The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory 1874-1932 [Hardcover]

William Manchester (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 1983

William Manchester met Winston Churchill on January 24, 1953. Their encounter on the Queen Mary sparked an intense curiosity in Manchester that would eventually result in his classic three-volume magnum opus The Last Lion.

In this, the first volume, we follow Churchill from his birth to 1932, when he began to warn against the remilitarization of Germany. Born of a lovely, wanton American mother and a gifted but unstable son of a duke, his childhood was one of wretched neglect. He sought glory on the battlefields of Cuba, Sudan, India, South Africa and the trenches of France. In Parliament he was the prime force behind the creation of Iraq and Jordan, laid the groundwork for the birth of Israel, and negotiated the independence of the Irish Free State. Yet, as Chancellor of the Exchequer he plunged England into economic crisis, and his fruitless attempt to suppress Gandhi's quest for Indian independence brought political chaos to Britain.

Throughout, Churchill learned the lessons that would prepare him for the storm to come, and as the 1930's began, he readied himself for the coming battle against Nazism--an evil the world had never before seen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bedazzling." (Newsweek 1983-01-00)

From the Publisher

15 1.5-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 992 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (May 30, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316545031
• ISBN-13: 978-0316545037
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Churchill, Winston
  • #15 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > U.K. Prime Ministers
  • #17 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British

More About the Author

William Manchester is Professor of History Emeritus at Wesleyan University. His bestselling books include The Last Lion, a multi-volume biography of Winston Churchill; American Caesar, a biography of Douglas MacArthur; The Death of a President, The Arms of Krupp, and A World Lit Only by Fire. He lives in Connecticut.

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#26 in Books > History

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

139 of 143 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the real thing September 28, 2002

By Glenn McDorman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

There are many good biographies out there, but a great one is rare. This is one of the great ones; William Manchester has taken the art of biography to a new level. Most biographies are merely "interesting," rarely making any effort to give the reader a sense of what it would have been like to be or know the subject. Manchester does just that. Rather than write a narrative story of Winston Churchill's life, he has chosen instead to give us a rich tapestry of Chrchill's life as it was woven. Many biographers are simply idolizers of their subjects; this is not so with Manchester. He reserves no harsh judgment, just as he reserves no due praise; when he is reporting something negative that Winston did he says it was negative, and explains why.

But The Last Lion is more than just a biography. In attempting to capture the essence of Churchill Manchester has written some of the best material about World War I and the appeasement crisis. It is rare that historical events can be made to feel like the present, but Manchester has done this.

Both volumes of this work are well worth your money, your time, and your attention. Indeed, the only bad part of Manchester's biography is that he will not be able to finish it. It is not known how much of the third volume he was able to put together before Alzheimer's made work impossible for him, but it can be hoped that whatever he was able to do will someday be published, no matter how unpolished it may be.

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Volume 1 of the life of Winston Spencer Churchill April 30, 2000

By Mike Powers

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

"The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932," is the first of William Manchester's projected three-volume biography of Winston Spencer Churchill. I found it a superbly crafted, supremely well researched account of the first 58 years of the life of the 20th century's greatest statesman. With wit and candor, Manchester chronicles Churchill from his earliest days as the neglected and troublesome first child of Lord Randolph Churchill and his American-born wife, Jennie, to his entry into the political "wilderness" over home rule in India in 1932. Manchester's portrait of his subject is balanced and objective; we see Churchill at his finest: a courageous (almost to the point of foolhardiness) army officer, and later a gifted Member of Parliament who became one of the youngest Cabinet ministers in British history. We also see him at his worst: a Cabinet minister with appalling political judgment at times, quick to meddle in other ministers' affairs while neglecting his own, and with an uncanny ability to alienate not only his political foes, but almost all his political allies as well.

In addition to a wonderfully written chronology of Churchill's life, Manchester provides an overview of the times in which Churchill lived. I was fascinated by the author's account of Victorian England -- its culture, its mores, and its view of itself in the world. The sections which describe Churchill's times make highly entertaining and absorbing reading by themselves.

"The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932," clearly shows why William Manchester is one of the pre-eminent biographers at work today.... The book is written with obviously meticulous scholarship, insightful analysis, and crisp, sparkling prose; I have yet to find a better account of Churchill's life.

Since the publication of "The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932" 30 years ago, several excellent books about Winston Churchill have been written, including "Warlord" by Carlo d'Este (2008) and "Winston's War" by Max Hastings (2011). As good as these works are (and they are very good indeed), William Manchester's "The Last Lion" remains the finest multi-volume biography of Churchill available today. It is a "must read" for anyone interested in the life of Winston Churchill; Highly recommended!

AFTERWORD: William Manchester died in 2004 before he could complete the third and final volume of his great triptych on the life of Winston Churchill. Manchester had apparently completed well over one-half of the manuscript for his final volume, which he had tentatively entitled "The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm 1940-1965." He had selected Paul Reid, an excellent writer and close friend, to carry on and complete his work after his death. In November 2012, this 1,200-page volume was published by Little, Brown and Company, the same publisher of the first two "Last Lion" volumes. As of this writing, "The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm 1940-1965" has garnered overwhelmingly positive professional and consumer reviews, much to the satisfaction of those of us who waited patiently for nearly three decades for its release. Read more ›

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Churchill or Manchester -- tough choice! November 20, 2000

By John F. Valinote

Format:Hardcover

It is hard to tell who is the larger hero -- Churchill or Manchester. Not because the historian is bigger than history, but rather because the historian has so captured history.

Churchill aficionados don't need to read heroic prose to be attracted to all that has been written about him. But for the rest of us, Manchester has strung together the words that truly capture the place Churchill created in world history.

This volume is the first in what was obviously intended as a trilogy. Unfortunately, we have yet to see the concluding book. I hope it makes it.

Here is a challenge. Pick up the book and read the first two pages. You will find yourselve with two major problems. First, about 2000 pages (volumes one and two) of reading that you will want to complete faster than you have time for. Worse, a dull ache of longing for the third volume that may never materialize.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Read both books - Best history/biography ever! December 29, 2003

By A. Khosla

Format:Hardcover

Many lists say the best historical biography is "Disraeli" by Blake. This is better. Way better.

The only author that has ever kept me glued to a book as much as Manchester's is Michael Crichton. It's odd to compare a biography to Jurassic Park, but Manchester makes history come alive. He spends a lot of time and care setting the "culture" in a way that is not pedantic or boring (unlike some Civil War histories I've read!). And then he builds on Churchill's stories in a way that makes you feel like you're in Churchill's shoes, with the same issues and challenges.

Unfortunately, there is no Volume 3 about the war years. Manchester's illness prevented this. What a sad loss to history.

Read Vol 1 and 2. You won't regret it.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A larger-than-life book about a larger-than-life man... November 10, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

William Manchester (1922 - ), one of the GI generation's finest writers, has written about everything from the Kennedys to acid-penned reporter H.L. Mencken. But in this book he presents his greatest work - a superb biography about one of the twentieth century's greatest heroes - Sir Winston Churchill. This volume, which includes the first fifty years of Churchill's crowded life, is written with a Victorian style and passion for adventure that Churchill himself would have admired. (What other biography uses the word "Array", instead of "Table of Contents", to list the chapter headings)? Churchill's life does read like something out of a Hollywood script - he was the scion of one of England's most prominent families. His father was a member of Parliament and could have become Prime Minister, had he not developed syphillis, which eventually drove him mad and killed him at an early age. He was often cruel to his son Winston, harshly criticizing even his smallest mistakes. His beautiful American-born mother had extramarital affairs with many handsome men, including the King of England. Largely ignored by his wealthy and famous parents, Churchill was a "problem child" in his youth, and was expelled from several private schools until he finally found a career in the British military. He fought in a number of small but bloody wars in Britain's colonies in Africa and India, and he often was in the thick of the fighting, recklessly exposing himself to bullets and cannon fire. In the Boer War in South Africa in the late 1890's he was captured by enemy troops and placed in a prisoner-of-war camp, but made a daring escape and returned safely to his own forces. Elected to Parliament at the age of 25, he quickly moved up the political ladder, even changing political parties when it suited him.... By World War One he was the head of the British Navy, but here things began to go wrong. In 1915 he proposed to invade and conquer Turkey, a German ally, thus knocking it out of the war and allowing Allied forces to attack Austria and Germany from the south. The plan was sound, but the invasion was so bungled by incompetent British generals and admirals that it was a total failure, and Churchill was forced to take the blame and resign in disgrace. He then spent some time as an infantry officer in the front lines in France, and in the 1920's enjoyed something of a political comeback as the Chancellor of the Exchequer (a position similar to our Secretary of the Treasury). However, his poor handling of Britain's economic woes led him to fall out of favor, and by the end of the book in 1932 Churchill is an outsider in Parliament, with little real power or influence. Yet this book is far more than a simple biography. True to form, Manchester offers an engrossing account of the entire Victorian era that Churchill grew up in - the glories of the British Empire, the racist "raj" system in British-ruled India (where white Englishmen were encouraged by hotel signs "not to beat their (Indian) servants" in the hotel lobby); the terrible conditions that Britain's poor lived under; and the peculiar social mores and customs of the British upper class to which Churchill so proudly belonged. Although Manchester clearly admires Churchill (and who wouldn't, after reading this book), he isn't afraid to note that in many ways Churchill was a very flawed man, and must have been difficult to deal with. An open snob, Churchill had all of the prejudices of his class - he treated his servants poorly, insulted his secretaries and others who couldn't keep up with him mentally or verbally, disliked strong women and wasn't above making chauvanistic remarks about them in public, and he had a huge ego and seemed to think that the rest of the world revolved around him and his needs. And, while he expressed sympathy for the lower classes, he regarded Britain's middle class with aristocratic disdain, this despite the fact that they paid most of the nation's bills and taxes. Yet his genius, as Manchester copiously notes, was genuine - his brilliant skills as a writer and orator, his political and personal courage, his genuine committment to personal freedom and liberty, all these and more made him one of the great historical leaders of all time. Quite simply, not only is this Mr. Manchester's finest work (out of many), but it reads more like great literature than a simple biography - "The Last Lion" is a larger-than-life book about a larger-than-life man. My only regret is that due to his recent stroke Mr. Manchester will not be able to complete this biography - a real tragedy for anyone who loves great biography. Read more ›