The Second World War, Volume 4: The Hinge of Fate [Paperback]

Winston S. Churchill (Author)

Book Description

Series: The Second World War | Publication Date: May 9, 1986

From uninterrupted defeat to almost unbroken success: a year when Rommel is gradually thrown back in North Africa, and in the Pacific the tide turns.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965) has been called by historians "the man of the twentieth century." Prime Minister of Great Britain (1940-1945), Churchill won the Nobel prize for literature in 1953.

Product Details

• Paperback: 952 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (May 9, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395410584
• ISBN-13: 978-0395410585
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Churchill devised a special method for writing, May 15, 2000

By 

Owen Hughes (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Second World War, Volume 4: The Hinge of Fate (Paperback)

Winston Churchill was remarkable, as much as for any other reason, for the sheer volume of words he produced. In a long life, during which he was often preoccupied by both family matters (he had four children) and matters of state, he nevertheless found the time to compose an inordinate number of books. I say compose, because he perfected a system during the first war, which revealed its efficacy more than ever in the second, of working through secretaries. There are many odd anecdotes told about Churchill, not the least of which is that his secretaries, sometimes working in rotation throughout much of the night, were obliged to attend to him and take down what he said, even in the bath. This way of getting the material down in print proved to be very effective, as the tens of thousands of published pages of his work amply demonstrates.

His long history of the Second World War continues with "The Hinge of Fate." Although he was personally assured that the American entry into the war meant the ultimate defeat of Germany, he still had to see to the day to day running of the war machine, and counter the perverse effects of both German victories and British pessimism. Now began, as well, the long battle with Stalin about opening up a second front in France, to take some of the heat off the Russian armies in the East. In fact, his relationship with the Russian leader is one of the most interesting sources of anecdotal references throughout this series.

This is history being well told by a man who was, while perhaps not a trained historian as such, so steeped in the history of his family and his country, that he an utterly unique point of view. The fact that he was also a central figure in the war itself, means that we have, if you like, a one in a million chance victory on our hands, as though we had just won a lottery of sorts, by being able to read him.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Turning Point of the War, May 5, 2007

By 

Forrest Wildwood "Phil" (The house with the narrow gate) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Second World War, Volume 4: The Hinge of Fate (Paperback)

Churchill's fourth book, `Hinge of Fate', covers the time period from January 1942 to June 1943. The Japanese, after Pearl Harbor, were advancing through the Malaya peninsula and onwards towards Singapore. With bold offensive strokes Hong Kong, Burma and Singapore were soon in Japanese hands. In the Atlantic, U-boats were taking high tolls in allied shipping and soon the British, Dutch and Americans were being run out of the Pacific. The gains in the African desert were soon lost as Rommel regain the offensive and retakes Benghazi. Churchill now faced censure at home and soon he needed to reorganize his Generals. Hitler was pushing forward on the Eastern front towards Stalingrad and many setbacks were shifting the balance.

This volume is well named as there is much offensive and defensive struggles going on in the Pacific theater, the African desert and the Eastern front. All three Allied countries were up to their necks in trouble, and the Axis forces still had the upper hand. It wasn't until Alamein, on the African coast that the hinge turned in favor of the Allies. Churchill states that "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat." Some of the most interesting parts of the book are Churchill's relationships with Stalin and FDR. Much has been written about these and it is nice to get Churchill's views and opinions about these men and the struggles they faced. Churchill acted, in many ways, the diplomat and statesman greasing the way between the Allied powers and paving the way for Torch (French North Africa), Bolero (Administrative preparations for invasion of France) and soon Overlord (France liberation 1944). Stalin wanted the Western front cross channel attack, of German held France in 1943 as planned, but because of the efforts on the African desert it wasn't until 1944 that Overlord was able to take place. Churchill needed great diplomacy and FDR's help to convince Stalin of the inability to make Overlord work in 1943.

It is great to read Churchill's rendition of this time and place. He was right in the middle, and at this time, still in command of the allied war effort. Well worth reading and adding to the history shelf.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What Did Winston and Buffy Have in Common?, January 9, 2007

By 

Sylvia Weiser Wendel (North Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Second World War, Volume 4: The Hinge of Fate (Paperback)

Because he was writing for a population that had lived through World War II and knew its facts, Churchill's 6-volume history of that time can be more than a little daunting for contemporary readers. His is a kind of top-down history that approaches unconscious autobiography: Churchill seems to feel that reproducting his memos, letters, and "minutes" -- in painfully small type -- will provide the reader with all the info necessary to completely know and understand the war. Of course we know it ain't so; Cornelius Ryan, John Toland, and Stephen Ambrose, just for starters, have written far more accessible and comprehensive histories that present a variety of viewpoints and don't gloss over difficult or unsavory moments. Instead, one should read Churchill in order to read Churchill-- in order to enjoy the company of that most remarkable statesman, in order to savor his impeccable prose and snicker at his wicked humor, in order to marvel at a life that began in mid-Victorian times and ended in the heyday of the Rolling Stones. The man's prescience was uncanny, not only in recognizing the evils of Hitler long before any other world leader, but in comprehending the nature and extent of what was then a genuine Soviet menace. Despite his anachronistic attitudes about people of color, Churchill was no racist; he simply lived in his world as we live in ours, and his story is an object lesson for the present. How much of what we now revere as received truth will be questoned, even debunked, 50 or 60 or 70 years from now? Yet authenticity and honesty will always last longer than glibness and flash, and Churchill has more a & h on one page than the easy-to-read historians have in their entire oevre. I'm afraid our puny and wan little world, so beset with its infantile fears and carefully nurtured insecurities, gooey with political correctness, dizzied with the hoohaw and the yelping of the media, is now far from capable of producing such a giant. Young Winston would be given Ritalin in school today and taught that white males like him are born evil. To paraphrase "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," he saved the world -- a lot -- and he did it with the English language.