Churchill's shadow The life and afterlife of Winston Churchill

Review by Choice Review

Wheatcroft, a journalist and the author of many works on 20th-century history, has written an account of Churchill covering his political life and the "Churchill myth," which still resonates today. Despite Churchill's leadership in rallying the British against Nazi Germany during the bombing of England in 1940--41, Wheatcroft reveals that for much of his political life Churchill was a bitterly controversial figure, intensely disliked and distrusted. Yet because of his ability to rouse the British people during wartime, he was transformed into "a superhuman figure" who gradually acquired an almost a mythical status that, as Wheatcroft writes, made distinguishing fact from fiction difficult. The first 40 years of Churchill's political career were erratic, and his judgment as a wartime strategist was woeful. Wheatcroft concludes that few great men have been wrong so often and made so many mistakes or "held so many opinions and prejudices which were repugnant even at the time." Still, Churchill continues to be recognized as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, revered for his memorable speeches and for successfully leading his country during a perilous period in British history. For a different perspective of Churchill's life, readers should consult Andrew Roberts's Churchill: Walking with Destiny (CH, May'19, 56-3738). Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals. --Jack Robert Fischel, emeritus, Millersville University

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Booklist Review

In the way both Tony Blair and George Bush invoked him to justify their 2003 invasion of Iraq, Wheatcroft discerns evidence of the enduring influence of Winston Churchill. But in the views of Britons and Americans who regard that influence as entirely beneficial, Wheatcroft discerns dangerous political blindness. Challenging the widespread adulation of Churchill as a figure destined for greatness, Wheatcroft chronicles the blunders (Gallipoli, 1915; Ireland, 1920) that relegated the British Bulldog to irrelevance--until his stunning emergence in 1940 as Britain's savior. Wheatcroft admires Churchill for his courage and strength of will in facing down Hitler, but honest analysis does not convert those virtues into excuses for the brutal callousness Churchill manifested during the war in the Dresden firebombing and the Bengal Famine. Nor can a candid assessment leave unexamined the dark realities hidden behind the masterful rhetoric Churchill deployed to resurrect his reputation after his repudiation at the polls in 1945--realities such as Churchill's abandonment of Eastern Europeans exposed to Stalin's tyranny or his racist denigration of the nonwhite peoples populating the British Empire. Those who refuse to acknowledge Churchill's real defects, Wheatcroft warns, will draw from him perilously misleading lessons for shaping the twenty-first century. A provocative reevaluation of an iconic figure.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Wheatcroft (The Strange Death of Tory England) delivers a fresh take on Winston Churchill's life and legacy in this invigorating biography. Claiming that Churchill was both "the saviour of his country" and "far too often in the wrong," Wheatcroft succeeds in separating the myth (much of it created by Churchill himself in his histories and memoirs of WWII) from the reality. The most damaging and durable myths, according to Wheatcroft, include a misreading of prime minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement with Nazi Germany that has been used to justify disastrous wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, and a misleading British national pride that "sustain the country with beguiling illusions of greatness, of standing unique and alone, while preventing the British from coming to terms with their true place in the world." Wheatcroft doesn't shy away from Churchill's racism and imperialism, which "were already retrograde by the standards of his age," or his support for the merciless bombing offensive against German cities and civilians that culminated in the destruction of Dresden, while expressing sincere admiration for his eloquence and ability to inspire strength and action. The result is an exhilarating reassessment that will appeal to Churchill buffs and newcomers alike. (Oct.)

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

An authoritative examination of how Winston Churchill's ongoing geopolitical impact refracts and supersedes his actual biography. Former Spectator literary editor Wheatcroft brings superior scholarship, controlled, intermittently witty prose, and warts-and-all admiration to the acknowledged surfeit of writing about Churchill. With an evenhanded perspective, he explores how textuality and reputation simultaneously distort and amplify Churchill's impact. "I've tried to write as what Keynes called 'the historian of Opinion', seeing Churchill through the eyes of his contemporaries," he writes, providing a sinewy account of Churchill's strange, singular life, with its political fluctuations, admirable and shameful qualities, and repeated seasons of rise and fall. "Churchill's life until the age of sixty-five," the author writes about his "apotheosis" in 1940, "had certainly been a dramatic roller-coaster ride of highs and lows…until that ultimate and complete triumph." Wheatcroft adds materially to this well-known narrative by exploring "the darker side of his character and career, too often brushed over, and the long shadow which he has cast since his death." The author vividly depicts every dramatic stage of Churchill's experience, from a privileged upbringing propelling him from colonial adventurism to journalism and politics, through the disaster of Gallipoli during World War I, to his "wilderness years" of lucrative book deals and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, to his "walking with destiny" as Britain's savior against Hitler. The author achieves a strong balance between crisp, dramatic historical storytelling and the words and views of both Churchill's many contemporaries--not least the scoundrels comprising his inner circle--and the scholars and writers who have addressed his enigma ever since. His posthumous legend became ever more diffuse--e.g., after 9/11, when George W. Bush and Tony Blair adopted the Churchillian mantle in inaccurate and grotesque ways: "the Iraq War had gone horribly, and predictably, wrong but Blair was impenitent." A lively and rigorous deep dive into the ambiguous, still-relevant geopolitical odyssey that Churchill represents. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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