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Title: The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 by William Manchester ISBN: 0-316-54503-1 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 30 May, 1983 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.96 (73 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Volume 2 of the life of Winston Spencer Churchill
Comment: "The Last Lion: Alone, 1932-1940," the second of William Manchester's projected three-volume biography of Winston Spencer Churchill, continues telling the story of the life of the 20th century's greatest statesman. This volume covers the eight-year period from the beginning of Churchill's longest period in the political "wilderness," to his rise to power as Prime Minister of Great Britain at the beginning of World War II. I think this book is even better than the first volume, "The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932." Manchester contends that the inter-war years, and not his years as Prime Minister, were Churchill's personal "finest hour." Politically ostracized by two successive Prime Ministers - Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain, the main architects of Britain's policy of appeasing Nazi Germany - Churchill was one of only a handful of men in Britain to speak out in favor of increased military preparedness as a means of countering the growing Nazi threat in Europe. Only when it became obvious in the late 1930s that the appeasement of Hitler had failed, did the British nation turn to the one man who had consistently advocated standing up to the Nazi dictator: Winston Spencer Churchill
As he did in the first volume of Churchill's life, Manchester provides an insightful historical overview of the times in which Churchill lived. Especially fascinating to me was the account of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's 1938 trip to Munich, where the most infamous act of appeasing Hitler - the sellout of Czechoslovakia - took place, and where Chamberlain believed he had achieved "peace in our times."
"The Last Lion: Alone, 1932-1940" once again clearly demonstrates why William Manchester is one of the pre-eminent biographers at work today. The book is written with obviously meticulous scholarship, insightful analysis, and crisp, sparkling prose; I have yet to find a better account of Churchill's life. Now, if only Mr. Manchester would give us that third volume . . .
Rating: 4
Summary: Understand the most Remarkable Man of the 20th Century
Comment: This is an excellent book on the first half of the life of a truly exceptional man. Mr Manchester's book deals with Winston's early life and his rise to power and fame. I particularly liked the vignettes about life at the turn of the century; the social situation, the class struggle, the morals of the upper and the working classes.
Just reading it makes you feel somehow inadequate against the intellectual brilliance, courage and sheer energy of the subject.
It would have merited a full five star rating but for two faults. It should have been shorter. It as if every single little titbit of information had to be written out in full, rather than filtered through the critical intellect that Mr Manchester undoubtedly possesses. Instead, he quotes too many letters, reports and speeches in full when his job as a biographer was to summarise them.
The second fault was Mr Manchester's tendency to lionise his subject. Brilliant he may have been, but a bit more acknowledgement of Winston's faults would have made him more human and reachable.
But this is nitpicking. Overall the book is a good read on a subject well worth reading about.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Man of the Century
Comment: Manchester's work is extraordinary and a journey into the making of a great leader of the world that was the 20th century.
Churchill was a man of vision and he was molded in his early years. Manchester makes a case for his growth coming in the Boar War period.
There is a beginning of greatness. Manchester introduces us to the world that formed this great man.
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Title: The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone 1932-1940 by William Manchester ISBN: 0316545120 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: 28 October, 1988 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 by William Manchester ISBN: 0440304245 Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1983 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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Title: My Early Life: 1874-1904 by Winston Churchill, William Manchester ISBN: 0684823454 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 06 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Wit & Wisdom of Winston Churchill by James C. Humes, Richard M. Nixon ISBN: 0060925779 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 25 January, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Second World War, Volume 1: The Gathering Storm by Winston S. Churchill ISBN: 039541055X Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 09 May, 1986 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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