In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War [Paperback]

David Reynolds (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 27, 2007

Winston Churchill fought the World War II twice over-first as Prime Minister during the war, and then later as the war’s premier historian. From 1948-54, he published six volumes of memoirs. They secured his reputation and shaped our understanding of the conflict to this day. Drawing on the drafts of Churchill’s manuscript as well as his correspondence from the period, David Reynolds masterfully reveals Churchill the author. Reynolds shows how the memoirs were censored by the British government to conceal state secrets, and how Churchill himself censored them to avoid offending current world leaders. This book illuminates an unjustly neglected period of Churchill’s life-the Second Wilderness Years of 1945-51, when Churchill wrote himself into history, politicked himself back into the prime-ministership, and delivered some of the most important speeches of his career.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For many, the fact that Churchill won his Nobel for literature comes as a surprise, but he was a prolific—and very well paid—historian and journalist. Awarded Britain's Wolfson History Prize, this highly readable book by Cambridge historian Reynolds supplies the backstory to Churchill's massive postwar publishing project: the epic The Second World War. As the author notes, he's writing "a book about personal biography and public memory," beginning with Churchill's crushing defeat in the July 1945 election and offering a unique perspective on WWII, the onset of the Cold War and Churchill's determination to write the history of the 20th century's signal conflict. But Reynolds's real achievement is his grasp of the motives behind that determination: "Churchill's sense of the fickleness of fame... impelled him to be his own historian." He quotes a 1944 letter to Stalin in which Churchill writes, "I agree that we had better leave the past to history, but remember if I live long enough I may be one of the historians." Packed with detail and vivid characterizations (but still clearly a scholarly, thoroughly researched work), it's a different take on one of the few men capable of both making history and writing it. 16 pages of b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Subjecting Winston Churchill's monumental six-volume work The Second World War (1948-53) to historical scrutiny, Reynolds delivers a mixture of conclusions that, on the whole, reinforce the work's unique stature. In small and large ways, it has shaped popular and professional historians' perceptions of the global war of 1939--45, from naming it "the Second World War" to theses of its origin in appeasement and its outcome in the cold war. Reynolds seems all the more impressed because the work has survived abundant criticism. Churchill was not comprehensive; he was forced to omit the Ultra secret and was inclined to overlook the war in Russia and the Far East. Sometimes he got his facts wrong; sometimes he altered his text for his own purposes, such as his desire to return to power; and in Reynolds' view, he overindulged in counterfactual speculation. But Churchill was there at the center of events, portraying them with unsurpassed eloquence. Important scholarship, Reynolds' inquiry will intrigue the multitude that has read The Gathering Storm and its sequels. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (November 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465003303
• ISBN-13: 978-0465003303
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Churchill, Winston
  • #73 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > U.K. Prime Ministers

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winston Churchill as Historian, September 4, 2006

By 

Gilberto Villahermosa - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War (Hardcover)

This is a brilliant book! It is extremely well researched and written and tells a powerful and interesting story.

"In Command of History" is the history of a series of books - Winston Churchill's monumental and authoritative "The Second World War", his six-volume narrative of Great Britain in World War II. "In Command of History" is also many other things, including a book about World War II, the Cold War,and Churchill himself.

Perhaps the underlying theme of this book is that histories and memoirs written by politicians are not to be totally trusted for their aim is not historical accuracy, but rather to enhance the own political and military reputations and to vindicate their leadership.

Author David Reynolds writes about Churchill with an honesty and insight that is refreshing, covering every aspect of the British leader and his work. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book was the ability of Churchill to use classified documents that would not be available to historians for many years to come. Equally interesting are the many documents that were available but not used because they would have cast the author in an unfavorable light.

Certainly one of the most contentious issues that Reynold addresses is Churchill's resistance to Operation Overlord, the Allied Cross Channel invasion of the France. After the war the British leader expended a great deal of energy to show that he supported the invasion, but Reynolds research reveals this is not totally true. Also of interest to this reader was Churchill's decision to plan for an attack on Soviet Russia in 1945, "Operation Unthinkable."

As might be expected "The Second World War" highlights Churchill and Great Britain's many important contributions to the Allied victory in Europe.

Despite Churchill's many shortcomings, Reynolds makes it clear the British leader remains one of the greatest political figures of World War II and history. "In death, as in life," writes the author, "Winston Churchill continues to glow. He remains in command of history."

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winston Churchill the Writer On The Topic Of Winston Churchill The War Leader, November 12, 2005

By 

C. Hutton "book maven" (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War (Hardcover)

Prime Minister Winston Churchill started his career as a twenty-something journalist covering the Boer War back at the turn of the century. As was his habit, he became the story when he was captured by and then escaped from the South African Boers -- his journalistic tale launched his political career. Mr. Churchill, an accomplished writer, repeated this pattern of either writing about himself or his ancestors constantly (mixed in with his histories of America/England) to support his family during a low paying political career. The need for cash to support his expensive life-style led to his multi-volume epic "The Second World War" and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Anyone familiar with either William Manchester's or Martin Giblert's extensive biographies of Mr. Churchill is aware of his idiosyncratic and unique production of research and writing. After entertaining guests in the evening, he would either write or dictate through the night while leaving research of original sources to his devoted staff. He was a great synthesizer of information and a gifted writer who knew how to turn a phrase (see his speeches during World War II).

Mr. Reynolds covers the six year period when Mr. Churchill was out of political office and in his home office writing, essentially his wartime memoirs, while trying to cover the entire history of the War. Mr. Reynolds points out that the Prime Minister had a selective memory in favor of his own role -- in this regard he was no different from Mark Twain who told his audience the truth as he remembered it. With "The Second World War," Churchill was a second-tier historian and a first-rate storyteller. Mr Reynolds has extensively researched his own history of Mr. Churchill writing his history. "In Command of History" could had been trimmed down from its 600+ pages but when Churchill is front and center, it is a fascinating book for the reader.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget Bill Clinton read Churchill!, November 27, 2005

By 

Mike B (CANADA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War (Hardcover)

When former President Clinton released his autobiography some months ago this was seen as a political and literary event. All this pales in comparison to when Winston Churchill published his 6 volumes of history on the Second World War from 1949 to 1954. These works are the subject of David Reynolds highly interesting book `In Command of History'.

Unlike Clinton, Churchill was hardly retired; he was leader of the opposition Tory party, giving significant speeches across Europe and North America, renewing his interest in painting and in 1950 he was also 75 years old. All Churchill's colleagues would remark on his boundless energy - particularly given the fact that he hardly took any regular exercise. Churchill was also a prolific author before World War II having written a history of the Great War, a volume on the Duke of Marlborough (his ancestor) and his `History of the English Speaking People's' had yet to be completed.

As soon as Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940 speculation was rising about the future book to be published. Towards the end of the war various publisher's were `frothing at the bit' and Cassell in England and Houghton Mifflin in the U.S. won. As well, there were serialization rights in major English newspapers and in the U.S. The New York Times and the now defunct Life magazine negotiated these rights in the U.S. and in addition provided working vacations for Churchill and his entourage in lavish resorts in France, Switzerland and North Africa - for enhancement of the writing process. Both Henry Luce of Time/Life and Arthur Sulzberger of the New York Times were internationalists who had long admired Churchill.

In his book Reynolds writes that Churchill was writing history within history. He was not writing about events of long ago in which the protagonists were long gone. The book is divided into 6 sections to correspond with the 6 volumes. It examines the era of the volume versus the time it was actually written in.
In England Anthony Eden was titular head of the Conservative party while Churchill was off writing and speech-making. Also Eden had long been foreseen as replacing the aging Churchill as head of the Conservative Party. This is reflected in the writings of the `Second World War'. Churchill claims to have been extremely distraught when Eden resigned as foreign minister from the Chamberlain government - was this really the case or was Churchill trying to over-play the emphasis Eden had on him? He needed Eden at the time of writing (1948-49) to substitute as head of the Conservative Party for him. At the time of Eden's resignation in 1938 they were not considered to be allies.
Another interesting fact Reynolds brings up is that the British parliament allowed Churchill to publish his own government war memo's (of which there were thousands). However, because of confidentiality, Churchill was not allowed to publish responses to these memo`s. It gives the impression throughout the 6 volumes of Churchill single-handedly managing the war. To some extent this is true - Churchill would involve himself in extreme detail much to the annoyance of those being probed.
There was `positive' or logical censorship in the volumes. Churchill could not divulge that England had broken Germany's war transmission codes - there was still a fear that Germany could rise again via ultra-nationalists groups who could use the code-breakers as another excuse that Germany had been unfairly beaten. When Eisenhower decided to run for president in 1952 some memos had to be doctored to remove less than complimentary remarks. However, scathing remarks about Australian Prime Minister Curtin's decision to remove his troops from North Africa were left in. But Curtin was out of the political picture and Australia was not power player like the United States in the 1950's.

Reynolds' also brings up documentary emphasis about Churchill's reticence to Overlord (the D-Day landings at Normandy in 1944). Before Churchill's volumes several books had already been published on the American side alleging this. Churchill deliberately manipulates his writings to attempt to prove that he was always in favour of the landings in France. He omits parts of his war memos that have a strong leaning favouring the extension of the war from Italy into the Balkans instead of pursuing Overlord. There were strong memories of the killing fields in France during World War I; perhaps this is one reason for this reluctance. D-Day is seen as success today - prior to the landings there was a vast unknown.

Interspersed in his memoirs' is a pet project of Churchill's to lure Turkey in the war with the Allies. Churchill in fact visited with Turkey's leaders in a futile attempt to persuade them to join in the `common cause'. This was all a part of his project of extending troops from Italy into the Balkans. Turkey would probably have been a burden in the allied camp - requesting endless military supplies. Reynolds does not inquire into the motives of using Turkey as an ally. Churchill general's said that he had `one hundred ideas a day - the problem was to decide what the good one was'.

I take issue with Reynolds' negative review of the 'Gathering Storm' - the first volume of the memoirs detailing the growing Nazi menace. Reynolds misses the point that Churchill was always a strong individualist never scared to express his own beliefs. Churchill took a tough stand against German expansionism and India's independence - but it is what he believed. He could also be remarkably prescient - he foresaw the futility of British involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Franco's Spain was neutral in the Second World War. Franco did not interfere with the Allied build-up in Gibraltar and distanced himself from both Hitler and Mussolini during the war years.

These six volumes of Churchill are probably the most significant work of the past century by a political and literary colossus. As a matter of fact it was only on the publication of his 6 volumes that the term `Second World War' came into acceptable and common usage.
This is what makes Reynolds examination so compelling.