Too much of a secular hagiography (though, in some ways, it is more of a kind of history of the times of Churchill than a straightforward biography) and too little critique of imperialism for what I expected in a contemporary book with a title like it has, "Churchill...
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Too much of a secular hagiography (though, in some ways, it is more of a kind of history of the times of Churchill than a straightforward biography) and too little critique of imperialism for what I expected in a contemporary book with a title like it has, "Churchill and Empire: A Portrait of an Imperialist". It is, actually, a kind of apology for Churchill as an imperialist more than anything else, though however fervid James may be as an imperialist himself, he seems to have to tone it down for a modern reader, and for the most part resorts to the kind of racism and paternalistic perspective that makes one read a bit between the lines to understand. Good review of history in a way, and a bit of a different read for me as it takes a British imperialist perspective rather than an American perspective, but I chose this over other biographies in the hope it would actually deal with empire and imperialism in a more mature and critical manner. Instead,it was a preservation of a perspective that is best left upon the dust bin of history
Too much of a secular hagiography (though, in some ways, it is more of a kind of history of the times of Churchill than a straightforward biography) and too little critique of imperialism for what I expected in a contemporary book with a title like it has, "Churchill and Empire: A Portrait of an Imperialist". It is, actually, a kind of apology for Churchill as an imperialist more than anything else, though however fervid James may be as an imperialist himself, he seems to have to tone it down for a modern reader, and for the most part resorts to the kind of racism and paternalistic perspective that makes one read a bit between the lines to understand. Good review of history in a way, and a bit of a different read for me as it takes a British imperialist perspective rather than an American perspective, but I chose this over other biographies in the hope it would actually deal with empire and imperialism in a more mature and critical manner. Instead,it was a preservation of a perspective that is best left upon the dust bin of history
