Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill

Leaders in Action

by Stephen Mansfield, George E. Grant (Editor)

Winston Churchill was one of the most extraordinary leaders of the twentieth century. What was it that enabled him to stand so steadfastly when all those around him seemed to turn back in fear? What was it that enabled him to inspire whole nations to endure the unendurable and to achieve the unachievable when all those around him had already surrendered all hope?  This remarkable new study of Churchill's leadership skill answers these questions and more. The result is an account that is as inspiring today as it was more than half a century ago when the great man' shadow fell large across the world stage. According to Henry Kissinger, "Our age finds it difficult to come to grips with Churchill. The political leaders with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the...future they see it as their risk to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of their inner values."  Winston Churchill was a hero.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, School, Leadership, Biography Memoir, Politics

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Stephen Mansfield is a New York Times bestselling author and a popular speaker who is becoming one of the nation’s most respected voices on religion and American culture. He is also an activist in a variety of social causes.

Stephen was born in Georgia but grew up largely in Europe due to his father’s career as an officer in the United States Army. After a youth filled with sports, travel, and mischief, he was recruited to play college football but turned down the opportunity when a Christian conversion moved him to attend a leading Christian college.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy and then moved to Texas where he pastored a church, completed two Master’s degrees, hosted a radio show and began acquiring a reputation as a popular speaker of both depth and humor. He moved to Tennessee in 1991 where he again pastored a church, did relief work among the Kurds in Northern Iraq, served as a political consultant, and completed a doctorate.

It was during this time that he also launched the writing career for which he has become internationally known. His first book on Winston Churchill was a Gold Medallion Award Finalist. He also wrote widely-acclaimed biographies of Booker T. Washington and George Whitefield as well as a number of other books on history and leadership. In 1997, the Governor of Tennessee commissioned Mansfield to write the official history of religion in Tennessee for that state’s bicentennial.

In 2002, Stephen left the pastorate after twenty fruitful years to write and lecture full-time. Not long afterward he wrote The Faith of George W. Bush, which spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and won numerous national awards. The book also became a source for Oliver Stone’s internationally acclaimed film W, which chronicled Bush’s rise to the presidency.

This international bestseller led to a string of influential books over the following eight years. Stephen wrote The Faith of the American Soldier after being embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq. He also wrote about the new Pope in Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission. His book The Faith of Barack Obama was another international bestseller and was often a topic in major media during the presidential campaign of 2008. To answer the crumbling values of portions of corporate America, he wrote The Search for God and Guinness and soon found himself speaking to corporate gatherings around the world.

Stephen continues to write books about faith and culture—recently on topics like Sarah Palin, Oprah Winfrey and America’s generals—but beyond his writing career he has founded The Mansfield Group, a successful consulting and communications firm, as well as Chartwell Literary Group, a firm that creates and manages literary projects. Together with his wife, Beverly, Mansfield has created The Global Leadership Development Fund, a foundation that sponsors leadership training and networking around the world.

In recent years, Stephen’s popularity as a speaker has nearly eclipsed his reputation as a bestselling author. He is often to be found addressing a university gathering, a corporate retreat or a fundraising banquet and stirring his audience with the humor and storytelling that have become his trademark.

Mansfield lives primarily in Nashville, Tennessee, with his beloved wife, Beverly, who is an award-winning songwriter and producer. For more information, log onto MansfieldGroup.com.

Reviews

[Ava · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not necessary to read. The first third was okay, it told about Churchill's life, and the events that took place in it, and the lessons he learned from them. That's okay, I don't mind reading that.
Then... It takes literally every single positive quality Churchill possessed, and makes a chapter on each. It's also very repetitive.
The book hardly analyzes any of his negative qualities. It only talks about a brief period of atheism, and frequent bouts of depression.
Overall, I would rather have watched a 45 minute documentary about Winston Churchill, have the same amount of information, without the insanely boring and pointless ranting about how 'wonderful' this guy is, and be done.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading this book, I’ve decided that if I could have any historical figure to dinner, it would be Winston. I adore him. Mansfield does an excellent job of delving into his full character and portraying him as the richly interesting man he was.

[Gina Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

AO year 6 book. I loved this book so much!!! A great biography of Churchill.
“What they miss, though, and what even Churchill’s peers missed about him, is that Churchill’s greatness was not first and foremost a matter of externals. His greatness was and still remains a matter of externals. His greatness was and still remains a matter of the heart - of faith and values and religion- and when modern secularists attempt to imitate Churchill without taking on the very faith and Christian world view that shaped his life and leadership, they engage in meaningless theatrics. Churchill was a Christian who saw the world in Christian terms and this was the power behind everything he was as a man of global consequence.”

[Lauren Fee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with Winston Churchill through this biography. He was truly one of the world’s greats. Imperfect like us all, but firmly rooted in Christian orthodoxy, familiar with suffering and adversity, yet passionate and stubborn enough to endure through trials of various kinds. I am beginning to see a reoccurring theme through pre-reading great biographies that a key to magnanimity is truly a wide and generous feast of ideas and interests, personal discipline and good habits, and strong character rooted in the Christian faith. Charlotte truly said it best: “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.”

[María Elena Ortiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my son's curriculum book. Even though I felt the book idealize the person of Churchill, I loved the way it is written and all the golden quotes it has about character, virtudes, and life in general.

[Sonic2bros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this book. Read it in sixth grade.

[Micah Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and highly readable look at Sir Winston Churchill, his life and his leadership.
Highly recommended.

[Evelyn Rodgers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book at Finn’s recommendation. He found parts of it interesting, as did I. I wish more of it had been biographical. The last part of the book is about leadership, Churchill-style.

[Camden Baxter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Read this for AO year 6

Honestly when I first read this I hated it really bad, because I never heard of Winston Churchill and I didn’t care about him. It got better after the first part, and was decent. I honestly don’t know how Winston Churchill is going to help me in life but you never know 🤷‍♀️

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never Give In was for me a wonderful foray into the life and principles of one of the great leaders of our time, Winston Churchill. Though not to be mistaken for a serious biography of the man, for a small volume targeted for a view of his life through a specific lens (that of values and principles), this was a good read. For a more serious biography, look somewhere else. The author is an avowed Christian (as was Churchill himself), and makes no apologies about taking that perspective, but it didn’t feel forced to me.

The book is in two main sections. The first is a relatively brief overview of the major events of his life. The second is a series of chapters (perhaps 20 or more) that are no more than four pages long, each of which addresses a value or principle that the author believes was an important guiding force or contributing factor in Churchill’s life and accomplishments. These include such things as family, loyalty, self-education, duty, humor, character, self-examination, self-mastery, compassion, and work, among others. Notably, we learn of Churchill’s struggles with himself, including the “black dog” depressions that often threatened to overwhelm him. So powerful were they that he sometimes refused to stay in rooms with balconies, for fear that the temptation to throw himself off might prove too great to resist. And yet, he was able to work on and hope on, and lead a nation through the dark days of war. I found much to admire, and much to ponder in this little volume.

[Michelle Brock · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea is a good one: a short biography of leader, and then short essays on character traits that the leader exemplifies. This is one of a series, different leaders and different authors, but all books having a similar approach.

A short biography need not feel rushed or incomplete, but this biography was both. Large gaps of time in Churchill's life seemed to come abruptly. Perhaps different transition sentences would have helped; I'm not sure. The essays on leadership qualities seemed as though they were chosen first, and then anecdotes found to fit the preconceived qualities. I felt like I was left with a too rosy, 19th century Sunday school literature morality tale.

[Beez Beasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

NEVER GIVE IN! A huge lesson in life.
An insight into who Churchill was...his values and skills that created a leader of a lifetime

[Brit Chhangur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pre-read for AO year 6! Wonderful book!

[Grace Tolman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am starting to really like biographies now, especially after the two that I've read so far this year was so interesting and informative that I've placed both on my favorites shelf.
I've heard about Churchill before and even watched some movies based on what he's done during the war. I've also read a few quotes from him and I thought he was an interesting historical figure to learn more about.
Now, I have to warn you that I'm starting to learn that biographies can somewhat be one-sided just like a novel can be. It is all through the perspective of the writer. I only say that because according to Mr. Mansfield, there are other biographies of Churchill that paint him in a different light than Mansfield does in this book. All that is to say that take my review of this particular telling of this great man with a grain of salt. It's all subjective in a way.
So now that's out of the way, let me just shower this book with all the praise that I can give.
I appreciated the way the different sections were written. The number of facts wasn't too long that it was boring. I loved the short chapters/sections. I also really appreciated the outline of his life given in the beginning and then we go back through Mr. Churchill's life in a deeper fashion with certain characteristics as the lens.
Learning more about Winston through this biography has opened my eyes about the great men (and women) that have gone before me. What an amazing life Mr. Churchill had. It wasn't always fun, especially during the dark times of his political career, but it was full of lessons that even a regular Jane like me can learn from.
I especially admired Mr. Churchill's faith and how that core belief guided him through the decisions that he had to make, especially in his political career. I also liked the story of how he, in his 20s questioned his religious upbringing going so close as to calling himself an atheist, only to have things happen in his life that caused him to believe in miracles brought by the Almighty God. What a great example that it is ok to question and doubt what you don't know. But acknowledge the power of God, when you see it in your life.
I also admired how Winston found ways to move away from the stresses of his job in the government. This is a great lesson, especially today when every where I turn, it always leads to politics. I felt bad for him when just 8 months after winning a great battle against the Nazis, the British people voted him out of being the Prime Minister. Why did they do that to someone that helped them keep their freedoms? And we're not even talking about years later where we could have said they forgot.
One last thing that I learned and appreciated about this book (although I could go on and on) was the varied life lessons that one can learn from. The lessons here are timeless and I'm sure we can find great examples of these virtues in other notable people in human history. But one thing that I find to be at the core of these great virtues.....God. If Churchill didn't believe in a Supreme Being, I don't think he'll have the hope to continue the hard battles he had to go through or at back away and look at the eternal perspective when things are have gone so bad. That's the biggest lesson I'm taking away from this and I'm grateful I read this book and learned more about this great man and leader.

[Unbridled Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not a long read - it came in at a mere 220 pages - but it could have been half that and accomplished the same thing. The first half tells the story of Winston Churchill from birth to death. It includes his difficult childhood, hIs education, time in the military, politics, marriage, and various brushes with adversity. The second half is ‘Pillars of Leadership’ which retells the entire story but in chapters specific to a person, a situation or character trait. There are chapters titled ‘Marriage,’ Faith,’ etc., but the same information in the first half is repeated again, in some instances word for word. It felt more like a textbook where one could flip to a specific chapter and read about one subject. As part of the Leaders in Action series, perhaps this is the agreed upon format? It did not work for me.

While I set aside my irritation at the form of the book, let me say that the image of Churchill that emerges from these pages was not what I expected. The very rudimentary knowledge I had of him was of an uncommonly brave man who was a strong orator, but who had a big ego, drank and was never seen without a cigar. But this book draws the picture of a self taught, compassionate man who was very sensitive with a wicked sense of humor. When he believed in a cause he was able to rally those behind the cause with words - but because he was so good with words he has a reputation of using them against others to point out their failings in matter of policy. This led to both his popularity in times of trouble but unpopularity with other politicians. He was dogged in his beliefs but his love for God, humankind, and Great Britain were the driving forces behind his decisions, not his ego. The main thrust was his Christian beliefs, and at times I did think the author may have glossed over Winston’s weaknesses a bit too much to draw out his intentions as being purely altruistic. But if you read a bit between the lines you’ll glean the facts.

[Alicia Saari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Stephan Mansfield has insightful writing throughout the whole book such as this:

One of the signs of a great society is the diligence with which it passes culture from one generation to the next. This culture is the embodiment of everything the people of that society hold dear: its religious faith, its heroes, and its traditions, arts, and ceremonies. When one generation no longer esteems its own heritage and fails to pass the torch to its children, it is saying in essence that the very foundational principles and experiences that make the society what it is are no longer valid. This, of course, leaves that next generation without any sense of definition or direction, making them the fulfillment of Karl Marx’s dictum, “A people without a heritage are easily persuaded.”
What is required when this happens and the society has lost its way is for leaders to arise who have not forgotten the discarded legacy and who love it with all their hearts. They can then become the voice of that lost heritage, wooing an errant generation back to the faith of the fathers, back to the ancient foundations and the bedrock values and traditions. In England, during the first half of the twentieth century, the voice and embodiment of heritage was Winston Churchill, who loved Christendom, empire, and monarchy as much as any man could. Before it was too late, before a heritage of centuries was discarded by neglect or conquest, Churchill cried out for his nation to remember and reclaim.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+ stars & 6/10 hearts. This was really a great biography. I’ve always known Winston Churchill, but this shows the real man in all his aspects, and particularly focuses on what made him such a great leader. I did not agree with him in everything, but I admired & respected him more than ever after reading this book. And this is definitely a book to read if you are studying or writing about WWII, especially WWII England.

Content: Mentions of adultery, suicide, homosexuality, drinking, & some mild language.

A Favourite Quote: “For men who lack faith, death is to be feared above all things. For men who have faith, death has lost its sting. Churchill knew this, and knew that keeping death in view gave him the ability to measure the genuineness and importance of the things he pursued in life. It kept him humble, mindful that real life had not yet begun. By living in the present in terms of the eternal, he achieved a greatness that death cannot destroy.”
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Churchill had never been good with math or what he called ‘the dismal bog of sums.’ While in office, he remarked, ‘The higher mind had no need to concern itself with the meticulous regimentation of figures.’ This was not the attitude towards ‘figures’ the British public wanted from its Lord of the Treasury.” 

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although Winston Churchill is a fascinating character, I didn't connect with the writing style of this biography. The first part was interesting enough, and followed the different events in his life in a normal biographical fashion. But then the second part on the book was very different, taking some aspect or quality and writing a short 4 page chapter on that quality or aspect. It was nice to see the different sides of his character but the way this was written made it very difficult to push through, I really had to force myself to finish the book.

So, my 3-star rating is based on the following considerations:
+ I did learn a bit about the character of Winston Churchill! A lot of interesting material is included in the book, and the author tries to give a full look from different perspectives on his life.
- The second part of the book was difficult to get through, I didn't appreciate the way it was written.

Sir Winston Churchill is definitely a figure that is important to read and learn about. Therefore, I would recommend to anyone reading - read a biography of his! But perhaps consider looking for a different biography of Winston Churchill.

[Nicholas Wilhelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I loved the stories and the introspective. Each section is nice and short and to the point, not very much fluff at all. One of the few books I barely took notes on because everything was so simple to understand and the shortness of the sections make them easy to reference.

I will say the push for the reader to believe that Churchill's Christianity had more to do with his life than other authors have stated came off a little odd, forced, and not well thought out. But I keep this review at five stars thinking the author did not want to drag it out which in that case he proved his point and I'm glad I at least got that perspective.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephen Mansfield presentation of the life of Winston Churchill is in bite-sized pieces. The reader feasts on some biography and some history, but mainly character traits of this larger-than-life leader. After digesting the information, one gets the picture of a man who was more concerned about his country and its allies than he was about his own political ambitions. Churchill was not a perfect man and fought some major challenges; and therefore gives us much to consider as we face our own obstacles.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book with great insight into the life and struggles of Winston Churchill. Pretty much everyone knows the man’s name, but if you aren’t familiar with the struggles of his life and the legacy of leadership he left behind, I would urge you to pick up this book. Though it’s not a difficult read, the ideas within are thought provoking and ring tru to life. As my 11-year-old daughter said, after listening to this read aloud, “We need a Churchill in this country.” Yes, my dear, we certainly do.

[Chrisitan Herman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was just alright. I never looked into Churchill, but his routine and reputation in the book 'stillness is key' made him seem like a pretty cool cat. & particular too. The first half is more politics and history related and the 2nd half is more about chapters like 'character' 'patience' and so on. Setting real world examples of how to be better. Sort of like a quazi frankenstein self help book. I'd give it a 3.5 if I could.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great biography for kids. My children and I appreciated all the interesting facts we learned about Winston Churchill. There were definitely some dry parts though and the flow was quite choppy. I personally would have preferred it to have been written as one continuous story of his life instead of jumping back and forth timeline wise and being organized by aspect of his life.

[Sewingdervish · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Churchill superfan and scholar I was sad about all the things that were left out of this book. But one can hardly contain such a great man in the tiny book. This book was wonderful and inspiring and definitely important for those studying who Churchill really was. If you want all of the fun facts and details of his life you'll need to read a bigger book but this is a great overview.

[Hilary Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this aloud as a family to learn more about Winston Churchill. I enjoyed getting to know more about him. The book did seem to mainly mention the positive things regarding his character; I do wonder how balanced it was. However, it also had many of his quotes and I couldn't get over how many of them were almost prophetic regarding our current time or were so applicable to today.

[Chris Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among the several biographical works I’ve read about this heroic man, this one alone deals in early chapters with his struggles with “dark days” and managing abysmal periods, impulsive behaviors and self-destructive moods- although none of the shadow sides could hold a candle to his sense of intense duty and immovable principles. Short chapters later give us further insights.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great YA biography of Churchill (12-14yo). The first half is a true biography and easy to follow and interesting. The second half or so covers different character qualities. I did like this section but the grouping by topic made it harder to follow even though there were little stories interspersed. All in all, though, this is an excellent introduction to Churchill.

[Nicky Billou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. Mansfield shows us why Churchill still matters in the early decades of the 21st century. Modern leaders can benefit from his awesome example of passion, courage, and a vision grounded in faith and values that unabashedly celebrate Western civilization and stand firm against the force she that seek to tear it down.

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent look at the life of Churchill through the perspective of his Christian faith, which is often dismissed and denied by secular biographers. Great lessons on what is required to be a leader, a doer rather than a stylist.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting and I enjoyed learning a lot about Churchill. The second half of the book goes on and on about his specific qualities and borders on hagiography, however. I read another book in this series, and it was the same way.