Winston Churchill

by Robert Blake

Winston Churchill is probably still the best-known Prime Minister of Great Britain. Born at Blenheim Palace, he joined the army after Harrow, but in 1899 resigned his commission to report on the Boer War. Elected to Parliament in 1900, he served in both Conservative and Liberal governments, and became Chancellor of the Exchequer under Baldwin. A period in the political wilderness was ended by the declaration of the Second World War and his appointment to the Admiralty; after Chamberlain's resignation in 1940 he led a coalition government. He worked closely with Roosevelt and to a lesser degree with Stalin throughout the war. He lost the election of 1945 but became Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955. His last years saw a return to writing, including his memoirs of the Second World War.

Genres: War, Politics, Leadership, History, Biography

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Robert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake was an English historian. He is best known for his 1966 biography of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, and for The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill, which grew out of his 1968 Ford lectures. He was created a life peer as Baron Blake, of Braydeston in the County of Norfolk.

Lord Blake was editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, a Trustee of the British Museum, and Chairman of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts.

Reviews

[Melani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, easy to read, useful timeline at the very beginning.
Nice intro to Churchill's life and career.
Could have been titled "Whose finger on the trigger?"; it would have been metaphorically correct and would have sold more!

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

there's too much to write about for this one to be satisfactory as a short bio, but still worth a dip.

[Max Stoudemire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book I highly reccomend it. In this book you get to learn about Winston and his life from when he was born at Blenheim Palace to when he passed away after being prime minister of Great Britain. He seemed like a smart, funny, and nice man. This book also describes how he came up with all his famous speeches and operations during world war 2.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, quick primer on the man voted the greatest Briton in history. Balanced, not overly critical, nor fawning. Should give me enough material so I can say a few words on the great man in the English history class I'm doing here in London, which I am entirely unqualified to teach.