Churchill: The Unruly Giant

by Norman Rose

Winston Churchill is without question one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. Famous as the bulldog who rallied his wavering and war-weary compatriots to lead the Allied resistance to Hitler, he will forever stand as Britain's savior. Unceremoniously thrown out of office after the war, he was considered brilliant, occasionally impolitic, but morally principled by his friends, and fearsome, opportunistic, and an unruly trouble-maker by his enemies. For much of his long political career he was the most detested and mistrusted man in British public life. Yet when he retired he was acclaimed as the "greatest Englishman of all time." Which is the real Churchill? In the past several years, a wave of revisionist scholars have attacked Churchill's wartime strategy, domestic politics, and private life, and have even claimed that he could have responsibly kept England out of the war. Now Norman Rose, the first historian to be granted access to the Churchill archives since the publication of Churchill's authorized biography, sets the record straight, combining a proper assessment of Churchill's achievements with a legitimate strand of revisionism. Rose's Churchill is impetuous, and capable of disastrous miscalculation -- as in the Dardanelles expedition and the Norwegian campaign of 1940. Yet Rose defends Churchill's place in the pantheon of history, showing that through his story runs a tragic thread -- how the scion of a great aristocratic house, in many ways the quintessential English aristocrat, conservative and imperialist, came to preside over his country's decline. It is this theme, at once dramatic and poignant, that Norman Rose handles with fine understanding andperception in this comprehensive and fully documented account of Churchill's life.

British critics widely hailed Norman Rose's "Churchill" as quite simply the best biography yet written, calling it a "masterpiece." Finally now available to American readers, "Churchill: The Unruly Giant" is a definitive interpretation of one of the twentieth century's greatest leaders.

Genres: Biography, History

516 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

A distinguished historian and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Norman Rose is the Chair of International Relations at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stalin did not, "leave Tito alone" after the break in 1948. There were numerous assassination attempts launched by the Kremlin to dislodge the wayward socialist.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only certainty about a one-volume biography of one of the twentieth-century's most significant figures is that it will be lacking. And, while this is true of Churchill: An Unruly Life, Norman Rose has done an admirable job of revealing both the man and the myth. Never shying away from Churchill's faults, Rose presents a warts-and-all picture that one suspects lands a whole lot nearer the truth than anything presented by either fawning acolytes or acerbic critics. What emerges is a larger-than-life human, but, most importantly, always a human. Chapter 14 - "Private Diversions" - which delves into Churchill's personality and relationships with those around him proves especially insightful and interesting. Recommended for those who wish to learn more about the man without the need to pick sides, An Unruly Life is a truly engaging read.

[Yijia Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this along with The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Churchill appears to me like one of the beautiful coincidences of 3-sigma (outlier) people in history. He made so many strategic mistakes, definitely more than Hitler, before and during WWII, that he deserves no title as a strategist. However, it is precisely his disdain for strategy or progressive ideals and his stubborn attachment to "the empire" that helped carry him and his nation through destruction.

In comparison, the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a book with clearer storyline and better for us to learn from history.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shorter life of Churchill than any of the biographies. Rose is a critic of Churchill and shows him in his prewar period to be a pretty obnoxious - no worse - dangerous person. Then came the war years when he rose brilliantly to the occasion. He benefited by being remembered by his World War 11 years and not by his early or later careers which were less than glorious.

Perhaps I should read a biography by someone sympathetic to Churchill next but I don't think I have another one in me.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
It might do better if I hadn't read the Manchester trilogy. But this is, though well-written, closer to a traditional biography and so comes across as just a list of dates and events at times.

I am still looking for a biography that devotes many pages to the post-war decades.

[David Lough · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good, one-volume 350 page treatment of Churchill's life - fair and well-balanced.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you have any idea how much he drank?

[Calin Ardelean · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complete presentation of Churchill's life from him youth till end.