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Martin Gilbert

Churchill: A Life Kindle Edition

by Martin Gilbert (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Written by master historian and authorized Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert, this masterful single-volume work weaves together the detailed research from the author’s eight-volume biography of the elder statesman, and features new information unavailable at the time of the original work’s publication. Spanning Churchill’s youth, education and early military career, his journalistic work, and the arc of his political leadership, Churchill: A Life details the great man’s indelible contribution to Britain’s foreign policy and internal social reform.

Offering eyewitness accounts and interviews with Churchill’s contemporaries, including friends, family members, and career adversaries, this book provides a revealing picture of the personal life, character, ambitions, and drives of one of the world’s most influential and remarkable leaders.

About the Author

Sir Martin Gilbert is a leading British historian and the author of more than eighty books. Specializing in 20th century history, he is also the official biographer of Winston Churchill and has written a best-selling eight-volume biography of the war leader’s life.

Born in London in 1936, Martin Gilbert was evacuated to Canada with his family at the beginning of World War II as part of the British government’s efforts to protect children from the brutal bombings of the Luftwaffe. He was made a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1962. He is the author of several definitive historical works examining the Holocaust, the First and Second World Wars, and the history of the 20th century.

In 1990, Gilbert was designated a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and was awarded a Knighthood in 1995. Oxford University awarded him a Doctorate in 1999. Today, he is a sought-after speaker on Churchill, Jewish history, and the history of the 20th century, and he travels frequently to lecture at colleges, universities, and organizations around the world.

Print length

1088 pages
Language

English
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Publication date

June 5, 2014
File size

19710 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It is impossible to understand the Second World War without understanding Winston Churchill, the bold British Prime Minister who showed himself to be one of the greatest statesmen any nation has ever known. This lengthy biography is a single-volume abridgment of a massive, eight-volume work that took a quarter-century to write. It covers Churchill's entire life, highlighting not only his exploits during the Second World War, but also his early belief in technology and how it would revolutionize warfare in the 20th century. Churchill learned how to fly a plane before the First World War, and was also involved in the development of both the tank and anti-aircraft defense. But he truly showed his unmatched mettle during his country's darkest moments: "His finest hour was the leadership of Britain when it was most isolated, most threatened, and most weak; when his own courage, determination, and belief in democracy became at one with the nation," writes Gilbert. There are several wonderful books available on Churchill, but this is probably the best place to start. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

One of Britain's most distinguished historians, Martin Gilbert was knighted in 1995. A fellow of Merton College, Oxford, he is also the official biographer of Winston Churchill. Among his books are The Holocaust, The Second World War, Churchill: A Life, Auschwitz and the Allies, The First World War, and Never Again.

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Back Cover

Martin Gilbert's highly-acclaimed "Churchill: A Life is a story of adventure. It follows Winston Churchill from his earliest days to his moments of triumph. Here, the drama and excitement of his story are ever-present, as are his tremendous qualities in peace and war, not least as an orator and as a man of vision. Gilbert gives us a vivid portrait, using Churchill's most personal letters and the recollections of his contemporaries, both friends and enemies, to go behind the scenes of some of the stormiest and most fascinating political events of our time, dominated by two world wars and culminating in the era of the Iron Curtain. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

“Mr. Gilbert's job was to bring alive before his readers a man of extraordinary genius and scarcely less extraordinary destiny. He has done so triumphantly.” ―Hugh Brogan, The New York Times Book Review

“A richly textured and deeply moving portrait of greatness.” ―The Los Angeles Times

“By far the most lucid, comprehensive, and authoritative account of Churchill that has been offered in a single volume. It furnishes a crown to Gilbert's already prodigious labors.” ―Philip Ziegler, The Telegraph (London)

“It would seem impossible to distill the eight volumes of Churchill's authorized biography into a single volume, even one of a thousand pages. But that is what Martin Gilbert has done, and the result does not seem pinched at all. It is of course a grand story.” ―The Washington Post Book World

“The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written . . . essential diplomatic history and enlightening personal history.” ―Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Inside Flap

Martin Gilbert's highly-acclaimed Churchill: A Life is a story of adventure. It follows Winston Churchill from his earliest days to his moments of triumph. Here, the drama and excitement of his story are ever-present, as are his tremendous qualities in peace and war, not least as an orator and as a man of vision. Gilbert gives us a vivid portrait, using Churchill's most personal letters and the recollections of his contemporaries, both friends and enemies, to go behind the scenes of some of the stormiest and most fascinating political events of our time, dominated by two world wars and culminating in the era of the Iron Curtain. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Following up his eight-volume official biography of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), Gilbert offers this 1000-page summary that is basically a distillation of all he has written about his subject up to now. Related in strict chronological fashion, it is a full and rounded examination of Churchill's life, both in its personal and political aspects. Gilbert lays particular stress on the extraordinary vitality and boldness that characterized Churchill's overlapping careers as soldier, journalist, parliamentarian, cabinet minister (he held eight cabinet posts before his appointment as prime minister in 1940), statesman and historian. Gilbert describes the painful decade of Churchill's political exile (1929-1939) and shows how it strengthened him and prepared him for his role in the "hour of supreme crisis" as Britain's wartime leader. A lucid, comprehensive and authoritative life of the man considered by many to have been the outstanding public figure of the 20th century. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00KTFW64O
Publisher ‏ : ‎ RosettaBooks (June 5, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 5, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 19710 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 1088 pages

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Martin Gilbert

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Learn more about Sir Martin at www.martingilbert.com

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Sir Martin Gilbert CBE is the official biographer of Winston Churchill and a leading historian on the Twentieth Century, who, in his 88 books has shown there is such a thing as "true history".

Apart from the seven Churchill Biographies, accompanied by seventeen Churchill documents, a lifetimes work; his other major works includes Churchill a Life,The First World War, The Second World War,The Holocaust,Israel A History, History of the Twentieth Century and his nine pioneering atlases which harness cartography to history.

Born in London in 1936 to Jewish parents, Peter and Miriam Gilbert whose own parents came as refugees from Czarist Russia, he was sent with his parents to Cornwall in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. In the spring of 1940, Martin was evacuated with thousands of children to safety in Canada and returned from Toronto after four years in 1944 as a seven year old boy with his parents and baby sister. They were later evacuated, to Wales, where they were when the war ended. He attended Highgate School for ten years from 1945 to 1955.From 1955 to 1957, Martin did his National Service and in 1957, received a Demyship to Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1960 with first-class honours in modern history.

Two years were spent as a Research Scholar at St Antony's College, Oxford where Gilbert was approached by Randolph Churchill to assist his work on a biography of his father, Sir Winston Churchill. That same year, 1962, Gilbert was made a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and he spent the next few years combining his own research projects in Oxford with being part of Randolph's research team in Suffolk, working on the first two volumes of the Churchill biography. When Randolph died in 1968, Gilbert was commissioned to take over the task, completing the remaining six main volumes of the biography.

In 1995, he was awarded a Knighthood "for services to British history and international relations and in 1999 Merton, Oxford, awarded Sir Martin Gilbert a DLitt, " for the totality of his published work."

Researching and exploring, lecturing and teaching, Sir Martin had many travels to major cities throughout the United States and Canada. His travels through Europe included lectures in Lisbon, Cracow, Skopje, Kaunas, Prague, Geneva, and Paris, among others. In each place he visited old friends, made new ones, and was constantly making notes of personal experiences or eye-witness accounts he could weave into his books.

"I returned from New York to Liverpool by ship in April 1944. Since then, having been a mini-part of history, I have never stopped travelling in search of history."

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

822 global ratings

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3 star		6%
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Anthony(Tony) Riggio

I did not know the heft and size of this book but I love history and biographies of great people who have positively ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 23, 2014

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September 22, 2014

A review of the book “Churchill: A Life” by Martin Gilbert by Anthony T. Riggio

I bought this book from Amazon in the Kindle format. I did not know the heft and size of this book but I love history and biographies of great people who have positively impacted on Man’s accomplishments.

Winston Churchill was a figure of immense importance to the history of the West. His life covered the most important time periods of the 19th and 20th century. He was born of privileged parents and his education was pretty much formulated for him by his Randolph who was a member of British parliament. His father was a sometimes irritant to the majority in parliament but was highly principled in his beliefs. Randolph sent Winston to Harrows school as opposed to Eaton, where the most privileged attended. There was a belief that he did not have the academic power, thus the lesser of the principle schools most influential people sent their boys.
As a consequence of this thinking, Winston’s father sent him to the military school, similar to West Point, rather than the classical school of choice, Oxford. Winston was an average student and had an aversion to exams thus his grades fluctuated from fair to good. You learn very quickly that he was a prodigious writer from his correspondences to friends and family, especially, his mother who he was devoted to even though the reality even though she was somewhat distant to him always travelling and never in attendance of his immediate needs. His father was also preoccupied by the demands of government.

During the Boer war, he was an officer and saw combat. His penchant for both innovation and independent thought was manifest during this period and would accent his career in politics and leadership. He began his writing career in earnest and commenced work on a biography of his father as well as a number of multi-volume works and auto biographies.

As his political career progressed he was not always full of successes; there were failure too from which he learned and developed in his statesmanship.

Churchill was a budding political force prior to the Great War (WWI) and his leadership in the Admiralty led to both successes and some perceived failures. Many of his decisions were hampered by Army, Navy and Parliamentary conflicting ideas.

He recognized the great evil Hitler posed as he was coming into power in Germany and tried to herald these thoughts to a Great Britain weary of war and desirous of peace. In some cases that desire was detrimental to later deficiencies when World War II commenced.
Throughout this period he developed a very close relationship with Franklin Delano Roosevelt before and after he became the Prime Minister of England. This association with the United States was the principle reason why England survived the early onslaught of the Germans during the 30’s and early 40’s. Churchill’s forward visions of the War and its aftermath were of great benefit to England and the free world allies. He saw the Soviet Union as the world next threat and provided statesman guidance to both FDR and Truman.

Wayne Gilbert’s biography is probably not the most voluminous work on Churchill, but excellent starting point to understand Winston Churchill. The world is also the beneficiary of his (Churchill’s) prodigious auto biography and multi volume works on both WWI and WWII. I thought Gilbert’s work was well written and gave the readers great insight into the history of Europe during these times. I believe “Churchill, A Life” by Martin gilbert is an excellent primer for future studies on Churchill.

I purchased this book on Kindle and was initially intimidated by the fact that my Kindle said, at the beginning of the book that there were 40 hours left until completion of the book. I checked the hard bound page count at 1047 pages. Certainly not light reading but I found the work both captivating and compelling and difficult to put down over the eight or nine days of reading.

Even though this book was originally published in 1991, my maturity level was not at that point until recent times. I gave this book five (5) stars and would highly recommend it to those who love history.

2 people found this helpful

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Still Looking

Wonderful Book, Extraordinary Condition

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 21, 2022

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The seller is Jack Mason of The Old Colonel’s Bookshelf in Michigan and the book came today packed with such care that I had to respond to the review with the same obvious devotion with which Mr. Mason devotes to his business. Wonderful!

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Hagiography - but good history

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2005

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Winston Churchill was born in 1874. He died in 1965. To look at this another way, he began his life at a time when most of the world lived more or less exactly as it had for the last 10,000 years. He died at a time when the internet was being built, satellites were being place in orbit, and nuclear weapons threatened world-wide devastation. This alone would make his biography an interesting read.

Winston Churchill was a man of letters. He wrote newspaper articles, books, letters, and gave speeches around the world based on his writings. This alone would make his biography an interesting read.

Winston Churchill was a man of action. He had served in three wars in three different theaters of action by the time he was thirty. Later, he became a Col in World War I. This alone would make his biography an interesting read.

Winston Churchill was a leader of the United Kingdom during two wars, World War II and the Korean War. He was the visionary who foresaw the weakness of the current United Nations (though he hoped for better), the development of NATO, the Cold War after the end of World War II, and the many of the features of the modern warfare such as airplanes, tanks, and modern amphibious warfare. This alone would make his biography an interesting read.

Together these facts mean that a biography of Winston Churchill is an essential read for anyone who wishes to understand the first half of the 21st century. Martin Gilbert is the official biographer of Winston Churchill and you won't read about sexual scandals, alcoholism, or hidden vices. While at times Martin Gilbert seems to be more like a proud parent or doting uncle then a critical historian, he does capture the significant facts of Churchill's life. Indeed, there are many tidbits of Churchill's life that I was unaware of. While there were times when he was out of the cabinet, he never really was out of power - he continued to serve in Parliament until his health failed. He switched parties not once but twice. He was far more liberal then most of the conservatives (U S conservatives, not U K) who quote him probably imagine. He served only a few months in World War I as an infantryman, I was under the impression that he had served far longer.

There are other reviewers who mention that they were inspired by Churchill's success despite his poor academic performance as a young man. To be completely honest, while his determination and energy meant that he became extremely successful; his lineage got his foot in the door and kept him in the door until he became a great writer.

In short, this book provides excellent insight into some of the most important events of the early 20th Century. It should be required reading for all students of World War II.

7 people found this helpful

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ArlaJean Wickes

Churchill a Life

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 29, 2022

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I was really impressed my his biography. I learned a lot about Churchill more than what history in general has portrayed. He was a great humanitarian as well as an excellent example of a political figure.

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Top reviews from other countries

David Stone-Haigh

Disappointed: This is not a signed 1st edition, as seen in the sale photographs.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 12, 2021

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I was expecting a 1991 1st edition signed, with a Harrods book department wrap sleeve and in 'good' condition (as described). I received a 1992, 2nd edition book with no Harrods warp, or indeed a signature by the author (as in the images/photos). I got a rather tatty book with plenty of wear from use and age, with damage to the outer sleeve and age spotting all along the end papers. Not bad, being so old and 2nd hand and only costing a fiver. BUT, it's not what I thought I was getting and the photos are very misleading. Proceed with caution. Three stars for the price alone.

Frank

Long, hagiographic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 4, 2019

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This is an abridgement of Gilbert's (and initially, R. Churchill's) biography of Winston C., but still comes in at a considerable 1000+ pages. Gilbert's narrative drive is just powerful enough to follow the arc of Churchill's life. As someone who is, however, a little more critical of Churchill's record as a politician and legislator, I missed a more thorough discussion of his colonial policies during WW2, and a greater understanding of C.'s weakening powers after 1943. This is not a work of historical criticism, nor of deep psychological insight, but takes a view of C.'s accomplishments not unlike Churchill's own, namely that he was a man of great political talent and foresight, even though his appreciation of the changes in the empire or the social transformation of the British islands was at times sorely lacking. Still Gilbert is the last waystation before diving into the multi-volume bio or selections of original documents.

One person found this helpful

Afton Dallas

A comprehensive biography

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 30, 2018

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After seeing the new Churchill film, I wanted to read a decent chronological biography discussing Churchill’s personal and political life.

Read the first 50 pages and couldn’t put it down.
Great quality for a second hand book

Autolycus

An excellent book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 7, 2015

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Anything from the pen of Martin Gilbert is worth reading and "Churchill - A Life" is no exception. In the author's crisp style the reader is drawn into the truth that for many - including me was a dominating part of our lives. Churchill was the Second World War and a lot of thought about him stops there. From 1945 until the end of the book seemed to me to be more important and relevant that the period up to 1945. An excellent book.

kcg

What a man.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 19, 2020

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Fascinating account of a true leader of men and a wonderful man. Thank goodness he was Prime Minister.