Customer Reviews

Mr Crewe's Career

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This partly autobiographical political novel, set in New Hampshire, is a warning against the powers of the railroad interests to control elected government. Churchill himself had run for governor just two years earlier and had met his defeat at the hands of the state's railroad lobby. In the character of Humphrey Crewe, a somewhat politically naïve, comical figure who is running for governor, Churchill drew a character similar to himself. But Crewe is basically a minor figure, there to offer comic relief, but the main thrust of the story lies elsewhere. The main characters actually are Hillary Vane, the chief lawyer for the railroad company and major state political operator, and his son, Austen, who represents reform. Austen accuses his father of violating a "nearly forgotten" statute whereby the railroads were not to increase rates in exchange for the right to consolidate, a ruling they have long ignored. Churchill's real-life reform concerns came to the fore right here, as this was exactly what was happening in New Hampshire at the time. The battle between Austen and Hillary builds dramatically throughout the novel, until Austen is encouraged by other reformers to run for governor. But out of loyalty to his father, he declines the nomination.

This is one of the problems with the book, and what sets it aside from other reform novels such as those by Upton Sinclair: Churchill was not willing to take the fight beyond the dictates of parlor civility; he believed that gentlemen discussing principles would bring about change. This was a highly idealistic view, and when he has Austen convince his father of the rightness of the reformer's position, it's too pat and contrived to be very believable. There is also, of course, a love story unfolding within the proceedings, between Austen and Victoria Flint, which succeeds splendidly by novel's end - but it's the least impressive thing about the book. In fact, it's hard not to want to skim through the scenes where these two characters are on stage, they are so stiff and uninteresting. But despite his kid glove approach to reform, Churchill makes the political battle for reform dramatic and lively.

Another novel by the American novelist Winston Churchill, distantly related, whose fame was such at the turn of the century that Winston SPENCER Churchill promised to use his middle name to distinguish himself. Belongs with CONISTON, THE CRISIS, A FAR COUNTRY, etc. -R. Langworth, Editor, FINEST HOUR, The Churchill Center, www.winstonchurchill.org