Books

Ironically, if not iconically, both were struck down in the midst of triumph: Churchill by the electors, Lincoln by a bullet. “In war you can only be killed once,” Churchill said, “but in politics many times.”

The premise advanced by Felix Klos is all wrong. Winston Churchill wanted Britain to be “with” Europe, but not a part “of” it.

David Owen with his government experience provides insight, though not enough of it, on War Cabinet machinations in the power struggle of May 1940.

Churchill on Fisher: “I am glad we were friends in the end.” Was his love for the admiral an error of judgment? Barry Gough has the answers.

The “book to go with the film” by Andrew McCarten falls short of the movie. It supposes Churchill was an ordinary man. In the movie, he is anything but.

In his review of "Churchill Warrior," Dr. Sterling touches on how Brian Lavery balances conciseness with a gripping narrative.

Michael McMenamin smartly praises Shakespeare's "Six Minutes In May" for its coherent, fascinating account of Churchill's rise to power in conjunction with Hitler's aggression in the West.

This eclectic photo documentary is hardly essential to the Churchill library, but may appeal through its unique visual presentation of fairly obscure subjects.

The book provides “a short, accessible and analytical introduction to key themes in Churchill’s life [that] reflect cutting edge scholarship.” But several books do that better [...]. This book does not offer much that is new, and lacks editorial unity. Some authors cover the same ground, variously agreeing or contending, with no cross-references or attempts to contrast their opinions.

Against the background of the retreat and escape of the British and French Armies, Korda poses the trial of strength between Halifax and Churchill. His not entirely novel thesis is that Churchill’s position of no truck with Hitler would have been untenable had the Dunkirk evacuation not been seen as a success in Britain. Like Churchill, Korda does not call it a success. But he offers Montgomery’s words to describe Britain’s mood. Escapees wore “a coloured embroidered patch on their sleeve with the title ‘Dunkirk.’ They thought they were heroes, and the civilian public thought so. It was not understood that the British Army had suffered a crushing defeat.”

Return with us now to the crucial period September 1943 to April 1944. The prior volume, One Continent Redeemed, saw Africa cleared of Axis forces. Here the scene shifts to the invasion of Italy and planning for the Normandy landings, while the United States slowly expands operations in the Far East and Pacific, and the “Big Three” meet for the first time at Teheran.

John Harte is preparing a five-volume series on Churchill’s life. He has already surpassed de Mendelssohn and Morgan with these two. Additional volumes will cover Churchill’s early years (to 1940) and his final two decades. A volume on British spy Sidney Reilly (dubbed, somewhat incongruously, Churchill’s Spy) will follow.