The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932

The Last Lion #1

by William Manchester

When Winston Spencer Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, Imperial Britain stood at the splendid pinnacle of her power. Yet within a few years, the Empire would hover on the brink of a catastrophic new era. This first volume of the best-selling biography of the adventurer, aristocrat, soldier, and statesman covers the first 58 years of the remarkable man whose courageous vision guided the destiny of those darkly troubled times and who looms today as one of the greatest figures of the 20th century.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Biography Memoir, Audiobook, British Literature

973 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

William Raymond Manchester was an American author and biographer, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into 20 languages.He was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the Abraham Lincoln Literary Award.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“England’s new leader…would have to be a passionate Manichaean who saw the world as a medieval struggle to the death between the powers of good and the powers of evil, who held that individuals are responsible for their actions and that the German dictator was therefore wicked. A believer in martial glory was required, one who saw splendor in the ancient parades of victorious legions through Persepolis and could rally the nation to brave the coming German fury. An embodiment of fading Victorian standards was wanted: a tribune for honor, loyalty, duty, and the supreme virtue of action; one who would never compromise with iniquity, who could create a sublime mood and thus give men heroic visions of what they were and might become. Like Adolf Hitler he would have to be a leader of intuitive genius, a born demagogue in the original sense of the word, a believer in the supremacy of his race and his national destiny, an artist who knew how to gather the blazing light of history into his prism and then distort it to his ends, an embodiment of inflexible resolution who could impose his will and his imagination on his people…Such a man, if he existed, would be England’s last chance…”
- William Manchester, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932

Reading about the life of Winston Churchill is an extremely humbling experience. He did so much. You’ve done so little. And by you I mean me. It is especially humbling when you are reading of his life while sitting on a couch that is covered with the detritus of your children, wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt (thus, very nearly a sweat-suit), and drinking Yellow Tail out of a pint glass. The lesson, I suppose, is not to compare oneself to Winston Churchill (or in my case, to compare myself to people who drink wine out of wine glasses).

Churchill’s life is something awesome to behold. He was a colossal world-historical figure. In many ways, he was the British Teddy Roosevelt (though it would be a different Roosevelt who had to go eye-to-eye wit Hitler): an accomplished writer; an inveterate adventurer; an ambitious politician; a daring thinker; a warmonger and killer (by his own account, Churchill slew a handful of dervishes at Omdurman); a lover of navies; a paternalistic white supremacist; a man of tireless of enthusiasms; a man whose personality shaped the world.

A figure this big deserves an epic-sized literary treatment. He was given this treatment in William Manchester’s The Last Lion trilogy. Visions of Glory 1874-1932 is the first installment of this project, and at nearly 900 pages of text, it gives its oversized subject plenty of room. (Unfortunately, Manchester died before completing his opus; the third volume was mainly written by Paul Reid).

Manchester begins with a sweeping prologue that sets the scene: Victorian England at the time of Churchill’s birth. This vivid panorama is important. The class divisions of this time – with the attendant mindset – greatly influenced Churchill’s actions throughout his life. He was a 20th century figure with a 19th century way of thinking.

Once Manchester has defined Churchill’s world, he launches into a finely detailed description of his life. Winston was born into an odd family, with a good name and poorer fortunes. His father was the syphilitic Lord Randolph, who blamed his VD on an old woman and blew his chance to be Prime Minister. His mother Jennie was a beautiful American serial adulteress, who managed (with wiles we can only imagine) to entice men into her bedroom well into late middle age.

If these don’t sound like the world’s best parents – a syphilitic politician and a seductress – well, they were not. Winston grew up in an environment of indifference and low-caliber neglect. This, perhaps, led him to be a relatively poor student who struggled mightily to earn a military commission.

(It should be noted, with regards to Lord Randolph, that more recent scholarship has suggested that WC’s father died of something other than a sexually transmitted disease).

Eventually, Churchill became a lancer, and his wide-ranging travels began. He was an outspoken observer of the Spanish-Cuban War. He fought with Kitchener during the Anglo-Sudanese War. During the Boer War, he was taken prisoner and escaped from a P.O.W. camp, even though he went to South Africa as a journalist.

Churchill’s political career was like a meteor shower. No sooner had he burst onto the stage than he would flame out in some grand act of self-destruction. But every time he was left for dead, he managed a comeback. Often, he accomplished this by changing his political stripes: from conservative to liberal to conservative again.

The defining event of this first volume is Churchill’s tenure as First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I. It is in this capacity that he developed the joint Army-Navy campaign to force the Dardanelles straits. This ended in disaster on the Gallipoli peninsula, with over 500,000 Allied casualties and nothing to show for their trouble.

Despite this setback, Churchill remained in government. It was only with world peace that Churchill found himself adrift. Ironically, it would be his chief nemesis – Adolf Hitler – who made Churchill into a great man, a remembered man, rather than a footnoted failure of the Great War.

To my mind, Manchester is the perfect author to take on the task of dramatizing Churchill’s life. There are many fine biographers working today, producing many fine biographies that are deeply researched, impeccably sourced, carefully argued, and clearly presented. But so many of these admirable works – for example, by A. Scott Berg or Robert Dallek – simply lack the humanizing touch true transcendance. They do not ask you to bask in the subject’s triumph, or to shed a tear at their failure. In all fairness, there are very few writers who can accomplish this. Indeed, Manchester is one of the few that I would rank with Robert Caro, whose books on Lyndon Johnson immersive attempts to chronicle the whole world, not just a single man.

Manchester’s writing strives to evoke. His pages brim with passion and a close eye for detail. He has a great facility with an underrated skill, that of weaving direct quotations and excerpts into his narrative in a seamless fashion.

Staring at the Martini-Henry muzzles, he wrote, “for the first time that morning I experienced a sudden sensation of fear...” The dervish riflemen fired together and missed. Hunching down over his pommel, he spurred his pony free and found his squadron two hundred yards away, faced about and already forming up. His own troops had just finished sorting itself out, but as he joined it a dervish sprang out of a hole in the ground and into the midst of his men, lunging about with a spear. They thrust at him with their lances; he dodged, wheeled, and charged Churchill. “I shot him at less than a yard. He fell on the sand, and lay there dead. How easy to kill a man! But I did not worry about it…” It occurred to him that if he hadn’t injured his shoulder in Bombay, he would have had to defend himself with a sword and might now be dead. Afterward, he reflected: “One must never forget when misfortune comes that it is quite possible they are saving one from something much worse.”

William Manchester has his detractors. Indeed, it seems that many people who read him have a strong reaction, whether or good or bad. It’s hard to be blasé about his works.

I think the criticisms of Manchester are mostly unfair. At the least, he cannot be faulted for his effort. He is a massive researcher and dogged interviewer. He almost killed himself while writing Death of a President, but he managed to corral an impressive amount of direct evidence, including a detailed interview with Jackie Kennedy that was so intimate she tried to have it suppressed.

One of the judgments against Manchester that tends to stick is his lack of objectivity towards his biographical subjects. He clearly likes Churchill, but this is not shocking. In fact, if you’re going to attempt to write 3,000 pages about a man, you probably have to like him a little (or else your days will be pretty dreary). Here, though, I don’t think Manchester’s subjectivity in any way obscures Churchill the man, or Churchill the historical figure. Mostly, he presents WC as he was, without much comment, both the good sides and the bad. It is left to the reader – seeing many of Churchill’s own thoughts and words – to make an ultimate judgment on his character.

The only place where Manchester overtly sides with Churchill is during the description of the Dardanelles campaign. Despite the magnitude of the disaster, Manchester places the blame elsewhere: on a timid Navy and a worthless Army commander. He also goes to lengths to quote knowledgeable observers about the value of Churchill’s plan, and how it might have ended the war much sooner.

Though he doesn’t give Churchill enough blame, he is mostly right in applauding Churchill’s design, if not the execution. In a war dominated by blockheaded generals stuck in a different era – the donkeys, leading lions – Churchill stands out as a bit of a genius. He thought outside the box, rather than inside the trench. (He was also an early proponent of the tank).

Visions of Glory is a powerful start to this trilogy. I look forward to the next volumes, though not without some sadness and trepidation. I would have liked to see Manchester complete this venture in his own inimitable way.

Churchill was a vibrant figure who lived an extraordinary life. He deserved – and got – a biographer who attempted to give him a vibrant and extraordinary afterlife.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Political biographies of great statesmen are always a daunting undertaking, for writer and reader alike. While anyone can write a biographic tome about the life and times of a politician, it takes a great historian to succeed in both presenting a seamless story and entertaining the reader with the ascertained facts. Manchester’s abilities and attention to detail bring history to life and his work can easily be compared to the likes of David McCullough or Robert A. Caro. In undertaking a three volume biography of Winston Spencer Churchill, Manchester takes the reader deep into the life of the formidable British politician, prime minister, and statesman. He spares nothing and identifies political successes as well as dastardly blunders.

Manchester sets the scene of Victorian England early in the narrative, giving the reader a better understanding both of the background, as well as the intricacies facing Churchill and those around him. Surely a culture shock to modern readers, Manchester spares no detail to give a better understanding of the situation at hand. He does this a few times in the book, returning later to establish the changes in Edwardian England, and once again post-Great War. The English mindset differed greatly at these three points and with Churchill as the central actor, which makes it important to understand how he fits into this backdrop, as it surely shaped his decisions and his life.

One theme Manchester promotes throughout is the role that family played in Churchill’s life. Born to aristocratic parents (a father who was a Cabinet Minister with title and an American mother who was a lady of society from her earliest days), Churchill became a hindrance soon after his birth. His parents chose to ignore him as much as possible, shipping him off to boarding school at the age of seven. He contrasts this with the role that Churchill played once he married his true love, Clementine, and their family grew soon thereafter, with ‘kittens’ filling the home at every turn. While his letter writing campaign to update his parents failed miserably (rarely receiving replies or action on his requests), his letters to his wife were thorough, regular, and detailed. Passion for his children and their well-being is revisited throughout the narrative, even when he cannot be with them regularly. This is surely a cultural shock to the reader (in today’s society) and one might equate Churchill’s actions with not caring. Manchester dispels this myth throughout in numerous fashions.

Manchester paves the way for Churchill’s political success with some experiences of a less formal political nature. Joining the military after finishing school, to appease his distant father, Churchill toured around the Commonwealth in search of battle. As Manchester mentions, the late 19th century was one in which the British Commonwealth was fairly peaceful, though Churchill was able to find the odd skirmish, first in India and eventually in the Boer War down in South Africa, where he was captured and held as a POW. Churchill’s move to become a journalist, reporting from the front lines, saw his name appear in bylines rather than reports tied to the scandals in which his parents were involved. However successful he was, both in writing from the battlefield or his selection of non-fiction works, Churchill wanted nothing more than to succeed his father in winning a seat to the House of Commons. After his father’s death from complications arising from syphilis, Churchill spent all his time and what little money he had to winning the hearts of the electorate. It was here that the political fever caught and his shift towards Westminster became inevitable.

The narrative’s shift towards parliamentary successes for Churchill opens a section of the book filled with drama, intrigue, and a handful of major historical incidents. When Churchill wins a seat in the House of Commons in 1901, Manchester does not waste any time in illustrating the concentration of power found therein. Such names as: Lord George, Balfour, Messrs. Chamberlain (senior and junior), and Asquith populated the benches and bring politics to the forefront in ways rarely seen before. Sitting as a Conservative, Churchill learns that life in the House differs greatly from hold Conservative views on the outside. Parliamentary democracy is strong on party lines and low on personal representation of the constituents. Soon Churchill’s views bring him into disrepute with the Party and he is forced to leave, though not before his abilities are noted by many senior MPs. Never one to settle for the status quo, Churchill sees himself moving from one side of the House to the other, all in an effort to balance his views with those espoused by the party whose banner he carries.

Manchester highlights Churchill’s Cabinet time in Asquith’s Liberal Government, placing such issues as Irish Home Rule and the eventual push into the Great War as decisions that paved the way for Churchill’s successes and abject failures as an MP. His decision, as a Cabinet Minister to enter the Dardanelles (which receives much discussion) is surely the black mark on the British War Effort and Manchester chooses not to pull any punches in describing it and the larger effect it had both on the British Government and the War. Churchill uses this as a stepping stone to shape his political future, though, at the time, he is lost in the quagmire of defeat.

Manchester, presuming the reader is well-versed with historical hindsight, presents Churchill as a political prophet in the latter part of the book, mostly when he held the reins of power in Cabinet. His strong concerns surrounding the Red Army’s victory in Russia and insistence on waging war to return the White Army to power is met with scoffing and ridicule around the Cabinet table. He also promoted the Irish Free State, not worried about toeing the party line, and brought Eire to fruition, as his colleagues guaranteed his downfall. He was, however, not free of completely missing the mark, citing that Japan would never be one Britain would ever wage war against (during his lifetime) and that Mussolini was a friend of the British in their fight against the Communists in Russia.

Manchester examines the eventual downfall of the Liberals, which pushed Churchill out of Westminster and into the life of a private citizen. He relished this chance for a while, as he wrote and spent time with his family. That said, the passion of a political junkie cannot be flushed from his veins so easily. Churchill’s quick ascendency back with the Conservatives in 1924 brought him new glory, as a key post, Chancellor of the Exchequer, a role his father held in the 1880s. Faced with balancing the budget and repaying war aid, Churchill sees some of the key gaps in British foreign and domestic policy that will prove essential to the inter-war years, though keeps him from the Cabinet table. These insights prove highly educational for the reader and pave the way for the second volume of the biography.

Kudos, Mr. Manchester for your thorough and powerful first installment, which matches Caro’s detail and McCullough’s narrative. You have me hooked and your attention to detail is surely exciting, informative, and thoroughly entertaining. I cannot wait to get that book started.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent biography that constantly has you rooting for the tarnished idea that history is predominantly shaped by the actions of key individuals. If you are like me, books and films lead you to admire for Churchill’s leadership, resolve, and inspiration during World War 2, but you are short on details about his origins and accomplishments in the decades before his becoming Prime Minister in 1940 at the age of 67. My impression of him as a stooped, pudgy old man got revised with the reality of his physical prowess and some substantial skills as a soldier in his younger days. And though raised in the privileged class, I was surprised to learn how much he lived off his journalism and books. When he got into politics, I didn’t realize my blurry fix on him as a conservative or liberal was reasonable given his actual switching from Conservative to Tory Parties and back again. I imbibed some from other books about Churchill’s service as First Lord of the Admiralty during World War 1, but didn’t realize how he eventually served in six other cabinet positions. Another enlightenment this book helped me with is how much he suffered politically for the disastrous campaign at Gallipoli when others were more to blame for failures in its execution. The read was so action-packed and compelling with significant historical events I didn’t feel the weight of its 990 pages, and I was sad when it ended.

As the son of a Member of Parliament and Chancellor of the Exchequer (financial minister), Churchill had politics in his bloodline. Like his father Randolph before him, he became a true believer in the glory and goodness of the British Empire. Compared to his emotionally distant father, his mother Jennie, a former American socialite, was more personally involved in Winston’s life, often furthering his career through her sexual conquests among the aristocracy (including King Edward VII). His was a poor student in private school, but came to appreciate history in college (along with cricket and polo). Only with his first military service as a cavalry lieutenant in India did he take up a serious effort of studying history, educating himself in literature, and growing his ambitions for accomplishment in those spheres. Because his family lived beyond their means, he took up journalism on the side to make extra money. Having a soldier being critical in print in cases of the army’s failures or revealing the brutality of the warfare made enemies of his commanding general, Kitchener, and in high places at home.

In the Sudan, he participated in the fighting at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, which involved both the last major cavalry charges and a slaughter of musket bearing Arabs by artillery and machine guns. In the Second Boer war, he was captured by enemy forces and imprisoned. He made a successful escape and journey on foot through rough country. He proved brave under fire, but foolhardy (and lucky) given the risks he often took. He wrote: “Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” Other cases of direct experience in war included directly managing the defense of Antwerp in 1914 with inexperienced marines and civilians for a brief when the Allied forces were desperately holding the line at the River Marne soon after the German invasion. One final case of direct action in war came when he was forced out of his Admiralty post after the Gallipoli defeat, and he took up a position as a lieutenant colonel for several months on the Western Front in Belgium, reportedly making 36 forays into No Man’s Land. Thus, Churchill personally experienced the horrors of war, and he was respected and liked by his fellow soldiers and troops under his command. The dark side is that he was one of those twisted ducks who glory in the experience of war.

He milked his early war experience and family political connections to garner a seat in the House of Commons. He soon mastered public speaking, the art of making carefully crafted speeches appear spontaneous and marshalling logic, humor, and irony in his rhetoric. His career as an MP and in various cabinet positions shows him directly involved in addressing all the major political issues of the day: supporting Home Rule for Ireland, promoting Free Trade, supporting labor unions but forcefully countering major strikes, pushing for the return to the gold standard, early grabs for oil in the Middle East, fostering innovations in warships, tanks, and aircraft, failed efforts to kill Bolshevism in the cradle, countering movements toward independence for India, and opposing women’s suffrage. His bedrock of support came from his wonderful relationship with his wife Clementine, whom he married late at 34. He called her Kat and Kitten, and she affectionately called him Piggy. Manchester guesses he was a virgin when he married. Regardless, it is clear that sexual conquest was not part of Winston’s make-up as it was for so many in the upper classes.

He has been quoted as advocating at various times defiance in defeat and magnanimity in victory. Consistent with this, he felt that the Treaty of Versaille was too punitive in its restraints on Germany and outrageous in its burden of war reparations. But he was out of political power after the war. His stance against movement toward Indian independence put him on the wrong side of Tory Party leadership. He entered a decade of isolation from political power that only changed when his lonely clarion call about the dangers of disarmament in the face of Hitler’s rise to power in 1930s began to be heard (the period of the second volume in the trilogy).

I share this one quote about Churchill in his 20s that bears out the good and bad about his Victorian sensibility, as well as revealing both the quality of Manchester’s writing and the development of Churchill’s voice as a writer:

The fruits of his formal schooling had been negligible. He had entered the army as an ignorant youth. Now, less than four years later, his command of the English distinguished him from every other correspondent in the field … He had arrived in Bangalore without knowing who Sophocles was or what ethics were. … He could capture, as few writers can, moments of utter horror. …As magnanimous to the enemy as he was rebellious toward his commander, he paid tribute to the slain Arabs:
“When a soldier of a civilized power is killed in action his limbs are composed and his body is borne by friendly arms reverently to the grave. …But there was nothing ‘dulce et decorum’ about the Dervish dead. Nothing of the dignity of unconquerable manhood. All was filthy corruption. Yet these were as brave men as ever walked the earth. …There they lie, those valiant warriors of a false faith and of a fallen dominion, their only history preserved by their conquerors, their only monuments their bones—and these the drifting sand of the desert will bury in a few short years. Three days before I had seen them rise eager, confident, resolved. The roar of their shouting had swelled like the surf on a rocky shore. The flashing of their blades and points had displayed their numbers, their vitality, their ferocity. They were confident in their strength, in the justice of their cause, in the support of their religion. Now only the heaps of corruption in the plain and fugitives dispersed and scattered in the wilderness remained. The terrible machinery of scientific war had done its work. The Dervish host was scattered and destroyed. Their end, however, only anticipates that of the victors, for Time, which laughs at Science, as Science laughs at Valour, will in due course contemptuously brush both combatants away.”

I am looking forward to the two other volumes of this biography (the third of which, 1940 onward, was completed posthumously by Paul Reed eight years after Manchester's death in 2004). Although he was a professor at my college, I only have previously read his wonderful memoir in the navy in World War 2, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War. His The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America 1932-72 is next in my ambition.

[Michael Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

After this volume came out and I was reading it, a friend who was also reading it said "it's like eating candy"

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"The longer you look back, the farther you can look forward." (Churchill)

True. If you have a sense of where you came from, the better chance you have of knowing where you are going, what to expect.

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I am re-reading this book almost 40 years after it came out. It reads like a novel. I can't see how any writer could do better. Every page has something of interest. And it obviously benefitted from the kind of developmental edit that publishers don't bother with any more.

If a book is done this well, it doesn't matter how long it it is. I have to agree with the famous lit professor, C.S. Lewis...

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."

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"Churchill belonged to that rare species, the cultivated man of action, the engagé intellectual."

[Pat]

Taking lessons from Churchill's life is not without its problems. Yes, he was a great man (an assessment he was never ashamed of sharing with others) but today, lesser man cite Churchill far too frequently and borrow from his legacy far too frequently.

Still, there is something undeniably appealing about the man. It may have been his uncompromising demeanor, or his propensity for outlandish stunt-pulling. I tend to think however, that the reason Churchill's story continues to resonate is because he was such an abject failure in so many ways. Consider it. He was a runt of a child, unloved by his parents, mistreated at school, and completely inept with regard to his studies. He may have come into his own as he got older, but it was only for short periods, which were almost always followed with precipitous social declines.

No, a biography of Churchill is not worth reading because the man was so great (which he was.) A Biography of Churchill (in particular this biography) is worth reading because the man failed so many times. He failed as a student, as a solider, and as a politician and yet somehow he drew from some part of himself for the strength to continue. Granted, Churchill was never confronted the challenges of someone like Malcolm X, but his approach to failure continues to distinguish him to this day.

If you want to read about another great man, meandering effortlessly along a path to fame and glory, don't bother with Manchester's work. But if you want to read about someone who struggled constantly to overcome his personal and public demons, you might pick this one up.

P.S. Don't feel daunted by the length, it is very readable history and quite a vivid portrait of the age as well.

[Sweetwilliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Lion Part I was the most entertaining and informative biography I have ever read or listened to. The Last Lion is split into 3 volumes and as audiobooks go, it is a massive commitment. Each book is over forty-two hours. This review pertains to Part I years 1874 – 1932. The opening chapter or preamble is called the Lion at Bay and the setting is in the dark days of Dunkirk. I defy you to read or listen to Churchill’s words and not feel a chill in your spinal cord and not blubber with pride to be an ally of this great man. The speech below was made after years of being ignored and ostracized by the rest of parliament as an old Victorian foggy. The appeasers that controlled England’s parliament after the Great War meant to put Churchill out to pasture as out of touch. Meanwhile, Churchill sat in the corner and consistently criticized the appeasers of Hitler. It wasn’t until the shadow of Dunkirk when His Majesty’s Government came to Churchill with hat in hand and asked him to form a coalition government. In the wake of Dunkirk the logical thing to do was to try to make peace with Germany. Hitler himself considered the war over and told his advisors “the war is finished��I’ll come to an understanding with England.” It was logical and rational and this was advised by Lord Halifax and Chamberlain but Churchill was no reasonable man. This is what the old Lion said:

"I have thought carefully in these last days whether it was part of my duty to consider entering into negotiations with that man….If this long Island story of ours is to end at last let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground."

"Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the land and grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender."

"Behind us gather a group of shattered states and bludgeoned races: The Czechs, the Poles, the Danes, the Norwegians, the Belgians, the Dutch - Upon all of whom a long night of barbarism will descend, unbroken by a star of hope, unless we conquer as conquer we must as conquer we shall."

Try to listen or read the words of the old Elizabethan, of whom William Manchester called the greatest Elizabethan of all time. I defy you not to blubber and tear up. I cannot get through it without blubbering.

The book is a lens into the Victorian era with the remarkable details that shaped the lives of young Winston and all of his peers. Manchester goes on and on for hours at a time shaping the background of the story. It is apparent that the author considers this detail necessary in order to understand the man. Manchester gives you a sense of how the British ruled the waves and why the sun never set on the Union Jack. I found this fascinating regardless of Churchill.

It is interesting how Winston was forged. The greatest Elizabethan of all times experienced a childhood of neglect and wanting from his parents. The patricians of the Victorian era lived lives of leisure. Their children were brought to them for an hour in the evening and then returned to their nannies who raised them. Both parents had little to do with Winston as he was growing up. According to Manchester, even other patricians of the day considered them neglectful. His father, Lord Randolph, didn’t particularly care for him. Instead, the Churchill’s were busy traveling the world and living a decadent lifestyle which often included something akin to what we would refer to as swinging today. The reader cannot help but feel broken hearted for the boy.

At grammar school young Winston was an outcast and considered not particularly bright or talented. He was beaten severely by one head master. His father, Randolph, suggested the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst because he didn’t think Winston could do any better. He was able to get into Sandhursrt by the skin of his teeth and able to blossom there. Later, the book outlines his combat experience in Cuba, Afghanistan, and in the Sudan. He took part in what is considered the last great cavalry charge of the British Empire at Omdurman. His improbable escape as a war correspondent in the Boer war brought him fame. This fame catapulted him into a Parliament seat at a young age. In WWI he served as the First Lord of the Admiralty. At this post, Winston offered the only real strategy in a war that Manchester claims was totally devoid of strategic thinking. Unfortunately the tactics were so bungled that Churchill was made a scapegoat and relieved. His reputation was scarred for life by Gallipoli. Instead of sulking he took a commission as a lieutenant colonel and served in the trenches on the Western Front where his dugout took a direct hit which killed everyone inside. Luckily for Winston he was called to the rear for a meeting that was cancelled upon his arrival. The author explains that WWI was a war where general officers sacrificed the masses like cannon fodder. Machine gun nests were taken on by the exposed breasts of rifleman. The General officers remained safely in the rear, pinning medals on each other and wishing the politicians would only allow them to run the war “their way.” Their way meant millions upon millions of casualties traded for a few yards of worthless mud. There were no winners of WWI. Meanwhile, Winston bided his time by designing weaponry to break the stalemate. He is considered father of the modern battle tank.

It is impossible to read Manchester’s biography of Winston Spencer Churchill and not realize that that WWll was the continuation of WWI. The second war was really the second half to use a sports analogy. Because of the Tory appeasers, the pacifists, and the socialists, the UK didn't really show up for the second half…that is until Winston Spencer Churchill was called out of semi-retirement. To hell with the old adage that the treaty of Versailles created WWII. Manchester demonstrates that this statement is oversimplified. Complex factors such as the ruined economies, the appeasers who wished for peace at any cost, the pacifist movement in England and those political hacks that garnered their vote, the communism and fascism that replaced the monarchies and the fall of the British Empire all contributed to the 2nd war. Read this book to understand how to avoid the 3rd war.

I also have to say that the narrator, Fredrick Davidson, did a fine job. His impression of Winston was spot on. He sounds more like Winston than old recordings of Winston. Davidson's impression of Winston and Manchester's sarcasm and detail makes for an entertaining read.

As Churchill said in the wake of Dunkirk I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. The book reads much, much easier.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely an enthralling and epic story. What a life this man lived – from participating in battles in Afghanistan and horse cavalry charges in the Sudan – and after, a major Parliamentary figure in the British House of Commons. Mr. Manchester brings it all vividly to life.

He provides us with a portrait of Winston as an unrequited Victorian. He always believed in empire, in colonization and the superiority of Europeans over all others. So the author gives us a rounded and imperfect figure towering over all others – particularly after World War I. He was a man of immense vitality – as the author states, of the thousands of pictures of Churchill, there is not one where he looks bored.

His father, Randolph, was a Member of Parliament and his mother, Jennie Jerome, from the U.S., was quite the “gal about town”; after the death of Randolph she re-married twice, one fellow, the same age, and the other a few years younger than her son Winston. Winston received little affection and attention from both his parents, but his marriage to Clementine was a wonderful success. The hundreds of letters the two wrote to each other attest to this mutual love and support of each other. Clementine was able to stand up to her husband and correct his often over-bearing and dominating manner. In Manchester’s biography one can almost feel Winston’s personality softening up somewhat, after he meets Clementine.

Mr. Manchester explains with great clarity the several ups and downs of Winston’s political career (the Dardanelles’ being a major one) – his goal was always to occupy the Prime Minister’s office. He switched party’s – he started with the Conservatives (the party of his father), then became a Liberal and in the 1920’s moved back with the Conservatives. Because he was such an outstanding Parliamentarian, he was both feared and desired by all Party’s. As Lloyd George understood, it was better to have him with you than against you. Winston against you was formidable, in speeches and in writing. With you, he was forever putting his nose into other Ministers’ business – offering endless suggestions, critiques... But in many ways, Winston was his own “Party”; he was never one to follow the Party platform when it went against his judgement. Part of the reason Winston did not reach the Prime Minister’s office was his inability to play on the team.

This is a marvelous biography of one of the great figures in history – one, who in many ways, had his feet in both the 19th and 20th centuries. A man of contradictions; who could not abide a man of peace like Gandhi, but who clearly saw the menace of Hitler. Mr. Manchester gives us, at times, a vast portrayal of the varied time periods and this is a long book at close to 900 pages. There are many rewards in this examination of this invigorating personality. At the end of this first volume in 1932, Winston Churchill was 58 years of age – he had much left to do.

A few quotations:
Page 853 (my edition):
Churchill’s parliamentary career had come to resemble the Greek legend of Sisyphus who was condemned to toil up a steep hill pushing a huge stone which, just before he reached the top, always rolled back to the bottom.

Page 865 in 1931:
Each morning he and Clementine carefully read newspapers... One consequence of this was that Churchill became the first statesmen in England to discover that, for the second time in a generation, a strange light had appeared and was growing on the map of Europe.

Page 39 on Churchill’s funeral in January, 1965

The nation was bidding farewell both to a great Englishman and to the greatness of England. When his flag-draped coffin moved slowly across the old capital, drawn by naval ratings, and bareheaded Londoners stood trembling in the cold, they mourned, not only him and all he meant, but all that they had been, and no longer were, and would never be again.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Manchester is a master of biography. And his subject Winston Churchill was one of the most gifted men ever to walk on earth. An excellent writer and debater, he was also able to paint and build brick walls. His immense personality could both charm and alienate people. Through his force of personality, he swayed many debates in the House of Commons.

This volume is the first of three covering Winston’s life from birth up through the early 1930’s. Like every man he had his flaws. His temper could be a terrible thing to witness, and his view of nonwhites would be labeled racist today. He was a man who believed that government should be paternalistic and protect and provide for those unable to take care of themselves.

He warned people about the coming threat of Hitler but was charmed initially by Mussolini. He struggled financially all his life and wrote furiously to make ends meet. He like to live large-cigars and fine liquor. He was blessed with Clementine for a wife, and she was a practical and able partner.

He was politically ambitious and during this part of his life he held a seat in the House of Commons, was Chancellor of the Exchequer, Minister of Munitions, and a Naval Lord. He played a key role in the British strategy during WWI and was blamed for the fiasco of Gallipoli which Manchester explains was not Churchill’s fault. In his youth, he served in the military and was extremely brave and fearless. His life brought him into contact with the major power players of his time Lloyd George, Asquith, and Stanley Baldwin. I am looking forward to moving on to Volume II covering the years between the wars. As this volume ended, Winston was out of favor with all 3 of Britain’s major political parties. In fact, part of the tile of the second volume is the years alone.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Lion Vol 1 is a well researched biography covering Winston's childhood, his military career, his early periods as a statesman in several of the highest positions in government and then the near fatal accident in NYC in 1932 when he was 57.

If you are a biography aficionado, this series is considered required reading. I put off this bio for so long both because of the length and I thought I knew everything about Churchill, which I didn't. I have read several Manchester books previously and this is the best of his books.

Manchester spends a lot of time developing the character of a young Winston but as Winston ages there is more discussion of the various battles and politics of the time than straight bio. The description of the Battle of the Dardanelles in WWI is the best that I have read. I would have liked to have a longer discussion of Winston's capture in the Boer War as it was interesting. I think the discussion about the military operation in Khartoum could have also been longer. However the coverage of the Victorian aspects of the era were a little much at times and Manchester can be a little sexist in his treatment of Winston's mother.

Overall a well balanced and superbly written biography about Winston Churchill, an icon in world history.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Description: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory 1874-1932
When Winston Spencer Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, Imperial Britain stood at the splendid pinnacle of her power. Yet within a few years, the Empire would hover on the brink of a catastrophic new era. This first volume of the best-selling biography of the adventurer, aristocrat, soldier, and statesman covers the first 58 years of the remarkable man whose courageous vision guided the destiny of those darkly troubled times and who looms today as one of the greatest figures of the 20th century.


excellent - straight onto book 2...

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Churchill is best known as the one who stood alone against the Dark Tyranny. Few who have ever walked the planet could have inspired the courage of the Free World as he did. For this he has been lionized and rightly takes his place in the pantheon of historical heroes. But there is far more to the man than the headlines of history. In a later work, Manchester describes Churchill as,

"England’s most singular statesman, a brilliant, domineering, intuitive, inconsiderate, self-centered, emotional, generous, ruthless, visionary, megalomaniacal, and heroic genius who inspires fear, devotion, rage, and admiration among his peers."

It's these tributaries of personality that Manchester so deftly explores. Churchill would almost surely be considered a sociopath by any modern definition. The signs emerged as a youth. He was stubbornly misbehaved in school and was almost universally disliked by his peers--they found him annoying. Insufferable, even. He was unable to successfully court young Pamela despite clearly expressed mutual interest. He was too self-absorbed.

As a war correspondent, he presumptuously assumed the role of solider, dashing recklessly to the front lines of battle. He believed himself to be invincible. The whiz of bullets was a thrill. He took these risks for the glory of the moment, as a performer for an audience. But there was more to it. He believed his heroic feats would earn him political votes at home. He spent his life pursuing and accumulating political capital. Conquering the political arena was his greatest ambition.

He dominated every conversation in which he took part. It did not matter if it was with friends and family or monarchs and heads of state. They were privileged to hear his thoughts, he believed. Not the reverse.

He often lacked empathy. When his brother's house burned down, all Winston recorded in his diary was the great adventure of fighting the flames; not a word about the loss his family just suffered. It was, as Manchester writes, completely inappropriate.

Examining all these facets raises many interesting, if not disturbing, questions. But it's this complexity that makes the man, and also what makes reading a book like this so invigorating.

Despite these strictures, Churchill was not unlovable. He had a charm that was undeniable. He was a loving husband and father. He was intent on ensuring his children never experienced the abandon he did by his own parents. He was a gracious and entertaining host, opening his countryside home freely to all manners of guests. In defeat (of which he experienced many over the years) he was defiant, but in victory, merciful. And there, just there, was the rub.

After the Great War, Churchill wanted to extend an arm of peace to the Germans--deliver provisions, ease their debts. The rest of Parliament, along with the Allies, disagreed. The Treaty of Versailles would assert their punitive views and it sowed the seeds of resentment that would flower in the ugliest of manners twenty years later. Some believe Versailles to be a convenient scapegoat for an inevitable future. Regardless, Churchill could see the threat of Germany clearly, yet no one would listen to him.

That solitary foresight was a recurring theme in his professional life. It often cost him. It would also make him. A time was coming when he alone could be turned to because he had a proven backbone. That strength would become the hope of the nation.

It is here, with this foreshadowing of a future Germany, where Manchester concludes this first book in the trilogy. It's a rousing crescendo. He has drawn a portrait of Churchill, setting him up as the protagonist for whom we cheer despite his flaws (perhaps, even, because of his flaws; they make heroes more trustworthy, not less). And then Manchester springs the villain. Not much is said about him. Not much needs to be said. It's the story we're familiar with. It's the story of Good versus Evil. It's a clash we are innately drawn to, as it's woven into the fabric of our inner being as humans. Manchester, having masterfully drawn the strings taut, leaves us on the edge of our seats, eager for the next scene.

One side note. This book covers the first 58 years of Churchill's life. There is more life in those years than most people experience in the whole of their time on earth. Churchill saw war on four continents. He was taken prisoner in one of them. He escaped. He was head of Admiralty and was blamed for a major strategic blunder in World War I (it was later admitted by others that the blunder was in execution, not strategy, again proving Churchill's prescience). He dealt with issues of empire the world over: India and Ireland and Australia and Canada and Africa and more. He lost a child before her third birthday. He crossed the floor of Parliament twice. He was banished three times (with more falls from grace to come). He wrote prolifically, publishing news articles and books and histories and memoirs. These, just a fraction of his doings, were all before he turned sixty. And yet--and yet!--he is still nearly a decade off from the Second World War and the great drama for which he is known. It's as if his first 60 years were just the warm up. Forget the concept of retirement. The main event awaits.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

With nearly 1000 pages and a dynamic figure like Churchill, an author can do darn near anything he likes, so we shouldn't be surprised that he does. The author is able to give a detailed, sweeping picture of his subject's times. Then, he is able to "zoom in" on Churchill's psyche and look at the impact of his parentage, his depression, and his indomitable will.

That material which is in between intimate examination of Churchilll and sweeping examination of his times is what is somewhat tedious. His political ups and downs relative to other figures don't seem all that relevant. His positions on particular legislation doesn't really engage the reader – at least as an American. Of course, as the author himself observes, even with a particular topic is limited to a contemporary matter, Winston Churchill can drop in observations that are timeless and do so in an amazingly quotable fashion.

In fact, that may have been the biggest surprise of the biography, to see Winston Churchill as a working writer rather than as an aristocrat dabbling with writing. He came from an illustrious family, but that family did not leave him much wealth or do a lot to help him. Instead, he supported himself by his own adventures and then by his writing. This was something at which he worked steadily even when high-profile government positions would've been more than a full-time commitment for anyone who didn't have his inexhaustible energy and commitment to his own advancement.

SECOND READING: Agree to all of the above. Churchill's enthusiasm, and particularly his enthusiasm for words,, is infectious.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent! Just finished my second reading of The Last Lion 1: Visions of Glory 1874-1932, the first installment of William Manchester biography of Winston Churchill. Even better the second time around, after having read many excellent books about the period when Churchill lived, specially about both World War I & II.

Highly recommended!

Full review to come, for now on to the the next The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone, 1932-40!

[Daniel Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few political leaders that have captured my imagination like Winston Churchill does. William Manchester not only tells the story of what is perhaps Britain's greatest prime minister, he does it in fantastic detail. I've read complaints that Manchester uses perhaps too much detail, but I could not have enjoyed it more.

Manchester paints a picture of life at the end of one era--the Victorian--and beginning of the next, the Edwardian. Churchill's life straddled change in eras, and Manchester doesn't just write Churchill's biography, but a history of the time that is full and vibrant. Churchill isn't just a great leader, but a product of both the past and the future. His lived as colorfully and dangerously as any writer could have imagined, in spite of a beginning that was marked by comfort and wealth.

Born to a wealthy aristocratic family, Winston was raised by a nanny while his father and mother (an American) were off gallivanting with the nobles of England. Along the way, Winston proved to be a poor student and got himself kicked out of several schools. Never close to his father--if at all--Winston would write pleading letters to his mother to come visit him during the years he would spend at prep school. His father died young after being marginalized from a career that put him on the threshold of England's prime minister-ship.

The family's wealth mostly squandered, Winston was required to find a career, unique from his aristocratic peers who were used to living off of their families' wealth. He had always had an interest in the military, and he pursued a career that combined writing and military action, utilizing his mother's influence in the aristocracy to go where the action was. He saw action in Afghanistan and Sudan, and he sent home breathtaking accounts to the newspapers that catapulted him into the nation's consciousness. When he was taken as a POW in the Boer War, and escaped, he became a celebrity.

And it only gets better. Winston would feed himself by his pen for the rest of his life, writing articles, stories, books, and even publishing an entire newspaper during a nationwide general strike. He served as First Lord of the Admiralty at a time when Britain ruled the waives and the British Navy was unrivaled on the seas. Though later blamed for the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, Winston would be a remain force to reckoned with in the House of Commons through out his life. Winston would levy powerful rhetoric in defense of his allies and against his enemies, giving "impromptu" speeches after hours of preparation the night before.

This first volume of the biography covers the first fifty eight years of Churchill's life, up to a time when many politicians would be entering the twilight of their careers. Faced with setbacks and defeats, Churchill himself switched parties twice over the course of his career. With yet, his greatest hour, and Britain's, would come later with World War II.

I look forward reading the next volume in Manchester's trilogy.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

40 hours of listening time for Volume 1. Two more volumes of equal length.

So well written and involving that I don't mind the length.

[Aaron Million · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times, the first volume of William Manchester's trilogy on Winston Churchill reads like fiction. This was a man who had a larger-than-life personality beginning in childhood. Churchill was pampered, but not loved, while growing up. Born into fairly comfortable circumstances, he was shunted off to hired help and special prep schools for rich kids, but longed for the love of his parents. In the case of his father, Randolph, he never got it. Manchester writes about this at length, and delves into how this distant, cold relationship affected Churchill, but he does not go overboard on the psychobabble. The same with his mother, Jennie, although she eventually becomes a strong supporter of Churchill as he becomes an adult.

Manchester is adept at setting scenes, and he spends a long time painting a picture of the London that Churchill grew up in, and beyond that the climate, attitudes, and prejudices of the British Islands and its people. This was the Victorian age, when Britain dominated the world scene; in some ways Churchill could never bring himself to accept that this ended with WWI. Because Churchill knows so many people, goes to so many places, and holds so many positions, the cast of characters is enormous. This is daunting to keep up with, especially amongst Cabinet officials as they come and go. I do not necessarily think this reflects poorly on Manchester's writing ability, but there are times when a major character does not get an adequate introduction. Herbert Asquith, the first Prime Minister that Churchill served directly under, is sort of just there; we do not really know what he did to get that extremely high level himself.

At times, Manchester includes throw-away, snide remarks about people or situations. While not numerous enough to interrupt the flow or cause me to dislike the book, they do seem ill-humored and unnecessary. An example occurs on page 532. He is writing about two high-class young men (Asquith's son is one of them), who both served and died in WWI, as they were marching in a procession in front of King George V prior to shipping off to France. He writes about how both men, sadly, predicted their own deaths in the insane conflict with Germany. Then, at the end, he concludes: “But they had marched well at Blandford. Even the King had remarked on it.” This is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the book. Additionally, he frequently mixes in phrases in other languages (Latin, French, German). Once in awhile is okay, but after so many I came to be mildly annoyed, especially when a few of them were passages rather than phrases.

While recognizing Churchill's greatness, I cannot come to like the man, although I do like his sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself. He was a person who expected – and usually got – special treatment. Without a leg up on the ordinary citizen, I am left wondering just how far his own ego would have taken him. While it was pretty hefty, many of his early breaks came due to nothing more fortuitous than the family that he was born into. Even when, after being forced out of the War Cabinet in following the Dardanelles disaster in WWI, he enlisted to serve on the western front. A noble thing to do, and certainly he didn't have to go anywhere near there. Yet, his experience was quite different from that of the regular infantryman. He still got special privileges and treatment, despite also experiencing some of the unpleasantness and misery of war. Manchester carefully wades through the Dardanelles campaign to show that, while definitely not blameless, Churchill was unfairly left holding the bag. Again, it was hard for me to feel sorry for him based on how willing he was to use people to get where he wanted to go.

A definite strength to this book is that Manchester's view, while admiring, is nowhere near fawning. Clearly, he holds a great deal of respect for Churchill and his vast accomplishments. And there is a great deal to respect. But he also examines Churchill's numerous faults and how, frequently, he was his own worst enemy. This is not only clear during WWI but throughout the 1920s as Churchill once again attains high office (Chancellor of the Exchequer) only to eventually be booted out of government aside from his parliamentary seat in the House of Commons. The final pages finish setting up the events that are going to come to a head in the next volume, as WWII rapidly approaches and Great Britain is left unprepared, despite repeated warnings by Churchill. Especially good is a few pages that stop at one point in late 1930, and briefly indicate what Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Stalin, Churchill, and FDR are all doing at that time. This is a long yet worthy read on a subject that offers almost endless fascination.

Grade: B+

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this, well sort of.... let me explain. My head told me it was good and I could not stop listening, but the narration by Frederick Davidson displeased me beyond measure. Haughty intonations from start to finish. Read the book. Don't listen to it, as I did. My rating is for the words of the author NOT my impression of it as an audiobook. Let me add that I went to YouTube to listen to the real voice of Winston Spencer Churchill and it was not this disagreeable. In addition the narrator made the mistake of not only using his horrible intonation for direct quotes but also the author's views of what Churchill thought on various subjects. This made it further unclear what exactly was a direct quote and what was the author's view. His women voices made me cringe too.

Still I will insist that I learned a lot. I wanted to know more, so I could not put it down. However this book is not directed toward those who don't have a rather good knowledge of the man and the history of his time before they even pick up the book. You may get lost otherwise. A basic knowledge is assumed.

This book is primarily a history book, rather than a biography. A mere one chapter almost at the end of the immense volume is devoted to his family life and wife and children. He loved his children and enjoyed playing with them. Animals too. He had a country house with some farm animals. He couldn't possibly slaughter or eat any of those animals. I wish the book made the man more intimate, though you do learn of his personality through what he did. It is stated that Victorians, and Churchill was a Victorian through and through, were interested in public events rather than private lives. This book has such a focus.

Churchill's political career up to 1932 is covered in detail. He changed parties twice! He was also an author, an avid statesman and never shied away from unpleasant views. I felt that the book magnificently discussed his role in the Gallipoli disaster of WW1. He often took more blame than was his fair share. I learned a lot about his early life in India and his role in resolving the Irish Free State controversy, and what a horrendous childhood! I believe that having had such a childhood made him determined to see that his own children fared better. I believe his difficult childhood made him into the very strong man that he was, regardless of his numerous mistakes! The similarity between Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt is striking.

This huge tome is only the first of a trilogy. After a breather I will return to the latter two.

[Mahlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Manchester's magisterial three volume biography The Last Lion is one of the cornerstones to understanding Winston Churchill. The first volume, Visions of Glory covers birth-1932. I first became aware of this book in the early 90s, and badly wanted to finish it then. But again I find that audible is the best way for me to get through these lengthy Biographical tomes!

Unfortunately, this time the audible experience was almost ruined for me because of the choice of narrator. He has the accent that you'd associate with the cartoon version of an English toff! It was very hard for me to take him seriously at first, but thankfully my uneasiness only lasted a few chapters. He does a great Winston impression for the Winston parts, so that's probably why they hired him.

[Emiliya Bozhilova]

DNF 10%
Непоносимо венцеславене и влудяващо хвалебствена ода. Може по-нататък да е по-добре, но началото така ме ужаси, че нямам никакво желание да дочета. Твърде много ми напомни на комунистическа хвалебствена реторика.

Явно няма да е лесно да се намери безпристрастна биография на Чърчил. Жалко. Това е рискът с големите имена в историята.

[John Bohnert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both the subject and the author's way with words made this first volume a very engrossing read. I'm going to start on volume two of THE LAST LION today.

[Jeremy Anderberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best writing you'll ever find in a biography. Period. It's looong, but worth it. Give it like 10-20 pages a day and pair it with other reading, IMO.

[Simon Stegall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely gorgeous biographical work. Manchester's prose is eloquent, insightful, and perfectly balanced. Whenever you start getting bored by dozens of pages about Parliamentary issues or British Imperial reform (which are still very interesting in their own right), the author deftly switches topics to give you a picture of Churchill's home life, his entertaining correspondences, or to tease the shadow that was beginning to spread in Germany. The analysis of Churchill's character is equally fair; he was a oratorical genius and a man of profound courage and love, but also one prone to rashness, haste and prejudice. Manchester's belief that 'one should not judge the past by the standards of the present' allows him to admire Churchill's admirable qualities and to critique his bad ones without slipping into revisionist bigotry or the contextless categorizations (racist!) which rot the modern view of the past.

As for Churchill himself: he was an incredibly divisive man in his own time, famously saying: "Whenever I feel flattered by the crowds who come to hear me speak, I remind myself that twice the crowd would arrive to see me hanged." Like most politicians, he had successes and failures, mistakes and victories. Unlike most politicians, he was a man of staunch principle with a deeply literary worldview. His total devotion to the truth and to what (he believed) was right was just as unusual then as it would be now, and well worth poring over 900 pages for. Bring on the next 2000!

[Fr. Peter Mottola · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend described this trilogy as his favorite book. I can see why. I walked away from this first volume with a much more vivid impression of 19th century England than I had previously. Manchester has a marvelous ability to give the "background" one needs to understand Churchill's life in such a way that it supports the main story, rather than make one feel like one is completing "homework" before beginning the biography in earnest.
As someone who has not (yet) read a lot of 20th century history, the picture in my head of Winston Churchill was that of an almost mythic figure, the indefatigable opponent of Adolf Hitler. (More on that in the next volume.) The stories that precede that most famous chapter are almost equally fascinating, including most notably his adventure escaping from a Boer prison camp (which reads like a spy novel) and his failed attempt to change the course of World War I through a naval campaign. Churchill experienced (and created) enough drama to fill seven lives! Which was both his blessing and his curse: magnanimous though he was, Churchill did not do himself any favors in the way he treated his political adversaries. He was something of a Cassandra, and when people did not believe his dire warnings, his sometimes explosive reactions did not help to persuade his opponents.
What struck me most in this treatment was the description of Churchill's depression. His "black dog," he called it: "I've no desire to quit this world, but thoughts, desperate thoughts, come into the head." Churchill once confided to his doctor: "I don't like standing near the edge of a platform when an express train is passing through. I like to stand back and if possible to get a pillar between me and the train. I don't like to stand by the side of a ship and look down into the water. A second's action would end everything." The constant, looming presence of death in a man who so fully lived truly shows forth the mystery of the human condition.
This was excellent reading and I look forward to the other two volumes. Earnestly recommended.
(A note on the audiobook: Frederick Davidson's narration is superb, but the digitization of the analog recording was poorly done, and if you are the kind of person who is annoyed by bad audio quality, you will be annoyed continually through all 42 hours! But it's worth it.)

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before he became the face of the dogged determination in World War II and the voice of inspiration for the British people, Winston Churchill was a scion of a noble family looking to make his mark and coming close on many occasions. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 is the first volume of William Manchester’s biographical trilogy which deals with Churchill’s early life and his adventurous political career until he was shunned by power and entered the political wilderness.

A scion of the ducal Marlborough family, Winston Spencer-Churchill was the eldest son of a second son and his American wife. Before even getting to Winston’s birth and life, Manchester paints the social, cultural, and political landscape he would be born into, be indoctrinated to believe in, and defend his entire life. Throughout his life, Winston would use the connections of his parent’s friends and acquaintances to advance himself early in his career while a boon to his military and early political careers it hardly made up for the fact that both his parents were aloof to his existence even for the times of the British upper class. Manchester relates Winston’s school misadventures and horrible academic record for the classical education expected off one of his station, but while he failed to understand Greek or Latin his “remedial” studies of English year after year would serve him the rest of his life as a journalist, author, and speaking in Parliament. While he served in wars in the frontier of the Empire, first in India then in Sudan, and afterwards in South Africa he initially went there as a “journalist” but used his military rank to join battles or was recruited by the commander on the spot to lead men. Upon the completion of the Boer War, during which he was taken prisoner and escaped, Winston entered politics in his eyes to take up his late father’s torch. Once on the floor of the House, Winston’s speeches were events to be listened to and to be written about in the papers. His familial connections got him in touch with the high circles of the Conservative party, but the issue of Free Trade and his own “radical” views on issues made him become a Liberal and soon found him apart of the new government the party form and would be until after the events connected with Gallipoli during the First World War resulted in him taking to the trenches on the Western Front. After a return to a position in the Government, Winston soon found him edging away from the Liberal Party that was dying in the face for the rise of the Labour Party and soon returned the Conservatives to be among their new Government. Yet the same tensions that made Winston leave the Party in the first place were still there but with more animosity but it was the issue of India sent Winston still a Conservative into the political wilderness that many of his political adversaries believed him to be finished, especially at his age.

In nearly 900 pages of text, Manchester not only details the first 58 years of Winston’s life but also the times he lived in while slowly setting things up for the final volume for the events in which he is most well-known to the public today. There seems to be a bias by Manchester towards Winston that does make it through to the page instead of a little more balanced writing in places, however Manchester does not shy away that Winston’s views and words around the India issue essentially were racist even though at the time it was common thought by many in Britain. Manchester gives balanced view of Winston’s relations with the working class while at the same time revealing why Labour and the press said he was against them. The account of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaign that is always blamed on Winston is given fully fleshed out including what actions Winston were accountable for and those he was not and why it was he that the failure was attached to.

Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 reveals the times and environment in which Winston Churchill was brought up and how they shaped him as he entered politics and attempted to rise to power. William Manchester gives a full picture of a young then middle-aged politician whose life was a roller coaster that influenced the British Empire its domestic and foreign affairs, but never held ultimate power and seemed never to. If one wants to know Churchill this book is a great place to start.

[Sonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Lion: Visions of Glory is the first volume in William Manchester's powerful three-volume biography of Winston Churchill, covering his life from 1874 to 1932. Manchester has written a masterful account of the life of one of the most significant and interesting men of the 20th century. Without a doubt, William Manchester is one of the best writers ever to tackle biography. The amount of research that went into this work is astounding. Much of it came from Churchill’s private letters and journals. It’s no wonder that the three volumes took Manchester 30 years to complete.

Manchester does not begin his narrative with the birth of Churchill. He first gives us a lengthy preamble that recounts the story of how Churchill finally became Prime Minister. The author also provides a series of stories about Winston Churchill that help to flesh out his personality and psychological make-up. Following the preamble, Manchester includes a 65-page prologue that provides the historical and family background of Churchill, who was an aristocratic child of the Victorian Age.

The number of accomplishments in Churchill’s first 58 years are staggering, yet they don’t cover the portion of his life for which he is most well-known. In brief, he joined the British Army at the age of 21, seeing action in British India, the Anglo-Sudan War, and the Second Boer War. He gained fame during this time as a war correspondent and an author of writing books about his campaigns. I was astounded by Winston’s life as a soldier. He thrived in war, growing bold while other men grew fearful. He was elected to Parliament in 1900 as a Conservative, but defected to the Liberals in 1904. In H. H. Asquith's Liberal government, Churchill served as President of the Board of Trade and Home Secretary. During this time, he championed prison reform and workers' social security. As First Lord of the Admiralty (head of the British navy), he devised a strategy to force Germany to take soldiers off the front lines. The plan involved sailing the British navy past Gallipoli and through the Dardanelles Strait into the Black Sea. When that proved a disaster, he resigned from government and served on the Western Front. He later returned to government in 1917 under David Lloyd George, serving as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air, and Secretary of State for the Colonies, overseeing the Anglo-Irish Treaty and Britain's Middle East policy. After a brief couple of year out of Parliament, he served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Stanley Baldwin's Conservative government. In this latter role, he returned the pound sterling to the gold standard. Although out of Parliament during the 1930s, Winston led the call for British rearmament in response to the growing threat of Nazi Germany. If that were not enough, Winston was the prime force behind the creation of Iraq and Jordan, laid the groundwork for the birth of Israel, and negotiated the independence of the Irish Free State.

To his credit, Manchester doesn’t dismiss Churchill’s many faults but includes them for all to see. In 1925, as chancellor of the exchequer, Churchill pegged the pound sterling to the U.S. dollar at its pre-war value. This was an incredibly harmful decision that plunged England into economic crisis. He also tried to suppress Gandhi's bid for Indian independence, leading to political chaos in Britain. Churchill was also an anti-semite and racist; while common during that time, it looks terrible to us today.

The period of time covered by this book would be an amazingly full life for most people, yet it doesn’t even cover the era for which he is best known. Manchester’s work is absolutely magnificent and a delight to read. It should be a model for all other biographies.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 5 out of 5]

After listening to 32 discs, I wish there were a way to follow up by reading an abridged printed version — an abridgment selected by me that I somehow (by wrinkling my nose?) marked as I listened.

I wonder: are five stars accurate? There were moments of slogging through a detailed analysis of something or other. (My husband and I could only listen to one disc at a time while driving.) But the finds far outnumbered the grinds. Reading this trilogy gives an amazing overview of the first sixty years of the twentieth century in Europe.

Listening to Churchill's childhood was flat out painful. Manchester called it starvation for parental affection. Many paragraphs were groan-inducing. His letters to his parents from school made me want to haul Randolph and Jennie out of their graves and slap their skeletons. (this isn't the me I usually reveal to the public) Year after year after year, he begs for a response, for a visit, for his parents to notice him. Life at school, academically and socially, was also grim. But these experiences steeled him for the furnace of public disapproval later in his life.

Winston and Clementine, both children of mothers who took dozens of lovers, were rock-solid in their fidelity to one another. So great was my pleasure in their relationship, that I've borrowed a bio of Clementine to learn more.

The best part of this book is the preamble (pp 3-108) which gives an overview of WSC's life. You can't read every page in the Amazon preview, but you can read pages 3 and 4 — sparklingly brilliant prose. If you haven't watched Dunkirk yet (or even if you have) read these two pages. They will stir and thrill your soul.

I was transfixed by the five pages of acknowledgements. (<— !!??!!) On the occasion of meeting the P.M. Manchester writes: It would be inaccurate to say that Churchill and I conversed. Alone with him I was mute, having, in fact, nothing to say. He had everything to say, and like Gladstone speaking to Victoria, he addressed me as though I were a one-man House of Commons. It was superb.

[Sherry Sharpnack · Rating 5 out of 5]

My brain hurts.

As w/ all well-written biographies, Manchester's Part I of the biographical trilogy, "The Last Lion," - "Visions of Glory 1874-1932" is hard reading, requiring intense concentration to keep track of names, dates, and relationships. As w/ any historical writing about the British aristocracy, it is hard to keep track of names b/c titles change w/ inheritance and w/ appointments of commoners to the House of Lords. And since it is a scholarly biography, it occasionally gets really dry when discussing topics that perhaps don't hold my interest as much as others.

Those are the drawbacks. But what a topic! Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was an amazing man, a man for the ages, and a true "lion" among men. I have admired him as long as I have known about World War II. This first volume covers the years from birth until he returned from his first lecture tour of the United States in early 1932, when he was 55. The British Empire completely changed during those years, w/ an entire generation of British boys dead on the battlefields of WWI, esp the sons of the aristocracy. Churchill was an old-school Victorian at heart, pro-Empire and full of the British aristocratic assumption that they were the best in the world. They were - at that time. But the Empire was crumbling as soon as Victoria died in 1901, but Churchill never realized that, during these years anyway. I felt so badly for him as a basically unloved child, the product of a syphilitic (through no fault of his own, poor man) younger son of the Duke of Marlborough and the beautiful American, Jennie Jerome, who became a very famous courtesan of the British upper class. I can't imagine having a mom like that! Churchill wanted to carry on his father's work in the House of Commons, and achieved election to that parliamentary body, as well as various cabinet offices, before splitting w/ his party over independence for India. The book ends w/ him in the "wilderness" - in the Commons, but not really a member of any major party.

I'm looking forward to Book II, "Alone," but will take a break from the series to rest my brain.

[Sebastien · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think anyone needs to be told this, but Winston Churchill was quite a fascinating person.

The author, William Manchester, does a good job of bringing to life Winston's childhood and early development. This childhood seems to have been extremely crucial in forming Winston's idiosyncratic, independent, and sometimes stubborn adult personality.

After his childhood experiences, Manchester marvelously catalogues Winston's experiences (and constant self-promotion and search for glory!) in India, Pakistan, South Africa, Europe during WWI, a smoldering pre and post war Ireland... These foreign adventures and experiences are the parts of the book I enjoyed the most.

Otherwise, a large portion of the book deals with Winston and his experiences in parliament and the cabinet. Overall, some of the political intrigue, debate, and insight into the decision making process that occurred in these institutions was interesting, but on average I didn't find these parts quite as interesting as Winston's experiences abroad.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do you begin to review a biography that essentially hits you as one of the best biographies you’ve ever read, of a fully important figure who had so much influence upon the 20th century world? You want to avoid hyperbole to be taken seriously, yet you want to use those too often used adjectives to underscore how good and important you believe it to be. (So much so, you ignore the ending of sentences with prepositions, much to the dismay of High School English teachers everywhere). You also want to praise the author, but not too much as too lessen the impact of the review as readers may be inclined to say to themselves: “It can’t be that good.”
Then you realize you just have to say it and let the non-believers grumble: William Manchester’s The Last Lion, Vol. 1: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 is, hands down, one of the best biographies of the 20th Century. It is a treatise on a man, his times and his drive to make his mark upon them. And the author was not only in full command of his subject, but also in full command of the material and his writing, which is fitting because Winston Churchill was a master of the English language, using it at times as an artist uses a brush and at times as a fencer thrusts with his foil.

Manchester presents Churchill as a paradox. He is a man of his time, but also a man of the past. So entrenched into the social Victorian world into which he was born, Churchill was full of the spirit of that age and never quite let go of it. He was also cloaked in the views of the period- Empire, paternalism and 19th century warfare- that it sometimes could blind him to the political realities around him. At the same time, he could be foresighted when it came to the world around him and could inherent danger in either embracing movements and men, especially in regards to Hitler and Nazi Germany, or abandoning freedoms and truths in favor of convenience and smoothed consciences. He was one who embraced the romantic notions of warfare between professional soldier- chivalrous and courageous- but his wife, Clementine, said one of his best qualities was that as a peacemaker. And while he lamented that nations abandoned that type of warfare and delved headlong into the type of horrors modern warfare evident in World War I, he was also intrigued and excited about new technologies and methods, such as his development of the tank.

But while he seemed to be a paradox, in reality he was a bulwark- a man who left political affiliation twice- not out of convenience, but out of his principles and the belief that the political clubs and allies had abandoned him and what he believed to be right. He was consistently opposed and horrified by the inhumanity of man against man – denouncing butchery and attacks upon civilians and unarmed bystanders as savagery and holding no place in a civilized world. The ideological “isms” that developed in the wake of the devastation of World War I- Marxism, and its children socialism and bolshevism and then later Nazism, he believed to be enemies of freedom and civilization. Some may say he didn’t understand them, but he saw the possible danger- it was the extreme views and actions that most angered and dismayed him. For example, in dealing with the Coal Miners unions, he could sympathize with the laborer and endeavored to alleviate their circumstances; and yet the political machinations that led to a general strike to try and cripple the country was an anathema to him and received the full brunt of his opposition.

It is appropriate then, that such a complex, towering and fascinating person is embodied in a biography that is thorough, full reaching and enthralling. Manchester was an artist of historical prose, absorbing the reader from beginning to end. This is a master writing about a fellow master of the English language. While Churchill’s wit and quips are enjoyable and peppered throughout, Manchester himself is as captivating in his descriptions, accounts and assessments. This is a book to be feasted upon- and it is no hagiography, as is often been charged. Manchester presents Churchill complete with his achievements, dedication, ability to take as good as he gave, good humor and genius as well as his ego, his tendency to take over responsibilities of others (whether or not he truly underestimated their abilities) and his blindness to his own faults. But at the same time, we get his human side- the difficult and neglected childhood, difficulties at school and ostracization by his peers.

Manchester is a joy to read and Churchill makes for a fascinating subject. This is, of course, the first volume in a trilogy, but it takes Winston into his 50s. One staggers to imagine the amount of material in the next two volumes, but I eager anticipate them. This book is not only highly recommended, but recommended as essential.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great achievement in the art of writing and historical research. Manchester is a master!

Churchill is an endless source of inspiration and a role model of manliness. The first book of the series Last Lion shows the first 58 years of Churchill's life. Manchester demonstrates that even if Churchill wouldn't become the second world war hero he would be remembered as a remarkable man and politician.

In my opinion, the most interest features of this first volume are the follows:

1) The detailed account of Churchill childhood which presents the lack of his mother attention as one factor that displays a great influence in his personal development.
2) An impressive analysis of Victorian Era and a truly convincing argument that Churchill was a man who shares the values of his time. He was a hero of XX century, but it is a noticeable fact that he won his first election in the XIX century.
3) His partnership with Lloyd George in the implementation of social reforms in Britain in the early XX century.
4) A very detailed account of Churchill participation in Gallipoli's crisis.

It's a long book (over 800 pages), but it's worth each minute spent in the reading!