All four volumes in a black slipcase. Hardcover bound in red cloth spines & dark blue boards. No dustjackets, probably as iss.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nobel Prize Winner,
By
This review is from: A History of the English Speaking Peoples (Birth of Britain; New World; Age of Revolution; Great Democracies, Four (4) Volume Set) (Hardcover)
If you were short changed on your history education, like most of us, this is a must read. This is the kind of reading the can make the casual reader, an avid reader of histories. Most people don't know that Churchill had to write to earn a living. Along with his works on the Duke of Marlborough, The World Crisis (WWI) and his 6 volume work on WWII, this series stands out. I covers a lot of ground and leaves you wanting to read more.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The History of the English as seen by Winston,
By
This review is from: A History of the English Speaking Peoples (Birth of Britain; New World; Age of Revolution; Great Democracies, Four (4) Volume Set) (Hardcover)
During the 1930's Winston Churchill was enduring his "wilderness years" and was quite prolific in his journalistic efforts. Mr. Churchill began this rather ambitious effort of the history of the English Speaking Peoples in 1937.
This four volume effort wasn't published until the years of 1956-1958. You see Winston had to serve England as Prime Minister from 1939 to 1945. After that he had to write his Nobel Prize winning 6 volume compilation of World War II. During this time Sir Winston was the leader of the Conservative opposition party from 1945 to 1951. After that he again served as Prime Minister until 1955. Mr. Churchill didn't finish this history of the English Speaking Peoples until he was in his early 80's. One thing about Mr. Churchill, he didn't let any grass grow under his feet. As a great writer and historian, Mr. Churchill has always had a bias of the English language, laws and its history. Being the master of the English written word, it seems quite right that it was he to write this historical sketch of the English people. Winston goes into great depth of the birth of England and its subsequent development including all the detailed trials and tribulations. He details the narrative of the monarchy into the development of a Democratic form of government. The rather long history is divided into four books as follows: 1.) The Birth of Britain 2.) The New World 3.) The Age of Revolution 4.) The Great Democracies Churchill expounds of the development and governance of the British Empire. He also details much of American history, especially the minutiae of the Civil War. The writing is clear and concise. I think it rather remarkable that these volumes are still relevant today. I took delight in reading Mr. Churchill's last great historical writing. Here's to you Winston. Hear! Hear!!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a masterpiece to be read for at least a century,
By John E. Drury "jedrury" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: A History of the English Speaking Peoples (Birth of Britain; New World; Age of Revolution; Great Democracies, Four (4) Volume Set) (Hardcover)
Churchill's English Civil War (Book Five) is pure joy for the reader; assured, inventive, judgmental. There is, of course, no bibliography; its absence triggers Updike's famous comment about Ted Williams that "gods don't take curtain calls.'
His descriptions delight. Henrietta Maria, the French wife of Charles I, has a spirit for war as "tameless and indomitable as Margaret of Anjou." On Cromwell's slaughter at Drogheda, "the curse of Cromwell," Churchill slaps out at any arguable historical defense of the massacre as being "eagerly lapped up by Carlyle." He pins Cromwell's "smokey soul" in Ireland, which "debased the standards of human conduct and sensibly darkened the journey of mankind." Yet his sense of history manifests itself in his ambivalence about Cromwell calling his excesses "lasting discord with the genius of the English race," while in the next paragraph calling him "the sole agency by which time could be gained for healing and regrowth." To enliven the repetition of the historical cause and effect, the old man switches tenses with inventive quotes in capturing "the temper of all who were trusted with or discovered the secret" of Charles II's 1651 furtive mad cap escape from England: "The King of England, my master, your master, and the master of all good Englishmen, is near you and in great distress:can you help us to a boat?" "Is he well" "Is he safe?" "Yes." "God be blessed." His macro-view of history is alive and convincing. His identifications of this general and that general are vague and the battles sloughed off. The driving force of his rhetoric ignites the books. The reader scurries for the OED for words like compeer, to pother and mrymidons. Not content with the kings, queens and the Lord Protector, his vision finds significance in Ireton, Pym, George Monk, Henry Hyde, later Lord Clarendon and others. One imagines him at Chartwell in his dressing gown, staring out his study's second story window across the Weald, dictating, whisky to the side, half crocked by 14:00. The words, the eloquence flowing. This fascinating four volume set, mostly finished by 1939 but delayed and ultimately published in 1956, occupied many mid century American bookshelves; mostly bought through the Book of the Month Club which would regularly mail out these books. if not specifically declined each month. So all across America, these books arrived and remained in households for years because returning them required a trip to the post office and $ 5.00 return. Greatness moldering away.
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