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Churchill: A Biography First Printing, Cover Torn Edition

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Roy Jenkins (Author)
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Roy Jenkins (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 121 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0452283527
ISBN-10: 0452283523
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 1024 pages
  • Publisher: Plume; First Printing, Cover Torn edition (November 5, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0452283523
  • ISBN-13: 978-0452283527
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.7 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsA Matter Of Style
By taking a rest HALL OF FAME on April 24, 2002
Format: Hardcover
Prior to the appearance of this biography, by Whitbread Award winning author Roy Jenkins, the only single volume work that I would have recommended to people would have been Sir Martin Gilbert's one volume biography. Gilbert has spent the better part of his life creating the definitive biography originally started by Churchill's son Randolph, and he continues to add 1,000 page companion volumes of documents that supplement the massive primary work.
If a reader were to select this work by Jenkins they would not gain a complete insight into the legendary figure that Sir Winston Spencer Churchill is. That a new biography approaching 1,000 pages made the NYT Bestseller's List is a testimony to Churchill's place in history. I doubt there is a politician that is more quoted than Sir Winston. The primary differences between the two books I mention are of style and completeness. Martin Gilbert in an accomplished historian, while Mr. Jenkins writes from a perspective of a man who sat in the House of Commons, witnessed Churchill in action, and documents his life primarily as a politician. There are formative episodes that are not included at all, which in the end prevents this very fine work from being a well-rounded documentary. A young Churchill spent time in Ireland, but this was never mentioned. The downfall of his father was much more complicated than the space allotted in this work, and his mother too is not represented enough.
The book also lacks extended time with the Churchill who was an amazing raconteur at dining tables from a very young age. Many of the great quotes from Churchill are not in this book, and many others are given short shrift. Mr. Jenkins style also takes a bit more effort than many may choose to expend. William F. Buckley Jr.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsAlmost purely a political biography
By Lan the Answer Man on January 7, 2002
Format: Hardcover
What most reviews don't tell you is that Roy Jenkins, himself a politician, has created an almost purely political biography of Churchill. Even more narrowly, it is a focused on the House of Commons and Churchill's role in it over a span of some 50 years.
In more than 900 pages, Jenkins barely touches on Churchill's personal life, his relationship with "Clemmie," his children or with anyone outside the closeted world of British politics. The little details of daily life, which provide density and color -- what brand of cigars he smoked, what books he read for pleasure, what he ate for breakfast -- are almost entirely missing.
A greater fault, in my view, is that Jenkins fails to adequately explore and explain Churchill's place in the decline and fall of the British Empire, which took place in great part during Churchill's watches. This is a story, as Jenkins tells it, mostly of the Old Boy's club, of Asquith and Lloyd George and Chamberlain and all the rest. Reading Jenkins, you would hardly know that during the course of Churchill's life one of the world's greatest powers and greatest empires became an also ran on the world's stage.
Granted, Jenkins is a masterful writer with a great grasp of the politics of 20th century Britain. If politics, in great detail, is all you demand of a biography, then Roy Jenkins' Churchill will suit you very adequately.
--Lan Sluder
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4.0 out of 5 starsQuite readable, nicely done
By David J. Loftus on December 6, 2001
Format: Hardcover
Jenkins, a history professor and Member of Parliament himself as well as the author of an acclaimed bio of Gladstone, presents a fine biography of Britain's greatest 20th century figure.
His own experiences uniquely qualify him to describe Churchill's political fortunes and maneuverings, although the American reader may find the Teens and Twenties either slow going or not sufficiently illuminating of Britain's odd political system, wherein politicians regularly shopped around for a district to represent, even after being defeated in another.
This is a fairly traditional public and political bio, not a psychoanalysis (not to imply that Churchill HAD much of a personal life to expose), and moves along at a surprisingly good clip despite its 900-plus pages.
Jenkins fully reminds us that Churchill basically earned his living as a writer -- the contracts, writing schedules, and royalties are carefully recorded -- though politics was his avocation.
The author writes cleanly and engagingly, though he seems inordinately fond of unnecessarily unusual words like "psephological" and "rumbustious." On the other hand, his wit is dry and regularly in evidence.
The U.S. hardcover edition by Farrar, Straus & Giroux is clean until about the halfway point, whereupon one begins to encounter "Feburary" (436), "replies hardly every being allowed" (553) "shore up the the" (706), "dimayed" (721), "The opposition could chose when to relax" (837-8), and similar infelicities.
All in all, Jenkins seems to strike a nice balance between a healthy respect for his subject and a clear eye for Churchill's weaknesses, changes of direction, and occasional seizures of dishonesty.
Well illustrated with more than 90 b&w photos.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn excellent biography by a magnificent writer.
By Edward Alexander Gerster VINE VOICE on November 14, 2001
Format: Hardcover
Every decade or so a new biography emerges on Winston Churchill, usually not of quality, or containing new substance. I am a big fan of William Manchester's multivolume 'Last Lion' study, and was happily surprised to find new and interesting content presented here in a very readable manner. Roy Jenkins has incorporated some revisionist views, and wonderful prose in what may be the most accessible single volume biography of Britain's most often quoted politician. It is a magnificent piece of work and is highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsInformative!

Easy to read, very informative. Not entirely without bias, but also seems mired in fact.

Published 25 days ago by C. Silvey
4.0 out of 5 starsChurchill - A Political Biography

This book was a massive undertaking, and is very well written. I found it extremely interesting and recommend it. However, as a biography it has some shortcomings. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Matthew H. Dick
5.0 out of 5 starsBetter Late Than Never

I read this book when it came out in 2001 and upon going back to it recently for further research on Churchill, I wanted to, 14 years after reading the book, just to say what an... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Paul
4.0 out of 5 starsWhat I found touching was how a great man meets the humbling...

Although I found the text a bit plodding at times, I felt compelled to read the entire book, because Churchill was such a commanding figure of the 20th Century. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Martin Chinn
5.0 out of 5 starsVery english.

Outstanding

Published 11 months ago by Thomas Schanke Eikum
4.0 out of 5 starsPolitical biography only

There is much to like about Jenkins' biography of Churchill. The author was a significant politician in his own right and his knowledge of the parliamentary system provides the... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Stephen Hughes
5.0 out of 5 starsfull of deep insights on the character of the greatest leader of the...

long and detailed, full of deep insights on the character of the greatest leader of the 20th century

Published 13 months ago by Fer
5.0 out of 5 starsBRILLIANT AND OUTSTANDING

BRILLIANT AND OUTSTANDING...!!! Having read dozens of Churchill¨s novels and biographies; I trully beleive that Jenkings Biography is perhaps one of the best and most reliable... Read more

Published 14 months ago by salustio
4.0 out of 5 starsNames and titles are a bit tedious, but Jenkins is well qualified to...

Must concur with general reputation as "best one volume" biography of Churchill. Names and titles are a bit tedious, but Jenkins is well qualified to comment on entire... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Jon Bond
5.0 out of 5 starsChurchill: In all his glory and his mediocrity.

It is easy to see why Winston’s daughter Mary regarded Roy Jenkins’ Churchill as the best single volume biography available of her father. Read more

Published 14 months ago by Laurence R. Bachmann

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