Churchill: Wanted Dead Or Alive [Hardcover]

Celia Sandys (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2009

In this biography of a dashing, brash young Churchill, Celia Sandys reconstructs her celebrated grandfather’s adventures as a correspondent and combatant during nine months of the Anglo-Boer War at the end of the last century—events that took him from the bivouacs and battle sites of Transvaal to his incarceration as a prisoner of war in Pretoria and ultimately to a bold escape across the border into Mozambique. Using both British and South African sources of testimony, which alternately reveal the dauntless Winston as a courageous ally or foolhardy foe, Sandys recounts the exploits of a Churchill whom history has largely forgotten. With narrative vigor, historical authority, and singular charm, she offers both a fully drawn portrait of the ready adventurer who would become England’s legendary prime minister and an illuminating chronicle of the turbulent events one hundred years ago that defined South Africa for modern times.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A bestseller in the U.K., this portrait of Winston Churchill, written by his granddaughter, unapologetically presents the future prime minister as an action hero in the Boer War. It's rousing reading. Sandys's affection for her grandfather is obvious, but she shows enough of his grandiosity to maintain a reader's trust. In October 1899, at the age of 25, already having seen significant action in India and Cuba, Churchill went to South Africa as a journalist and eventually enlisted to serve. His brashness and his combat experience made him a headache for military commanders. Churchill was captured by the Boers (hence the title) and escaped by climbing out a latrine window. This episode has always been controversial (it figured prominently in Churchill's early p0litical battles) because, although Churchill fulfilled an officer's duty to try to escape, two other officers claimed that he left them behind and compromised their chances for escape. Sandys (From Winston with Love) maintains that her grandfather simply seized an opportunity. Amazingly, Churchill was never injured, though shrapnel and bullets frequently whizzed by his head. Of his disregard for bullets, he wrote, apparently only half in jest, to his mother: "I am so conceited I do not believe the Gods would create so potent a being as myself for so prosaic an ending." The book ends with Churchill returning to England and winning a Conservative seat in parliament two months short of his 26th birthday. Sandys is fully aware of the extent to which her grandfather had a finger to the political winds during his exploits: he sought the limelight as aggressively as he chased adventure. Because of Sandys's brisk narrative, as well as their knowledge of the man Churchill later became, readers will not hold young Winston's ambition against him.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Sandys, Winston Churchill's granddaughter, introduces readers to the youthful--and quite often cocky--adventurer who would eventually become one of Great Britain's most successful and admired prime ministers. Combining his skills as a journalist with his political and military ambitions, 25-year-old Churchill served in the Boer War as both a soldier and as a war correspondent. During his nine-month stint in South Africa, Churchill, though officially classified as a noncombatant reporter, managed to send stirring dispatches to the Morning Post, engage in several bloody skirmishes with the enemy, be captured and incarcerated as a prisoner of war, and make a suitably sensationalized, yet nonetheless daring, escape from prison. Written in a lively narrative style, this affectionate biographical portrait of a very young, very spirited, and very enterprising Winston Churchill succeeds in foreshadowing the magnitude of the renown he eventually achieved. A rip-roaring good read chockfull of action, suspense, and history. Margaret Flanagan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Castle Books (February 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785817018
• ISBN-13: 978-0785817017
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,071,722 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Journalists
  • #35 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Presidents & Heads of State

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous, March 12, 2000

By 

Ralph Adam Fine - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive (Hardcover)

In an era when many of our political leaders are intellectually challenged, it is wonderful to learn more about the most challenging intellect of the last several centuries.

Winston S. Churchill is one of the finest statesmen, writers, and historians of our age. He was also a skilled and brave soldier, a perceptive analyst of human nature and world affairs, and a talented painter. His granddaughter's marvelous book about a brief but exciting period of Churchill's early life gives us a fascinating glimpse into this great man.

A correspondent sent to cover the Boer War, he also fought in it. Captured, he escaped. Ms. Sandys takes us on a personal tour through Churchill's route, talks with the relatives of those who helped Churchill escape, and gives us intimate insights into a man who seems to have, like Minerva, come into this world fully armed with wisdom and valor.

The World-War-II Churchill who most of us know is a mere coda to the sixty some-odd years that preceded it. Celia Sandys makes her grandfather come alive for us ... it is a remarkable book.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winston Churchill -- New Insight, December 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive (Hardcover)

This adventure story which reads like fiction is, in fact, fact. We see in the young Churchill the makings of the man who would be Prime Minister. Winston's exploits and bravery in the distant history of the Boer War in South Africa one hundred years ago today, are brilliantly brought to life by his granddaughter, Celia Sandys. At times, close both to tears and laughter, I feel I can almost touch him.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I expected more!, July 5, 2000

By 

T. M. Wilkinson (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive (Hardcover)

This book presents several interesting vignettes relating to Churchill's life and activities during the South African "Boer" war, but overall I was disappointed, and finished wanting more. Overall, I thought this was rather superficial, and I didn't feel as tho I had gained any substantial insight into the life of one of the giants of the late 19th/early 20th century.