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Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and his Legend since 1945
Original and revelatory portrait of Churchill post Second World War which examines the development of his fame and his posthumous reputation from one of Britain’s leading political writers
John Ramsden is head of the history department at Queen Mary and Westfield College and a first-rate professional historian. He is a brilliant lecturer with an enviable reputation and is widely admired by the likes of Ben Pimlott and Peter Hennessy, who describes him as ‘much better than me’. His first trade book, AN APPETITE FOR POWER: A NEW HISTORY OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY is the book to replace Lord Blake’s history – an authoritative, readable, classic history book.
Ramsden’s second trade book is one on Churchill post-Second World War. This will not be ‘yet another book’ on Churchill, but a fresh, original biographical study of Churchill’s post-war fame and reputation, what he was thought to stand for and how that reputation was constructed. It will contain a lot of new and revelatory material on how his personality, attitudes, and vision of himself have affected our own political perception of ourselves as a nation, and will argue that Churchill’s romantic, imperial notion of Britain has contributed directly to many of the political debates of recent years – particularly our attitudes in Europe. This will not be a dry political analysis but an important biographical study of the man who found himself described as the prized possession of the whole world, and of the whole Churchill phenomenon from one of our most interesting and readable historians.
This is Ramsden’s turf. This aspect of Churchill has never been dealt with in any depth and he will undertake extensive new research amongst archives in Britain and the USA – much of which have either not been drawn on before or have only just been released.
John Ramsden is head of the history department at Queen Mary and Westfield College and a first-rate professional historian. He is a brilliant lecturer with an enviable reputation and is widely admired by the likes of Ben Pimlott and Peter Hennessy, who describes him as ‘much better than me’. His first trade book, AN APPETITE FOR POWER: A NEW HISTORY OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY is the book to replace Lord Blake’s history – an authoritative, readable, classic history book.
Ramsden’s second trade book is one on Churchill post-Second World War. This will not be ‘yet another book’ on Churchill, but a fresh, original biographical study of Churchill’s post-war fame and reputation, what he was thought to stand for and how that reputation was constructed. It will contain a lot of new and revelatory material on how his personality, attitudes, and vision of himself have affected our own political perception of ourselves as a nation, and will argue that Churchill’s romantic, imperial notion of Britain has contributed directly to many of the political debates of recent years – particularly our attitudes in Europe. This will not be a dry political analysis but an important biographical study of the man who found himself described as the prized possession of the whole world, and of the whole Churchill phenomenon from one of our most interesting and readable historians.
This is Ramsden’s turf. This aspect of Churchill has never been dealt with in any depth and he will undertake extensive new research amongst archives in Britain and the USA – much of which have either not been drawn on before or have only just been released.
688 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 3, 2018
Page 3 (my book)
When informed in January 1965 that Winston Churchill had died, Charles de Gaulle is said to have murmured, “Now Britain is no longer a great power”.
There were passages of this book that were highly interesting on the legacy of Winston Churchill, but overall this was nullified by tedious details. Do we need to know all the steps taken in the Anglo-Saxon world of Churchill fund-raisers – and everyone involved in it?
Page 390 of Canada (but certainly applicable to many other countries)
The [Conservative] party seemed to be falling over themselves to claim closeness to Churchill, as if some of his greatness might therefore rub off on them... By now, then, merely to have been alive in the twentieth century was to share in Churchill’s glory.
The book focuses on Churchill’s greatness that derived from the war years – particularly when Britain stood alone against the Nazis and Churchill’s defiant voice and magnificent words resonated across the entire world. It does not dwell on less attractive and anachronistic aspects of Churchill like his imperialistic belief in the British Empire, on his derogatory remarks on Gandhi, or his dubious record in the First World War.
Page 138 said by Walt Whitman, but very applicable to Churchill
“I am large. I contain multitudes”
Page 138
A Norwegian visitor to Churchill said that he had spoken to “the man who wrote history, lived history and made history.”
The author mistakenly says that Time magazine chose Franklin Roosevelt as “Man of the Century” when in fact it was Albert Einstein. Obviously Mr. Ramsden feels Winston Churchill should have been the “Man”. What does set Churchill apart from the other contenders is his enormous written output which won him the Nobel Prize in Literature. I particularly enjoyed the author’s evaluation of Churchill’s six volume Memoirs on the Second World War. Also the author discusses at length the impact of the “Iron Curtain” speech in Fulton, Missouri in 1946.
I also liked the author’s critique of Churchill biographers like Winston’s son Randolph and Martin Gilbert. Little is said on William Manchester’s two volumes (the last volume was published after this book came out).
If only this book weren’t burdened down with the multiple awards Churchill received and streets and parks named after him in England, Scotland, Canada, United States, New Zealand, and Australia . Interestingly the author tells us twice that Churchill’s multi-volume “History of the English Speaking People” contained hardly twenty pages in total on Canada, Australia, and New Zealand!
So this book is for Churchill aficionados only! And should have been condensed!
Page 583 Graf von Krockow
“Our gratitude is owed to a man who on the hour of need, of the triumph of tyranny when everything appeared to be lost, seized the banner of freedom and carried it unwaveringly onwards to victory.”
When informed in January 1965 that Winston Churchill had died, Charles de Gaulle is said to have murmured, “Now Britain is no longer a great power”.
There were passages of this book that were highly interesting on the legacy of Winston Churchill, but overall this was nullified by tedious details. Do we need to know all the steps taken in the Anglo-Saxon world of Churchill fund-raisers – and everyone involved in it?
Page 390 of Canada (but certainly applicable to many other countries)
The [Conservative] party seemed to be falling over themselves to claim closeness to Churchill, as if some of his greatness might therefore rub off on them... By now, then, merely to have been alive in the twentieth century was to share in Churchill’s glory.
The book focuses on Churchill’s greatness that derived from the war years – particularly when Britain stood alone against the Nazis and Churchill’s defiant voice and magnificent words resonated across the entire world. It does not dwell on less attractive and anachronistic aspects of Churchill like his imperialistic belief in the British Empire, on his derogatory remarks on Gandhi, or his dubious record in the First World War.
Page 138 said by Walt Whitman, but very applicable to Churchill
“I am large. I contain multitudes”
Page 138
A Norwegian visitor to Churchill said that he had spoken to “the man who wrote history, lived history and made history.”
The author mistakenly says that Time magazine chose Franklin Roosevelt as “Man of the Century” when in fact it was Albert Einstein. Obviously Mr. Ramsden feels Winston Churchill should have been the “Man”. What does set Churchill apart from the other contenders is his enormous written output which won him the Nobel Prize in Literature. I particularly enjoyed the author’s evaluation of Churchill’s six volume Memoirs on the Second World War. Also the author discusses at length the impact of the “Iron Curtain” speech in Fulton, Missouri in 1946.
I also liked the author’s critique of Churchill biographers like Winston’s son Randolph and Martin Gilbert. Little is said on William Manchester’s two volumes (the last volume was published after this book came out).
If only this book weren’t burdened down with the multiple awards Churchill received and streets and parks named after him in England, Scotland, Canada, United States, New Zealand, and Australia . Interestingly the author tells us twice that Churchill’s multi-volume “History of the English Speaking People” contained hardly twenty pages in total on Canada, Australia, and New Zealand!
So this book is for Churchill aficionados only! And should have been condensed!
Page 583 Graf von Krockow
“Our gratitude is owed to a man who on the hour of need, of the triumph of tyranny when everything appeared to be lost, seized the banner of freedom and carried it unwaveringly onwards to victory.”
March 30, 2021
Given the reality of his accomplishments in literature and leadership, it seems right that Winston Churchill was lionized all over the world, particularly after World War II. His leadership did save Great Britain, and perhaps the world. He sought fame from at least the time of the Boer War, and used his position as the writer of the definitive histories of both world wars to ensure that he was favorably portrayed, going as far as changing emphasis or choosing which details to include.
It seems strangely inappropriate to hear Churchill described as a spin doctor, a cynical description that I associate with sleazy American public relations work, but I think it's fair to a degree. He did promote himself and curate and polish his image from at least the time he began his brief military career, and continued to do so throughout his life. He was building, I believe, on his assumption, from childhood or youth, of aristocratic superiority and privilege. But with his positioning and publicity went astonishingly hard work and world-changing accomplishments. Perhaps it is naive and unfair to expect any highly talented and hard working person to concentrate entirely on their accomplishments and pretend that their image and positioning don't matter.
I loved the unseemly stories that John Ramsden uncovers, but in such a man they are as endearing as they are petty. Though Churchill represented Dundee for fourteen years in the House of Commons, for example, he lost his seat in 1922, and would never again pass through that city without pulling down the blinds in his railway carriage.
It was also anecdotally reported that he resented being assigned to a small-windowed, horse drawn carriage in Queen Elizabeth's coronation procession of 1953, expecting instead to be presented in a large-windowed limousine so that his adoring public could wave and cheer. He became so angry that he banged on the ceiling of the carriage with his cane, and demanded that the coachmen take him home to 10 Downing Street. Then he couldn't get in through the back because all the servants were out in front watching the procession, adding insult to injury.
The final straw for me with this barely necessary addition to the enormous canon of Churchilliana was the insertion of several pages of photographs showing street signs and parks throughout the world named after Churchill, and the statues commemorating him.
It seems strangely inappropriate to hear Churchill described as a spin doctor, a cynical description that I associate with sleazy American public relations work, but I think it's fair to a degree. He did promote himself and curate and polish his image from at least the time he began his brief military career, and continued to do so throughout his life. He was building, I believe, on his assumption, from childhood or youth, of aristocratic superiority and privilege. But with his positioning and publicity went astonishingly hard work and world-changing accomplishments. Perhaps it is naive and unfair to expect any highly talented and hard working person to concentrate entirely on their accomplishments and pretend that their image and positioning don't matter.
I loved the unseemly stories that John Ramsden uncovers, but in such a man they are as endearing as they are petty. Though Churchill represented Dundee for fourteen years in the House of Commons, for example, he lost his seat in 1922, and would never again pass through that city without pulling down the blinds in his railway carriage.
It was also anecdotally reported that he resented being assigned to a small-windowed, horse drawn carriage in Queen Elizabeth's coronation procession of 1953, expecting instead to be presented in a large-windowed limousine so that his adoring public could wave and cheer. He became so angry that he banged on the ceiling of the carriage with his cane, and demanded that the coachmen take him home to 10 Downing Street. Then he couldn't get in through the back because all the servants were out in front watching the procession, adding insult to injury.
The final straw for me with this barely necessary addition to the enormous canon of Churchilliana was the insertion of several pages of photographs showing street signs and parks throughout the world named after Churchill, and the statues commemorating him.
December 23, 2012
A conservative, then liberal, then conservative again, containing a strong understanding of what enables people and not. Citing that WWI ending created WWII by not finishing the job via the unconditional surrender obtained at end of WWII. A curious review of many conditions of liberalism and socialism rising in popularity today, as the examples of USSR, Italy, Germany are cited.
October 29, 2017
Churchill, according to the author, subscribed to the notion that history is written by great men. He no doubt included himself among those great men of history.
Churchill deserves our study and consideration, given his outsized influence on the twentieth century. Both to an upper-crust English father and an American heiress, he came into the world straddling the two leading English-speaking nations of the time. His ability to work with leaders in both countries played a big role in holding together the alliance that toppled Hitler and preserved democracy and freedom.
The anecdotes of Churchill's life were a fun diversion in the story. I hadn't realized Churchill was born with a speech impediment, or that he spent an hour preparing for each minute of his major speeches. Nor did I realize how well-heeled his ancestors were, or that he had a long and loving marriage. I was ignorant of his positions on race, class, and gender, which of course today would put him well outside the mainstream (and even at the time were quite conservative).
I thought some of the editing was a bit sloppy. For instance: I believe the author said that the Dardanelles lead to the Caspian Sea. They lead to the Black Sea. And he said that Time Magazine had Churchill third as man of the century after Roosevelt and Einstein. At least according to Wikipedia, Einstein was named Time's Person of the Century, not Roosevelt. Those are minor issues, but they call into question the author's fact-checking, and are worrying, since much of what the author wrote about and discussed were topics I had little previous knowledge so was much less inclined to fact check, etc.
Churchill deserves our study and consideration, given his outsized influence on the twentieth century. Both to an upper-crust English father and an American heiress, he came into the world straddling the two leading English-speaking nations of the time. His ability to work with leaders in both countries played a big role in holding together the alliance that toppled Hitler and preserved democracy and freedom.
The anecdotes of Churchill's life were a fun diversion in the story. I hadn't realized Churchill was born with a speech impediment, or that he spent an hour preparing for each minute of his major speeches. Nor did I realize how well-heeled his ancestors were, or that he had a long and loving marriage. I was ignorant of his positions on race, class, and gender, which of course today would put him well outside the mainstream (and even at the time were quite conservative).
I thought some of the editing was a bit sloppy. For instance: I believe the author said that the Dardanelles lead to the Caspian Sea. They lead to the Black Sea. And he said that Time Magazine had Churchill third as man of the century after Roosevelt and Einstein. At least according to Wikipedia, Einstein was named Time's Person of the Century, not Roosevelt. Those are minor issues, but they call into question the author's fact-checking, and are worrying, since much of what the author wrote about and discussed were topics I had little previous knowledge so was much less inclined to fact check, etc.
July 19, 2018
This was an excellent overview of Churchill’s life, covering all of the major events in his personal and political life. The author obviously admired Churchill (and who doesn’t?) but wasn’t blind to his faults. Overall it was very balanced and didn’t get bogged down in psychologizing or over analyzing all of the minutia of his life.
A couple of fun facts that stuck out from the book:
-Churchill was maybe the wittiest politician ever.
-He is the only politician to receive a Nobel Peace prize for literature.
-His six-volume memoirs of WWII was over two-million words.
-He smoked four Cuban cigars a day (in addition to a staggering amount of alcohol).
-Though he lived like a wealthy man, for most of his life he was in terrible debt.
-For every minute Churchill spent speaking in a public address, he spent an hour preparing (30 minute talk = 30 hours of preparation).
-He died the same day his father died.
-His funeral and memorial procession was one of the most widely attended and televised memorial of a politician in all of history.
But much more importantly, Churchill’s story is one of the most fascinating and riveting tales of any political leader I have ever come across. Can’t wait to read more about him.
A couple of fun facts that stuck out from the book:
-Churchill was maybe the wittiest politician ever.
-He is the only politician to receive a Nobel Peace prize for literature.
-His six-volume memoirs of WWII was over two-million words.
-He smoked four Cuban cigars a day (in addition to a staggering amount of alcohol).
-Though he lived like a wealthy man, for most of his life he was in terrible debt.
-For every minute Churchill spent speaking in a public address, he spent an hour preparing (30 minute talk = 30 hours of preparation).
-He died the same day his father died.
-His funeral and memorial procession was one of the most widely attended and televised memorial of a politician in all of history.
But much more importantly, Churchill’s story is one of the most fascinating and riveting tales of any political leader I have ever come across. Can’t wait to read more about him.
December 17, 2020
2.5 stars. I like how there is a question and an answer at the end of each lecture. But I think the writing could have been made more interesting.
Churchill took part in four wars in 5 years of service before 1900.
Churchill was a pilot he loved animals and was into farming. He had a saying cats look down on you, dogs look up to you, but only pigs look you in the eye.
I liked how loyal Churchill was to his own country (despite losing multiple elections) as well as to other allies of Britain. He loved America (he's half-American after all).
Churchill took part in four wars in 5 years of service before 1900.
Churchill was a pilot he loved animals and was into farming. He had a saying cats look down on you, dogs look up to you, but only pigs look you in the eye.
I liked how loyal Churchill was to his own country (despite losing multiple elections) as well as to other allies of Britain. He loved America (he's half-American after all).
September 17, 2018
This Modern Scholar series was not as good as I hoped.
(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})
(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})
September 8, 2022
A series of lectures about Winston Churchill throughout his lifetime. Different focus in each lecture covering his background and family, eagerness to go to war, his way with words and many famous speeches given, political successes and falls. I learnt lot about him, his dealings and ideologies.
June 13, 2020
An outstanding look at one of the previous century's most (enduringly) remarkable figures, and one whose legacy is all the more impressive in that at several points in his career—ere his legend-making and -solidifying (and postwar reputation-maintaining) turn at the British helm during the pivotal node of the Second World War—bouts of self-immolation would seem to have relegated him to the ignominious destiny reserved for second-stringers and bitten-off-more-than-they-can-chewers. After a succinct but superb biographical opening, Ramsden examines how Churchill—both the man and the myth—were received, embraced, embellished, and preserved within the British Isles themselves, the most important theaters of the Commonwealth, the European continent, and, of course, the United States; and apart from the sometimes fractious nature of that relationship in Oceania, where Australian and New Zealander memories of Gallipoli (and other Churchillian-derived ill-usages) lingered and tended towards acridity, as well as within pockets of the Celtic element of those North Sea islands, it becomes abundantly clear that Churchill was a man well and truly beloved and respected—and ofttimes for the right reasons. This was particularly the case with Canada, my home country, where not only are my elder relatives, to a one, die-hard fans of Sir Winston, but the number of public schools, parks, streets, even towns named after the Tory cum Liberal cum Tory form an unbroken string across our vast realm from coast to coast. That the man—his deeds, his sayings, his writings, his interactions—tended towards subsumption within the war-years stalwart and the bulldog for the Empire makes pinning down the actual figure immersed within the legend a difficult task; but it is one that Ramsden handles magnificently. Notwithstanding the vast spread of first rate Churchillian material already out there, Man of the Century makes just that case from a comparatively unexplored biographical angle—and it is really quite impressive how much of interest and relevance the author found to mine in that particular vein.
February 24, 2015
Thoughtful and insightful, Ramsden is both a brilliant scholar and a fine teacher. While I think his own "modern outlook" (read mildly PC and socialistic) does make him uncomfortable with Churchill's less egalitarian views, he is both realistic and fair handed. Even the most committed Churchillian can only applaud this excellent exposition!
July 6, 2015
I don't think I actually listened to the book, but rather a lecture series by the author based on the book. Fascinating stuff and I learned a lot, but at times I wasn't sure what time period the author was talking about as the segments were organized more topically, which for the most part tended to be in chronological order.
September 30, 2015
This was a lecture series on the life of Winston Churchill. Valuable historical information was shared in a most captivating manner. I have always wanted to learn more about WC who died when I was a child but without whose remarkable contribution to world history I likely would have lived in a much different world.
May 11, 2014
A series of lectures on Churchill.
A delightful overview of a Great Man.
Regrettably, a bit of a valentine.
Not quite as good as Ramsden's lectures on WWI, but for Churchill acolytes, still a good listen.
A delightful overview of a Great Man.
Regrettably, a bit of a valentine.
Not quite as good as Ramsden's lectures on WWI, but for Churchill acolytes, still a good listen.
November 1, 2015
Excellent summary of his life. It has motivaed me to read some of his books (though I haven't selected a specific one yet)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews