4, 2008

By 

SusieQ (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Churchill at War 1940-45 (Paperback)

I don't think anyone with an interest in Winston Churchill can afford to pass this book by. It's a warts-n-all portrait (a very thorough and fair one), and certainly is a breath of fresh, unsentimental air when it comes to trying to pin down the character of Churchill and his conduct as a leader during WWII.

I especially admired the author's almost conversational, easy writing style, which just flows across the pages, and, the way he reveals much about himself, as well as Winston Churchill (but without thrusting himself or his POV on the reader).

I found this book fascinating and am looking for a copy of its sequel, which takes Churchill from 1945 to 1965.