Book description
Pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill
as he has never been seen before.
Winston Churchill was the greatest war leader Britain ever had. In
1940, the nation rallied behind him in an extraordinary fashion. But
thereafter, argues Max Hastings, there was a deep divide between what
Churchill wanted from the British people and their army, and what they
were capable of delivering. Himself a hero, he expected others to show
themselves heroes also, and was often disappointed. It is little
understood how low his popularity fell in 1942, amid an unbroken
succession of battlefield defeats. Some of his closest colleagues joined
a clamour for him to abandon his role directing the war machine.
Hastings paints a wonderfully vivid image of the Prime Minister in
triumph and tragedy. He describes the 'second Dunkirk' in 1940, when
Churchill's impulsiveness threatened to lose Britain almost as many
troops in north-west France as had been saved from the beaches; his
wooing of the Americans, and struggles with the Russians. British
wartime unity was increasingly tarnished by workers' unrest, with many
strikes in mines and key industries.
By looking at Churchill from the outside in, through the eyes of
British soldiers, civilians and newspapers, and also those of Russians
and Americans, Hastings provides new perspectives on the greatest
Englishman. He condemns as folly Churchill's attempt to promote mass
uprisings in occupied Europe, and details 'Unthinkable', his amazing
1945 plan for an Allied offensive against the Russians to liberate
Poland. Here is an intimate and affectionate portrait of Churchill as
Britain's saviour, but also an unsparing examination of the wartime
nation which he led and the performance of its armed forces. 'The
book's portrait of Churchill is scrupulously fair and often deeply
moving…In fact Hastings excels with all his character portraits,
especially with Roosevelt and Stalin. Hastings is truly a master of
strategy and high command' Antony Beevor, author of the forthcoming 'The
Second World War', Mail on Sunday
'I would choose this account over and above the rest. It is a fabulous
book: full of perceptive insight that conveys all the tragedy, triumph,
humour and intense drama of Churchill's time as wartime leader; and it
is incredibly moving as a result' James Holland, Literary Review
'One of the best books ever written about Churchill…Hastings's
efficient, soldierly prose marches along at a brisk pace and carries the
reader with it. He has drawn on copious original sources and consulted
experts familiar with them, enabling him to cast fresh light on familiar
episodes….a magnificent performance' Piers Brendon, Sunday Times
'At a time when our politicians are mismanaging a foreign war, it has
many invaluable lessons…A timely as well as a judicious and important
book' Michael Burliegh, Sunday Telegraph
'Brilliantly executed…This is a superb book, majestic in scope and
depth, studded with insights and judgments that brilliantly illuminate
great and terrible events' Evening Standard Max Hastings studied at
Charterhouse and Oxford and became a foreign correspondent, reporting
from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London
Evening Standard. He has won many awards for his journalism. Among his
bestselling books 'Bomber Command' won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and
both 'Overlord' and 'Battle for the Falklands' won the Yorkshire Post
Book of the Year Prize. After ten years as editor and then
editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening
Standard in 1996. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was
knighted in 2002. He now lives in Berkshire.
