Rating: 
Summary: Understanding Churchill
Review: Gretchen Rubin has taken a huge amount of material and condensed it in a way that is both simple and sophisticated. She's turned one of the most imposing, mythic figures of the 20th Century into a man-- one whose flaws made him as interesting and dynamic as his virtues. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to get to know Winston Churchill.
Rating:
Summary: Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill
Review: Gretchen Rubin's "Forty Ways To Look At Winston Churchill" is a telegraphic wonder of the first order. For Winston lovers, her Chapter 39 is superb!
Rating: 
Summary: Intellectually clever, but an unsatisfying biography
Review: I don't have anything against attorneys as a group of people, but as I read this book, the phrase that kept returning to me was "clever lawyer's trick." Though Gretchen Rubin continually describes this as "a personal look" at "*my* Churchill," it seems as much a demonstration of the talented attorney's ability to passionately argue both sides of a question while never making more than an intellectual commitment to either. On the whole, this is a book that's as much about the author as it is the subject.Many of the reviews on this page describe this book as a good shorter biography of Churchill, but for people looking for a brief introductory volume, I would much sooner point them to one of the excellent short bios that came out in 2002, Lukacs' "Churchill: Visionary. Statesman. Historian." or Keegan's "Winston Churchill: A Penguin Life." Both of them are "conventional" narrative biographies, but each does a fine job laying out the motivations, facts, and consequences of Churchill's massive life. I think it's better to master the themes before exploring the variations, as Rubin does. And while not everyone wants to read thick tomes like Jenkins or Rose or Manchester (or still yet the official biography by Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert), I'm afraid anyone who relies on "Forty Ways..." as their sole source of information on, and interpretation of, the life of the Man of the (Twentieth) Century will be selling herself short. Where this book does shine is in its ability to summarize, highlight important trends and impressions, and compare-and-contrast conflicting interpretations of the man under the microscope. Her central point -- that biographers sift facts in order to prove the point they're trying to make -- is incontrovertible, if perhaps a bit broad-brush. Rubin's perspective, mentioned several times, as the first Churchill biographer (or one of them? I'm not sure) whose life did not overlap his is an interesting one, but perhaps less significant than she credits it to be. And I say that as someone who myself missed overlapping Churchill's life by some 30 months. On the whole, this is an interesting intellectual exercise, with some new insights and interpretations and a few noteworthy points. But I have to disagree with those who call it a wonderful biography. It's not -- at least, not in any conventional sense. But if you already have some familiarity with the building blocks Gretchen Rubin is rearranging, you may find it worthwhile to join in her experimentation yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Intellectually clever, but an unsatisfying biography
Review: I don't have anything against attorneys as a group of people, but as I read this book, the phrase that kept returning to me was "clever lawyer's trick." Though Gretchen Rubin continually describes this as "a personal look" at "*my* Churchill," it seems as much a demonstration of the talented attorney's ability to passionately argue both sides of a question while never making more than an intellectual commitment to either. On the whole, this is a book that's as much about the author as it is the subject. Many of the reviews on this page describe this book as a good shorter biography of Churchill, but for people looking for a brief introductory volume, I would much sooner point them to one of the excellent short bios that came out in 2002, Lukacs' "Churchill: Visionary. Statesman. Historian." or Keegan's "Winston Churchill: A Penguin Life." Both of them are "conventional" narrative biographies, but each does a fine job laying out the motivations, facts, and consequences of Churchill's massive life. I think it's better to master the themes before exploring the variations, as Rubin does. And while not everyone wants to read thick tomes like Jenkins or Rose or Manchester (or still yet the official biography by Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert), I'm afraid anyone who relies on "Forty Ways..." as their sole source of information on, and interpretation of, the life of the Man of the (Twentieth) Century will be selling herself short. Where this book does shine is in its ability to summarize, highlight important trends and impressions, and compare-and-contrast conflicting interpretations of the man under the microscope. Her central point -- that biographers sift facts in order to prove the point they're trying to make -- is incontrovertible, if perhaps a bit broad-brush. Rubin's perspective, mentioned several times, as the first Churchill biographer (or one of them? I'm not sure) whose life did not overlap his is an interesting one, but perhaps less significant than she credits it to be. And I say that as someone who myself missed overlapping Churchill's life by some 30 months. On the whole, this is an interesting intellectual exercise, with some new insights and interpretations and a few noteworthy points. But I have to disagree with those who call it a wonderful biography. It's not -- at least, not in any conventional sense. But if you already have some familiarity with the building blocks Gretchen Rubin is rearranging, you may find it worthwhile to join in her experimentation yourself.
Rating:
Summary: A loosely labeled historian
Review: I have read Meacham and Jenkins to get an understanding of what I understood to be a fascinating man. This book its so utterly different and completely better than the typical historic epic written by the typically historical historian, it will overwhelm with its approach. Highly, highly, highly recommended. You will keep it in your library for future enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Forty fresh perspectives
Review: I was recently asked which year in the 20th Century I would choose to live and why. I said "1940" with the rationale that this was the great turning point in history when the values of western civilization might've been lost. They weren't lost because a single indominable man stood firm. Had the newly installed PM, in May-June of that year, sided with Halifax and the other peace seekers, Hitler would have won. What followed would have been just mopping up. Gretchen Rubin succinctly illuminates this great man in a new and fresh format. She writes extremely well. This is the perfect first or second book for a reader just catching the Churchill bug. (Following Manchester and Gilbert) It belongs on any short list of Churchill books. One hopes Ms. Rubin won't stop here.
Rating:
Summary: Forty fresh perspectives
Review: I was recently asked which year in the 20th Century I would choose to live and why. I said "1940" with the rationale that this was the great turning point in history when the values of western civilization might've been lost. They weren't lost because a single indominable man stood firm. Had the newly installed PM, in May-June of that year, sided with Halifax and the other peace seekers, Hitler would have won. What followed would have been just mopping up. Gretchen Rubin succinctly illuminates this great man in a new and fresh format. She writes extremely well. This is the perfect first or second book for a reader just catching the Churchill bug. (Following Manchester and Gilbert) It belongs on any short list of Churchill books. One hopes Ms. Rubin won't stop here.
Rating:
Summary: Glimpses of a giant
Review: If you've ever wondered about the legend who was a young whippersnapper during Queen Victoria's reign, who saw action in WWI & led Britain through her finest hour during WWII, who invented the V for Victory sign, who smoked like a chimney & drank like a fish, who first coined the phrase "iron curtain," then FORTY WAYS TO LOOK AT WINSTON CHURCHILL is just the ticket for you! As one of those thousands who queued up on that cold spring day to pay my respects at his Lying in State, I learnt more about the character of this icon of my childhood, in one chapter of this book than in all the biographies. I like the way Gretchen Rubin balances each aspect, the ugly & the good, the witty & the sentimental of this larger-than-life hero of a time long ago.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book for the Times
Review: If your impressions of Churchill are nothing more than history lesson vignettes from school, some clever quip of his quoted by a colleague, or some topical news reference to him, then you are very much the target audience for this book. Lacking the access of a Martin Gilbert, the pretensions of a William Manchester, and the Parliamentary experience of a Roy Jenkins, Ms. Rubin gets right to the heart of the matter: "Who was Churchill and why should I be interested in him?". Ms. Rubin answers the question in a style that is contemporary and appealing, without in the least undermining the importance of the more scholarly contributions from traditional biographers. Indeed, this is a serious little book that whets the appetite and encourages further reading -- and THAT defines its contribution to the subject of Winston Chirchill. As such, it deserves the same respect as the more weighty tomes.
Rating: 
Summary: Amateurish effort: Boring, repetitive, uninspired
Review: It is incredible that a major press would waste wood pulp on this pathetic book. Given the state of the American reading public, I suppose one may anticipate more "books" of this kind. If you wish to know about the historical debates that attach to Winston Churchill's public career and private life, consult Robert Blake and William Louis, eds., CHURCHILL (W.W. Norton, 1993). The book contains more than two dozen essays that assess Churchill as politician, statesman, journalist, and historian. If you want an eminently readable, sympathetic, and wise introduction to his life, read Geoffrey Best, CHURCHILL: A STUDY IN GREATNESS (Hambledon, 2001; Oxford has just published a paperback edition).
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