52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Where lies the right?", November 17, 2002
This review is from: Winston Churchill (Penguin Lives Biographies) (Hardcover)
This is one of several volumes in the Penguin Lives Series, each of which written by a distinguished author in her or his own right. Each provides a concise but remarkably comprehensive biography of its subject in combination with a penetrating analysis of the significance of that subject's life and career. I think this is a brilliant concept. My only complaint (albeit a quibble) is that even an abbreviated index is not provided. Those who wish to learn more about the given subject are directed to other sources.
When preparing to review various volumes in this series, I have struggled with determining what would be of greatest interest and assistance to those who read my reviews. Finally I decided that a few brief excerpts and then some concluding comments of my own would be appropriate.
On Churchill's values: "His beliefs had very simple origins, in the piety and goodness of his beloved nanny, Mrs. Everest; in the code of schoolboy fair play; in the ethic of manliness learned at the Royal Military College (RMC) at Sandhurst and in his regiment; in the strictures of the Commandments, preached in the Old Testament language that was to be one of the strongest of influences on his own, in Harrow School chapel. From all of those sources Churchill derived an undoubted sense of sin; his horror of wrongdoing was to inform his political life, particularly as it brought him eventually to confront the crimes of the dictators." (page 11)
On Sir John ("Jackie") Fisher, as First Sea Lord, an early supporter of Churchill's career: "Fisher was that rare but valuable bird, a creative eccentric. Brave beyond question, a seadog to his fingertips, he had no truck with the settled order of things and was forever in search for a better way, a faster ship, a deadlier weapon....His nature was as passionate as Churchill's, his mind as quick; it was inevitable that the two should quarrel, but their differences were soon made up." (page 79)
On Churchill and England during their "darkest hours": "Churchill privately confessed to depression. The sinkings of British merchant shipping...particularly lowered his optimism....[and yet according to Edward R. Murrow] one of Churchill's greatest achievements as wartime prime minister was to have 'mobilized the English language and sent it into battle'...[as when addressing the House of Commons he insisted] 'We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down. Give us the tools and we will [in italics] finish the job!'" (Pages 142-143)
On what inspired Churchill to become a great war leader: "...he listened to himself....he listened to the version of British history he had constructed in his head as a subaltern in his hot, dreamy Indian afternoons; he listened to his own apotheosis in the biography of his ancestor [the first duke of Malborough]; he listened to his retelling of the First World War as an epic of of world crisis and eventual triumph; he listened to his recollections of his own youth and acquaintances then retold in his lives of Great Contemporaries (1937); his listened to his own version of American history as an equal epic to Britain's in the championship of liberty." (pages 190-191)
Of special interest to me was Keegan's brilliant analysis of the many paradoxes which define Churchill the man. For example: "Companionable, he had few friends. Quick to display emotion, he evoked little personal affection outside his immediate family. A devoted husband and father, he was, by the account of his favorite and deeply loving daughter, Mary...difficult at home, often impossible." Whether despite or because of his paradoxical nature, however, Churchill led his nation to eventual victory at a time when probably no one else could. Following his death in 1965 at the age of 90, his coffin was buried in a churchyard of the little Oxfordshire village of Bladon, near his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. However, Keegan suggests, "Churchill's real burial place is in the hearts of human beings."
As is also true of the other volumes in the "Penguin Lives" series, this one provides all of the essential historical and biographical information but its greatest strength lies in the extended commentary, in this instance by John Keegan, arguably the greatest of 20th century military historians. He includes a substantial list of "Sources"" for those who wish to learn more about Churchill. I hope these brief excerpts encourage those who read this review to read Keegan's biography. It is indeed a brilliant achievement.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great subject, great author, weak effort, February 3, 2003
This review is from: Winston Churchill (Penguin Lives Biographies) (Hardcover)
This ought to be a terrific book. Winston Churchill led a fascinating life and shaped the history of a time with many lessons for our own. John Keegan is a wonderful military historian whose book "In the Face of Battle" I still assign to students. Moreover, there is a real need for a biography of Churchill with a military emphasis. I plunged into this book with enthusiasm after having waded through the parliamentary detail of Roy Jenkins's Churchill biography. But this is very ordinary. It provides a competent sketch of well-known information, and would not make a bad introduction for someone unfamiliar with the man or the time. That merits several stars. But it does not go beyond that; tracing the intricate interweaving of the political, moral, and military strands that enabled this leader to stand almost alone against tyranny and to hold his country with him remains a challenge to future biographers. Part of the problem may be that Keegan's greatest strength as a writer is his ability to recreate small moments of history in amazingly vivid detail. Perhaps a series of vignettes of crucial moments in Churchill's career would have suited Keegan's talents better.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Short but sweet - as only Keegan could write it, January 6, 2005
This review is from: Winston Churchill (Penguin Lives Biographies) (Hardcover)
John Keegan has a flair for bringing order from apparent chaos, for finding unifying themes through events separated vastly in time. Thus, he is a good choice to write this short biography of Churchill. One might legitimately ask, "How can you condense the life of Churchill into such a slim (200 pages) volume?" The answer is here for everyone to see.
Keegan gives a good flavour for the man, touching on his important speeches, his bullying of subordinates, his painting, his variable health. He leaves out what is not important in understanding the man: his membership in the bricklayers' guild is not mentioned, for example. Clearly, Keegan the military historian is mostly interested in Churchill's wartime leadership - in both World Wars. He also makes sure to point out some of Churchill's other policy issues - his support of the working man (Churchill is often, wrongly, believed to be anti-working class) is the most interesting because it's often lost in the detail of larger tomes.
It's ironic that Churchill himself was incapable of writing a history like this - his "biography" of Marlborough was several volumes long. Can the life of a man like Churchill be condensed into 200 pages? Probably not, but Keegan's attempt is very readable and enjoyable, and is recommended even to those that have read heftier biographies. The exercise of working within space constraints forces the writer to get to the core of the subject, and this is what Keegan does in this biography.
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