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Summary: Great News For Manchester Fans! Third Book to be Completed!!
Review: The long awaited third book in a trilogy about the stupendous life of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill by renowned historian William Manchester is to be completed at last! Finally, millions of devout fans will be able to buy the book, set for publication in 2007.
Before he died, Manchester chose a long- time friend, admirer, and writer to finish the task.
Paul Reid, a former feature writer at a Florida newspaper has been a life long history- lover and admirerer of both Manchester and Churchill.
Interested in Mr. Reid, I read some of his articles. They are amazing. Evocotive of Mr. Manchester's style in the way they flow easily along, the articles are a great read, no matter the subject.
I am excited to hear that the book is coming out in 2007, and will note the date on my calendar.
IT'S COMING AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Summary: Volume 2 of the life of Winston Spencer Churchill
Review: "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 . . .
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Summary: You too can stick to your guns.
Review: "Never, never, never, never give up." is a famous Churchill quote. A few times I had to tell myself that while reading this book. Volume I in this two volume series reads at a blistering pace but then it covers decades instead of a few years. This book reads much slower, and could problably convey as much with a strong editing job, but never giving up was worth it. If you're a Churchill-o-file then this is a must read. If you've ever swam against the tide, as Churchill often did---swimming against the tide of public opinion and the pronunciations of ostrich-like politicos (thus the subtitle "Alone")---then you can appreciate the man's resoluteness. Mr. Manchester's research is in-depth and enlightening. Churchill is an endearing and admirable figure, warts and all.
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Summary: A Real Beauty- The Best Churchill Volume I've Read
Review: Anything and everything with Mr Manchester's name on it is superior. But this 2nd WSC volume may surpass all his other work . He shows in fine detail how this eccentric,brilliant,pushy,bulldog of a man manipilated,charmed and bullied his way,and what a rough time he had in convincing the smug British establishment in the mid 30's of the dangers brewing in Germany.At the time WSC was "out in the cold".It's an old story,but the sheer drive of Mr. Churchill, and the ostrich-like ability of his compatriots to look the other way,here amounts to a fresh,mesmorizing account. WSC's days in exile are described in minute detail, even his habit of walking around Chartwell in his birthday suit,and the reaction of his female secretary.All the players are here,and Mr Manchester's method in exploring motives and personalities will keep the pages turning...I suggest giving the TV a rest for a couple of weeks to make an effort to read this.It may be more interesting now with the parallels in the post 9/11 world.
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Summary: Give the Man a Cigar
Review: Manchester begins the book by describing what life for Winston Churchill was like in the 1930s. He goes into detail about Churchill's home Chartwell and the expenses Winston had to meet to live his lifestyle. Winston earned the necessary money writing histories and newspaper columns. His writing gave him not only an income, but a voice about the coming Nazi aggression that most of England was blind to. We've seen promising political careers derailed due to self-indulgence and Churchill's career seemed just that in the 1930s. He was a young member of the cabinet in World War I, but after a principled cabinet resignation in the early 30s, he became an outsider in his own party. This didn't stop Churchill from antagonizing everyone who wouldn't listen to him. Eventually, his rise to Prime Minister in 1940 was one of history's biggest I told you sos. But it wasn't his ability as War Prime Minister that made Churchill great, according to Manchester, but his ability to see early Nazi aggression and danger when the whole world slept. Whether you agree or disagree, Manchester has created a wonderful detailed comprehensive biography of the time period. Manchester's easy way with words, apt scholarship and detailed descriptions really bring the time period to life...
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Summary: The sad part is that Manchester never finished
Review: this series. Ending Churchill's bio at 1940 is like eating a great apetizer and getting called away before you can enjoy the main course. Still, he brings to light the great truth of Churchill's phenomenal, stout-hearted genius. He was truly a man for his time, the man of the century, who assembled his team and studied his role for years before anyone but he understood it would be required. Any discussion of the word "vision" that leaves out Churchill in the thirties is struly neglectful -- he saw the future, and his necessary role in it, better than any historical figure I know about. Manchester is such a modern and engaging writer, his ability to contextualize the man and his mileu is indispensible. We get to know the women who cultured and nurtured that lightning brain, the men who tried to debase his ideas because they led to course of action they were afraid of. This is the story of a lonely struggle to make the truth known, and to lead men, against the tide of opinion, to its inevitable consequense. It is one thing to bring about a change in ideas -- yet another to get people to act in ways that every bone in their bodies screams out against. Manchester elucidates the story with great attention to factual detail, and still makes the story compelling. Bravo!
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Summary: A triumph of writing
Review: This, the second (and apparently final) volume of William Manchester's projected biographical trilogy of Sir Winston Churchill, is a triumph of writing style. It will be read for centuries to come, like Boswell's life of Samuel Johnson, as an example of what the English language can be at its best. A biographer of Churchill faces a terrific challenge. He or she has to be able to write, if not as well, at least almost as well as Churchill himself. After a lifetime of journalism and historical writing, Manchester was able to finish this book, the dramatic story of how Churchill came together with the nation that had rejected him. Together, these two forces, Churchill and the British nation - and Manchester correctly personalizes them both, sees them both as equal characters in a dramatic story - forged a partnership to fight Hitler and save the world from disaster. It would probably be a lot easier for all of us if we all knew what it is like to have courage. I am writing this review at a time when we Americans, and the people of the world, are being called upon to have quite a lot of it. Apparently, the universe is built in such a way that we human beings must try to be courageous whether we want to be so or not. The true reason of history, and of historical books like this one, is to hold a mirror up to courage and the other human virtues, to show us what these virtues are like so that we must follow them if we are able to do so. Like Thucydides said, happiness comes from being free, and freedom comes from being courageous. It is too bad that this is where Manchester's great biography of Churchill must end, but he has brought the story to its climax. The work of people like Manchester is an inspiration to other writers, and perhaps some other historian will appear some day to finish the work begun and broken off here.
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Summary: A triumph of writing
Review: This, the second (and apparently final) volume of William Manchester's projected biographical trilogy of Sir Winston Churchill, is a triumph of writing style. It will be read for centuries to come, like Boswell's life of Samuel Johnson, as an example of what the English language can be at its best. A biographer of Churchill faces a terrific challenge. He or she has to be able to write, if not as well, at least almost as well as Churchill himself. After a lifetime of journalism and historical writing, Manchester was able to finish this book, the dramatic story of how Churchill came together with the nation that had rejected him. Together, these two forces, Churchill and the British nation - and Manchester correctly personalizes them both, sees them both as equal characters in a dramatic story - forged a partnership to fight Hitler and save the world from disaster. It would probably be a lot easier for all of us if we all knew what it is like to have courage. I am writing this review at a time when we Americans, and the people of the world, are being called upon to have quite a lot of it. Apparently, the universe is built in such a way that we human beings must try to be courageous whether we want to be so or not. The true reason of history, and of historical books like this one, is to hold a mirror up to courage and the other human virtues, to show us what these virtues are like so that we must follow them if we are able to do so. Like Thucydides said, happiness comes from being free, and freedom comes from being courageous. It is too bad that this is where Manchester's great biography of Churchill must end, but he has brought the story to its climax. The work of people like Manchester is an inspiration to other writers, and perhaps some other historian will appear some day to finish the work begun and broken off here.
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Summary: A look at one of history's most courageous figures
Review: Though I have not read the first of this series, I plan on doing so immediately upon finishing Volume 2. Manchester is a terrific writer, a portrayer of history as a kind of tragic story and not a conglomeration of facts and figures. Churchill's resoluteness in the face of English apathy in the 1930's is well-demonstrated, but this is no fluff piece; WSC is shown as a real man who had very real faults, and seeing these in relation to his accomplishments keeps him human in our minds. In addition to the tremendous story, it's first-rate literature. For those interested in the war period and the relations between Churchill and other allied leaders, may I suggest "No Ordinary Time" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which details further the wartime relationship between FDR and WSC.
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Summary: 4-14-01 CSPAN BOOKNOTES
Review: Today [4-14-01] Lady Mary Soames [nee Mary Churchill] stated on CSPAN Booknotes that William Manchester is ill and will not complete the third book on Sir Winston Churchill. Godspeed William Manchester, and thank you for everything.......
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