Books

"This volume is part of a series aimed, as the publishers assure us, at 'young adults.' At the same time it is intended as a 'reference guide.' After spending some time with the book I have trouble in seeing the value that young adults will gain from it. The book is primarily set out in alphabetic, encyclopedic format, with entries presented two columns to a page, along with an index and a bibliography. The result is a curiously unbalanced mixture."

John Strange Spencer-Churchill (1880-1947) is revealed as a real unsung hero of the family. A better student and more financially stable than his mother or brother, his career as a stockbroker and the family “brains” often staved off financial disaster.

Kluger and Evans offer happy little book with nice essays, but for an understanding of the Atlantic Charter we must look elsewhere.

In a highly technical but well written naval documentary, Buckey reaffirms the long established conclusions of Arthur Marder.

The Connoisseur’s Guide dates to a nostalgic time when Churchill was almost universally admired and his books sought by avid collectors.

Tucker-Jones offers a balanced study of Churchill as war strategist from his years as a Victorian subaltern to the cataclysm of 1940-45.

Ronald trawls the sources: Churchill “would blow up the American Embassy and say it was the Germans,” wrote Kennedy. But... “maybe I do him an injustice.”

Sarah: A bittersweet life. Determined to tell us everything, Brooke overloads an interesting narrative with excessive minutiae.

A mine for research, but also readable in its own right, “Shadows of Victory” takes us from triumph to tragedy at the end of World War II.

Reguer shows how Churchill created modern Iraq, Jordan and Palestine after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War.

Moving letters from Mary to her adored father form an immensely evocative image of wartime Britain and an important contribution to history.

Wheatcroft on WSC: Never in the field of Churchill revisionism have so many punches been thrown in so many pages, with so few hitting home.