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Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes
A coruscating portrait of Britain’s greatest imperialist
The modern Churchill cult is out of control, closing down debate and encouraging support for twenty-first-century wars. The wartime leader has become a household god for many, preserving an antiquated vision of Britain still shared by all three parties. Yet, was he anything more than a plump carp happy to swim in the foulest of ponds to defend the Empire?
Churchill himself never bothered to conceal his passionate defence of the British Empire or its attendant racism. On a more personal level, his complacent self-belief influenced his every step and frequently tripped him up. As the head of the British Navy during the First World War, he was responsible for a series of calamitous errors that cost thousands of lives. His attempt to crush the Irish nationalists left wounds that have yet to heal. His attacks on striking workers in Glasgow and Tonypandy, his posturing when calling in the army to burn two anarchists in London’s East End, his vicious propaganda during the General Strike were not forgotten or forgiven.
Even during the war against Germany, the most revered period of his career, Churchill’s crimes abroad continued, including the brutal assault on the Greek Resistance, the Bengal Famine that cost over 3 million Indian lives, the all-out assault on civilians in Dresden and Hamburg, and the insistence on the use of nuclear weapons in Japan. Postwar, he continued to cause harm in Iran and Kenya. His is a terrible record, amply documented in Tariq Ali’s indictment.
The modern Churchill cult is out of control, closing down debate and encouraging support for twenty-first-century wars. The wartime leader has become a household god for many, preserving an antiquated vision of Britain still shared by all three parties. Yet, was he anything more than a plump carp happy to swim in the foulest of ponds to defend the Empire?
Churchill himself never bothered to conceal his passionate defence of the British Empire or its attendant racism. On a more personal level, his complacent self-belief influenced his every step and frequently tripped him up. As the head of the British Navy during the First World War, he was responsible for a series of calamitous errors that cost thousands of lives. His attempt to crush the Irish nationalists left wounds that have yet to heal. His attacks on striking workers in Glasgow and Tonypandy, his posturing when calling in the army to burn two anarchists in London’s East End, his vicious propaganda during the General Strike were not forgotten or forgiven.
Even during the war against Germany, the most revered period of his career, Churchill’s crimes abroad continued, including the brutal assault on the Greek Resistance, the Bengal Famine that cost over 3 million Indian lives, the all-out assault on civilians in Dresden and Hamburg, and the insistence on the use of nuclear weapons in Japan. Postwar, he continued to cause harm in Iran and Kenya. His is a terrible record, amply documented in Tariq Ali’s indictment.
448 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2022
95 people are currently reading
1026 people want to read
About the author
Tariq Ali
132 books814 followersTariq Ali (Punjabi, Urdu: طارق علی) is a British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner, and commentator. He is a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and Sin Permiso, and regularly contributes to The Guardian, CounterPunch, and the London Review of Books.
He is the author of several books, including Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State (1991) , Pirates Of The Caribbean: Axis Of Hope (2006), Conversations with Edward Said (2005), Bush in Babylon (2003), and Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002), A Banker for All Seasons (2007) and the recently published The Duel (2008).
He is the author of several books, including Can Pakistan Survive? The Death of a State (1991) , Pirates Of The Caribbean: Axis Of Hope (2006), Conversations with Edward Said (2005), Bush in Babylon (2003), and Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002), A Banker for All Seasons (2007) and the recently published The Duel (2008).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
May 10, 2022
Inaccurate, light on facts and archival research, and blatantly twisting truths and manipulating aspects of events, including quotes that are inaccurate (see Chips Channon in the book for example).
As Simon Heffer has recently said [on Ali's assertion that Churchill was racist and made the Bengal famine worse] "serious archival work would have shown that a million tons of grain were sent to Bengal from August 1943 to late 1944, and would also have revealed orders from Churchill to see that the problem was addressed."
Ali's book is nothing but click bait designed to create an alternative anti-Churchill view ; naturally WSC was not perfect, but this book is not the one to challenge events or his reputation.
Finally, Ali's suggestion that WWI centenary events glorified war is frankly laughable. Every event I attended was sincere, regretful, inclusive and frankly sad.
Avoid.
As Simon Heffer has recently said [on Ali's assertion that Churchill was racist and made the Bengal famine worse] "serious archival work would have shown that a million tons of grain were sent to Bengal from August 1943 to late 1944, and would also have revealed orders from Churchill to see that the problem was addressed."
Ali's book is nothing but click bait designed to create an alternative anti-Churchill view ; naturally WSC was not perfect, but this book is not the one to challenge events or his reputation.
Finally, Ali's suggestion that WWI centenary events glorified war is frankly laughable. Every event I attended was sincere, regretful, inclusive and frankly sad.
Avoid.
May 15, 2022
3.5
Some professional reviews of this book say that Ali uses the tv show Peaky Blinders as a source; he doesn’t. Some also claim that he uses the disgraced Holocaust denier David Irving , this also doesn’t seem to be the case. Ali also doesn’t say that a certain famous British colonizer set foot in South Africa before a certain year, either. It should be noted that Ali’s book about Churchill is going to get under the skin of several Churchill hero worshippers, so it is most likely going to be a polarizing book.
Ali’s book is a much needed challenge and/or corrective to over saturation of Churchill hagiography books that seem to come out every single month. Ali’s focus is on the destruction of peoples that one can lay at the foot of Churchill.
What is not a is a biography of Churchill. It is more a look of his policies/political actions and the effects of them.
Ali does a good job of show casing the times and the political clashes that were going on, the challenges to imperialism that Churchill would battle against. But this is also the book’s weakest point – it is almost too much about the times instead of about Churchill’s influence/reaction/action or thoughts about those times. In points of the book, Churchill is hidden from sight. This is in part because of the book is not completely linear in terms of time. It focuses more on areas of the global and the impact that Churchill policies or lack there of had on those places. It is extremely readable and a good read.
There are also times in the book where he goes almost completely off topic – like when he takes time to response to two American critics of the Satyajit Ray movie Distant Thunder. Perhaps the film critics resented the films depiction of Bengali famine because of their worship of Churchill but it is impossible to tell from the context in the book. Additionally, I do wish that there were more citations – what Ali choses to cite and what he doesn’t is interesting .The citation comment is one that can be leveled at several more recent popular history books in the last few years, by the way. It is hardly something that Ali only does. At times this lack can be seen as weakening his point because why not give an example or citation in some cases, especially when saying all people of a certain age hate Churchill in say Greece, especially when he does give examples of how people in a different country feel about Churchill. Again, this is something that more and more popular histories are doing so maybe I am out of touch with the current style. (As an aside, I thought it strange that a book published by an anti-capitalist publisher kept referring to and encouraging readers to read other works published by the company. Money making or message spreading, you decide).
The book is important though. Because it does change the view of Churchill and gives an much need corrective to the view of Churchill as a good guy. The best parts of the book are when Ali is writing about the impact of Churchill on India. It is a needed book because too often Churchill’s bad parts are dismissed or downplayed, and Ali’s book is corrective to that, at least on the global scale. It is a good starting point for discussion and reevaluation. Even if you think Churchill was “the man” you should read this book with an open mind for the different point of view.
Some professional reviews of this book say that Ali uses the tv show Peaky Blinders as a source; he doesn’t. Some also claim that he uses the disgraced Holocaust denier David Irving , this also doesn’t seem to be the case. Ali also doesn’t say that a certain famous British colonizer set foot in South Africa before a certain year, either. It should be noted that Ali’s book about Churchill is going to get under the skin of several Churchill hero worshippers, so it is most likely going to be a polarizing book.
Ali’s book is a much needed challenge and/or corrective to over saturation of Churchill hagiography books that seem to come out every single month. Ali’s focus is on the destruction of peoples that one can lay at the foot of Churchill.
What is not a is a biography of Churchill. It is more a look of his policies/political actions and the effects of them.
Ali does a good job of show casing the times and the political clashes that were going on, the challenges to imperialism that Churchill would battle against. But this is also the book’s weakest point – it is almost too much about the times instead of about Churchill’s influence/reaction/action or thoughts about those times. In points of the book, Churchill is hidden from sight. This is in part because of the book is not completely linear in terms of time. It focuses more on areas of the global and the impact that Churchill policies or lack there of had on those places. It is extremely readable and a good read.
There are also times in the book where he goes almost completely off topic – like when he takes time to response to two American critics of the Satyajit Ray movie Distant Thunder. Perhaps the film critics resented the films depiction of Bengali famine because of their worship of Churchill but it is impossible to tell from the context in the book. Additionally, I do wish that there were more citations – what Ali choses to cite and what he doesn’t is interesting .The citation comment is one that can be leveled at several more recent popular history books in the last few years, by the way. It is hardly something that Ali only does. At times this lack can be seen as weakening his point because why not give an example or citation in some cases, especially when saying all people of a certain age hate Churchill in say Greece, especially when he does give examples of how people in a different country feel about Churchill. Again, this is something that more and more popular histories are doing so maybe I am out of touch with the current style. (As an aside, I thought it strange that a book published by an anti-capitalist publisher kept referring to and encouraging readers to read other works published by the company. Money making or message spreading, you decide).
The book is important though. Because it does change the view of Churchill and gives an much need corrective to the view of Churchill as a good guy. The best parts of the book are when Ali is writing about the impact of Churchill on India. It is a needed book because too often Churchill’s bad parts are dismissed or downplayed, and Ali’s book is corrective to that, at least on the global scale. It is a good starting point for discussion and reevaluation. Even if you think Churchill was “the man” you should read this book with an open mind for the different point of view.
May 1, 2022
A thorough and necessary debunking of the mythology that's grown up around Churchill, exposing many of the darker moments of racism and imperial violence throughout his life. Some of Ali's finest work to date.
October 11, 2022
“I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas…I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gases against uncivilized tribes”.
That’s the sort of talk that will get you called a legend and lead to statues of you getting put up in the UK. This was Churchill talking about how he wished to deal with the men, women and children of Kurdistan.
There's so much to get your teeth into with Churchill, his aggressive stance against women voting, he changed political allegiances. He repeatedly used the army on his own civilians and had the navy on standby. His admiration for fascist dictators like Franco and Mussolini. His military incompetence which led to the mass slaughter of the ANZACs at Gallipoli. The slaughter of the Greeks after they had chased out the Nazis, which then led to Churchill and his Labour successors endorsing the Greek fascists, as they were anti-communist. The Bengal famine (between 3.5-5 million perished). He despised Indians and described Gandhi as a, “malignant subversive fanatic”. His integral part in helping violently overthrow the democratically elected Mossadegh in Iran in 1953 and the war crimes in Kenya. And of course let’s not forget his suggestion for the Tory election slogan for the 1955 general election, “Keep England White.” Note that Scotland, Wales and N Ireland don’t even factor in his thoughts?...Yes it’s safe to say that Winston Churchill has quite the CV.
Churchill was the perfect embodiment of the ruling classes of his era. A man of poor restraint a vile, bloated, racist, sexist old toadie, who like many of his strata was well versed in the use of belligerent language, whilst secure in the knowledge that he would never actually have to get involved in it himself. A swollen, pickled, over privileged, self-promoting man child who was forever obsessed with playing toy soldiers by using the children of the lower classes to fight his battles for him.
Churchill and the bizarre cult dedicated to him is all part of the vast myth making machine that glorifies the ever elusive England of the past, which is all the more alluring because it is forever unobtainable. Its Britannia rules the waves mentality writ large! But of course the mythology of Empire is absurd, especially in light of the fact that millions of their own subjects were consigned to lives of grinding poverty and absolute misery, huddled up in cramped tenements, rife with disease and squalor, outside toilets, and no hot water, that’s when they weren’t working long, arduous hours in life-threatening conditions for a pittance. And of course if they were really lucky they got conscripted and had the pleasure and the privilege of going off to war and fight in the trenches for king and country.
Of course this exists right up to the present day in England and as we saw in the recent leadership contest it is as bad as ever, with both candidates falling over themselves to compare themselves to Thatcher, who in turn liked to compare herself to Churchill. And yet all of these people are ridiculous, and they are no more like their predecessors than a child is like Superman just because they happen to don a costume at Halloween.
So what this demonstrates more than anything else is that they have ultimately run out things to say, they are really telling the world that they have nothing new to offer and so they are having to regress and reach deep back into the past, trying to conjure up yet more lies and mythology and aiming to blind everyone by branding it with their own name and then wave it under a Union Jack.
It reminds me of that quote from Spike Milligan in his war diaries, about Churchill drinking Napoleon brandy whilst he was getting shot at in the trenches.
So Ali has done a solid job with this, yes there are some inaccuracies, and he can lose track now and then but overall he has produced a fine and highly accessible take down of arguably the most mythologised and lionised figures in British history. And when faced with many of the facts in this incriminating dossier, it shows that Churchill is a figure that England should be more ashamed of than anything else. An awful bastard of a human being who was willing to stoop to any level to get his own way and keep the murderous British Empire intact.
May 31, 2022
The subtitle here is “His Times, His Crimes,” and as much as I wanted it to be “His Life and Crimes,” the subtitle works. The book is a little over 400 pages and there is a lot of the historical context baked in – much more than in a typical biography. Ali also covers his crimes, bringing to light things I didn’t know about the man. For example, his repression of a popular government in Greece in the post war era isn’t talked about much. Basically, the dude was the spoiled child of the late Victorian elite and through his class position and the historical circumstances, his reputation gets elevated. This new biography shows why that is wrong.
November 22, 2022
Tariq Ali delivers a well deserved thrashing to one of the 20th century's most important figures and exposes him for the vile thug that he was.
December 25, 2022
Some years ago, I read two books back to back, Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age by Arthur Herman and Churchill, Hitler and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World by Patrick Buchanan. I came away from the experience surprised at how similar the three men were (racist, sexist, nationalistic, egomaniacs, etc.) The more I learned about Winston Churchill, the more detestable I found him to be.
Tariq Ali does a pretty good job of bringing to light the negative aspects of Churchill’s career, describing all of the atrocities for which he was responsible and the long-term damage his policies continue to wreak throughout the world. My only major criticism is that the author seems to lose his focus frequently and spends far too much time on background stuff that doesn’t seem to be connected with Churchill. He also can’t seem to help himself from showing his Trotskyist biases, which would be fine with me as I share them, except for the fact that it leads him off on a few too many tangents. Call it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because any effort to puncture the Churchill mythos is laudable.
Tariq Ali does a pretty good job of bringing to light the negative aspects of Churchill’s career, describing all of the atrocities for which he was responsible and the long-term damage his policies continue to wreak throughout the world. My only major criticism is that the author seems to lose his focus frequently and spends far too much time on background stuff that doesn’t seem to be connected with Churchill. He also can’t seem to help himself from showing his Trotskyist biases, which would be fine with me as I share them, except for the fact that it leads him off on a few too many tangents. Call it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 because any effort to puncture the Churchill mythos is laudable.
September 11, 2022
Kort samengevat: Churchill was een imperialistische smeerlap.
June 7, 2022
A very disappointing book. If you're looking for a critical look at Churchill's reputation, this is not the place. Hardly any of the book is actually about Churchill or what the title calls "his crimes." It even seems to make a point of showing how Churchill didn't actually do much until the 1940s. Then when we finally get to the subject of Kenya, where Churchill seems to be the most clearly culpable, we're treated to the shortest chapter in the book.
There's more on the Irish labor movement than about Churchill in this tome.
And none of this is the result of new research. I don't think a single primary source document was cited throughout the entire book.
There's more on the Irish labor movement than about Churchill in this tome.
And none of this is the result of new research. I don't think a single primary source document was cited throughout the entire book.
May 25, 2025
Tariq Ali’s offering is disappointing. This book is not the polemic the subtitle promises us, though he has not spared Churchill on many fronts. Tariq Ali considered Churchill to be a strategic lightweight, an opportunist, and a power-hungry racist.
Winston Churchill may be guilty as charged. However, the book contains much material that does not relate to Winston Churchill. The book is strong in the chapters that cover India, Ireland, Wales, and parts of the Middle East, but Churchill’s connection to Japan is tenuous.
The book has a historical error: World War II did not start in Asia. It began in Europe.
Churchill’s childhood is fascinating, as is how his mother bedded many men to further his career. The book does not detail this aspect of Churchill and leaves too many blanks for us to fill.
Why did the English boot Churchill out after World War II? Why were people critical of him in the following years, and how did he become an iconic figure? Tariq Ali has not explored these questions, and he leaves us with a nagging question: What is Winston Churchill’s true legacy?
Winston Churchill may be guilty as charged. However, the book contains much material that does not relate to Winston Churchill. The book is strong in the chapters that cover India, Ireland, Wales, and parts of the Middle East, but Churchill’s connection to Japan is tenuous.
The book has a historical error: World War II did not start in Asia. It began in Europe.
Churchill’s childhood is fascinating, as is how his mother bedded many men to further his career. The book does not detail this aspect of Churchill and leaves too many blanks for us to fill.
Why did the English boot Churchill out after World War II? Why were people critical of him in the following years, and how did he become an iconic figure? Tariq Ali has not explored these questions, and he leaves us with a nagging question: What is Winston Churchill’s true legacy?
December 24, 2022
I rarely put books down. This one was so scatter brained, repetitive, and off topic that after 3 months of trying to push through it I gave up, still less than half way done. The ingredients are here for a good product but Ali doesn’t seem interested in or able to produce one. Alas.
January 22, 2026
An excellent corrective, not really a biography of the man. When one walks into a bookshop, it seems that Churchill is universally worshipped. An intolerable situation indeed. Ali is right to deconstruct the myths and show the episodes of Churchill's life that are almost never focused upon in public discourse. With the notable exception of his stance against Hitler (which he arrived at late), Churchill was on the side of repression and empire his entire life. Sometimes Ali gets carried away though. Being on the side opposing Churchill (like the North Koreans) should not absolve you of criticism. Overall: Great book that places Churchill within his times, mostly on the side of power, money and most importantly the empire he loved so dearly.
May 20, 2022
What a horrible book. Churchill was in many ways a racist. However, the way this argument is presented throughout this terrible book is so ridiculous that it makes one laugh only . Why? Because the way the sources cited were to a huge degree twisted in such a way that one wonders if the writer of this book intended it to be a joke or a farce or maybe both. Citing a play as a historical source is ludicrous.In a history book which is supposed to be well or reasonable researched, no serious writer should include his personal political agenda for some cheap propaganda campaign. Thus, this most piece of nonsense made its way directly to the trash bin. My gracious!
October 30, 2023
Churchill was a man of his time and was also able to change his thinking across many issues - sadly this, and his intellect and character generally, are not captured in this book.
This seems to be, in essence, a hatchet job much like Shashi Tharoor’s Inglorious Empire - both these books are collections of selected stories (and in a number of instances are not even fact based) which are then invariably taken out of context. Perhaps in this post fact world, salaciousness sells better than reality and is certainly easier to churn out than proper scholarship. Essentially this is History at its worst.
Churchill’s career is of course extremely nuanced and falls between this book at one end with Boris Johnson’s nonsense at the other (which seems to be a handful of dubious anecdotes with a couple of chapters of GCSE history thrown in to be polite). Reading either of these two books (or Inglorious Empire for that matter) will not make you smarter or even better informed.
I thoroughly recommend Andrew Roberts’ book on Churchill if you wish to read a proper biography and genuinely learn about a very complex man.
This seems to be, in essence, a hatchet job much like Shashi Tharoor’s Inglorious Empire - both these books are collections of selected stories (and in a number of instances are not even fact based) which are then invariably taken out of context. Perhaps in this post fact world, salaciousness sells better than reality and is certainly easier to churn out than proper scholarship. Essentially this is History at its worst.
Churchill’s career is of course extremely nuanced and falls between this book at one end with Boris Johnson’s nonsense at the other (which seems to be a handful of dubious anecdotes with a couple of chapters of GCSE history thrown in to be polite). Reading either of these two books (or Inglorious Empire for that matter) will not make you smarter or even better informed.
I thoroughly recommend Andrew Roberts’ book on Churchill if you wish to read a proper biography and genuinely learn about a very complex man.
April 10, 2023
Compelling critique of Churchill that brilliantly marshals the historical evidence. Ali draws our attention to Churchill’s treatment of striking workers in Wales and Scotland, and the brutal treatment of Latvian Jewish revolutionaries in London. We learn about the Bengal famine, the intervention against the Greek resistance and his sympathy for leaders like Franco and Mussolini. His unapologetic racism is clearly established. All this is achieved whilst situating Churchill’s life in the broader context of 20th century history. A great read.
June 14, 2023
for me it was good but what i already knew
April 14, 2024
This book tells the truth around the legend that is Churchill. He was a racist and misogynist and was responsible for many atrocities that are unknown or forgotten like post 1945 Greece, Ireland, Kenya and the Bengal Famine. It is comprehensive history of the twentieth century world with some background from the 19th century. The book should be required reading for anyone who wants to know the origins of what is happening in Africa or Palestine today and what caused the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Churchill was quite warm about Franco and Mussolini to. The only thing the book fails to mention is is ideas on eugenics. He does regard other races as inferior , but he was also someone who championed eugenics in Britain as well "“The unnatural and increasingly rapid growth of the Feeble-Minded and Insane classes, coupled as it is with a steady restriction among all the thrifty, energetic and superior stocks, constitutes a national and race danger which it is impossible to exaggerate.”
June 28, 2023
Je n'aurais jamais cru avoir un coup de cœur pour une biographie de Churchill , mais nous y voilà ! A mes yeux, c'est exactement de cette manière là qu'on devrait faire des biographies en 2023. Faire une biographie, ce n'est pas seulement énuméré les évènements de la vie personnel d'un personnage publique, c'est l'inscrire dans un contexte, dans des mentalités et des idées, dans un monde influencé et influençant ses personnes.
Tariq Ali prend ainsi la figure de Churchill et développe autour de lui toute la fresque du racisme et de l'impérialisme blanc, celui du Royaume-Uni mais aussi des autres colonisateurs (France, Belgique, ...), une histoire que beaucoup d'européens voudraient mettre sous le tapis. C'est aussi l'histoire des répressions sanglantes contre les mouvements ouvriers anglais et irlandais et de leurs liens avec les mouvements anti-colonialistes.
L'auteur ne fait pas dans la dentelle : c'est un ouvrage extrêmement critique qui ne mâche pas ses mots sans pour autant tomber dans le pamphlet, à la fois complexe et vivant. Un livre à offrir à toute personnes un temps soi peu à l'Histoire anglaise et qui souhaiterait avoir un regard critique sur le XXème siècle.
(bon cette review ne rend pas justice au texte de Tariq Ali ni à ses idées mais vraiment, lisez ce livre)
Tariq Ali prend ainsi la figure de Churchill et développe autour de lui toute la fresque du racisme et de l'impérialisme blanc, celui du Royaume-Uni mais aussi des autres colonisateurs (France, Belgique, ...), une histoire que beaucoup d'européens voudraient mettre sous le tapis. C'est aussi l'histoire des répressions sanglantes contre les mouvements ouvriers anglais et irlandais et de leurs liens avec les mouvements anti-colonialistes.
L'auteur ne fait pas dans la dentelle : c'est un ouvrage extrêmement critique qui ne mâche pas ses mots sans pour autant tomber dans le pamphlet, à la fois complexe et vivant. Un livre à offrir à toute personnes un temps soi peu à l'Histoire anglaise et qui souhaiterait avoir un regard critique sur le XXème siècle.
(bon cette review ne rend pas justice au texte de Tariq Ali ni à ses idées mais vraiment, lisez ce livre)
March 27, 2023
There is a whole Churchill industry in this country, his memory is invoked by almost every politician that has walked through the gates of Parliament and his image is emblazoned across memorabilia from commemorative plates to tea towels and flags. To criticise him is to draw intakes of breath from those around you such is the secular sainthood that has been cast upon him. Historians both from his own lifetime and today have presented us with a one-sided view of the man who saved Britain from the Nazi’s and they have glossed over his own abhorrent actions and words. This book is a counter-balance to those right wing or liberal historians who have attempted to portray Churchill as a mixture of hero, genius and defender of freedom the world over, it is a timely polemic as our island nation drifts further to the right ideologically and becomes more and more cut off from a morality it once allegedly fought for.
One of the things there always seems to be debate about is whether Winston Churchill was a racist or not; that there is a debate at all seems odd to any objective observer; when people show you who they are, believe them! Churchill as well as Hitler distrusted Bolshevism not only for its revolutionary spirit but for its connections, both actual and imaginary, with Judaism. He advocated using chemical weapons against what he called “uncivilised tribes”. He bragged when meeting Mussolini before the war that were he Italian he would have been “whole heartedly with you [Mussolini]”. He said that no wrong had been done to the “Red Indian or Black” populations of America and Australia as it was simply a case of a “stronger race, a higher grade race” had taken their place. He describes a thorough dislike of “people with slit eyes”; neither appreciating “the look or smell of them”. He held a deep belief in the superiority not just of white people, but specifically Anglo-Saxons; an ideology prominent in far-right movements today and is on record as saying we should “keep England white”. Along with his hatred of the Irish that’s pretty much everyone on the globe covered as inferior to people like him so was Churchill a racist? The answer can only be an undoubted yes. That plenty of other old white men were racist back then is no excuse and when summing up the character of a man, the whole man must be judged.
Ali’s book is as much a history of the times of Churchill as it is of the man himself. In fact the character of Churchill is popped into the text once the scene is set across great issues of the time; The Boer War, World War One, Irish Home Rule, The General Strike, The Rise of Fascism, World War II, Indian Independence, Kenyan Independence and the aftermath of the second global war. It is the last of these where the true colours of Churchill are really shown. Having relied on leftist resistance movements in many nations to fight back against occupying and Axis forces Churchill alongside other Allied powers conned, manipulated and violently suppressed these movements from entering into any kind of power-sharing agreements or a new politics, preferring instead the pre-war guard of royal families and malleable politicians. It is because of the inability of Churchill to accept any kind of progressive element in the post-war governments of Greece, Portugal, Spain, France etc after WWII that several of these countries continues with horrific right wing regimes right up to the end of the 20th Century and moreover why the far-right still has a foothold or better in many of them now.
It is not just Churchill himself who gets a mauling in this searing polemic; senior Labour figures in the wartime Cabinet such as Attlee and Bevin also take heavy criticism for their own opinions on Empire and what is now known as the Global South. Even in Europe Labour’s 1945 government continued the British occupation of Greece and its collaboration with far-right politicians who were in league with the Nazi’s only a couple of years before in a bid to keep down ELAS (The Greek People’s Liberation Army) out of fear it may fall into the Soviet sphere; which it never could due to the deals struck between Churchill and “Uncle Joe” Stalin – that they got on personally is no doubt down to their matching tyrannical nature, hatred of otherness and a cold-hearted view of mass murder and famine. As Foreign Secretary for that whole Parliament Ernest Bevin often found his opposite number, Anthony Eden, speechless at the despatch box simply because Bevin’s policies were more Tory than the Tories; on Churchill’s return to Number 10 in 1951 Labour’s foreign policy was unchanged, so alike it was to Churchill’s ideal.
Like Ali’s biography of Obama this biography is polemical in spirit and some might say one-sided; but only to mirror the created narrative around a man who it could be argued was more of a hindrance than a help to Allied victory in the war who put too much faith in class over talent when deferring or delegating to military leaders. Churchill certainly has a legacy, a huge one and it will be argued over for decades no doubt but we finally have a book that holds a light up to his flaws and at over 400 pages that’s a lot of flaws. The best straightforward biography of Churchill is probably still that of Roy Jenkins who is fairly even-handed but also skirts over some of the more challenging elements of Churchill’s character in his 900+ page tome. This book is an incredibly helpful addition to anyone wanting to look back at the man and the times he lived in so they can make their mind up about whether he was in fact the “Greatest Briton” as voted for by BBC views around 20 years ago, or a man who Britain would do well to start being more honest about when discussing what we value as a nation.
One of the things there always seems to be debate about is whether Winston Churchill was a racist or not; that there is a debate at all seems odd to any objective observer; when people show you who they are, believe them! Churchill as well as Hitler distrusted Bolshevism not only for its revolutionary spirit but for its connections, both actual and imaginary, with Judaism. He advocated using chemical weapons against what he called “uncivilised tribes”. He bragged when meeting Mussolini before the war that were he Italian he would have been “whole heartedly with you [Mussolini]”. He said that no wrong had been done to the “Red Indian or Black” populations of America and Australia as it was simply a case of a “stronger race, a higher grade race” had taken their place. He describes a thorough dislike of “people with slit eyes”; neither appreciating “the look or smell of them”. He held a deep belief in the superiority not just of white people, but specifically Anglo-Saxons; an ideology prominent in far-right movements today and is on record as saying we should “keep England white”. Along with his hatred of the Irish that’s pretty much everyone on the globe covered as inferior to people like him so was Churchill a racist? The answer can only be an undoubted yes. That plenty of other old white men were racist back then is no excuse and when summing up the character of a man, the whole man must be judged.
Ali’s book is as much a history of the times of Churchill as it is of the man himself. In fact the character of Churchill is popped into the text once the scene is set across great issues of the time; The Boer War, World War One, Irish Home Rule, The General Strike, The Rise of Fascism, World War II, Indian Independence, Kenyan Independence and the aftermath of the second global war. It is the last of these where the true colours of Churchill are really shown. Having relied on leftist resistance movements in many nations to fight back against occupying and Axis forces Churchill alongside other Allied powers conned, manipulated and violently suppressed these movements from entering into any kind of power-sharing agreements or a new politics, preferring instead the pre-war guard of royal families and malleable politicians. It is because of the inability of Churchill to accept any kind of progressive element in the post-war governments of Greece, Portugal, Spain, France etc after WWII that several of these countries continues with horrific right wing regimes right up to the end of the 20th Century and moreover why the far-right still has a foothold or better in many of them now.
It is not just Churchill himself who gets a mauling in this searing polemic; senior Labour figures in the wartime Cabinet such as Attlee and Bevin also take heavy criticism for their own opinions on Empire and what is now known as the Global South. Even in Europe Labour’s 1945 government continued the British occupation of Greece and its collaboration with far-right politicians who were in league with the Nazi’s only a couple of years before in a bid to keep down ELAS (The Greek People’s Liberation Army) out of fear it may fall into the Soviet sphere; which it never could due to the deals struck between Churchill and “Uncle Joe” Stalin – that they got on personally is no doubt down to their matching tyrannical nature, hatred of otherness and a cold-hearted view of mass murder and famine. As Foreign Secretary for that whole Parliament Ernest Bevin often found his opposite number, Anthony Eden, speechless at the despatch box simply because Bevin’s policies were more Tory than the Tories; on Churchill’s return to Number 10 in 1951 Labour’s foreign policy was unchanged, so alike it was to Churchill’s ideal.
Like Ali’s biography of Obama this biography is polemical in spirit and some might say one-sided; but only to mirror the created narrative around a man who it could be argued was more of a hindrance than a help to Allied victory in the war who put too much faith in class over talent when deferring or delegating to military leaders. Churchill certainly has a legacy, a huge one and it will be argued over for decades no doubt but we finally have a book that holds a light up to his flaws and at over 400 pages that’s a lot of flaws. The best straightforward biography of Churchill is probably still that of Roy Jenkins who is fairly even-handed but also skirts over some of the more challenging elements of Churchill’s character in his 900+ page tome. This book is an incredibly helpful addition to anyone wanting to look back at the man and the times he lived in so they can make their mind up about whether he was in fact the “Greatest Briton” as voted for by BBC views around 20 years ago, or a man who Britain would do well to start being more honest about when discussing what we value as a nation.
May 27, 2023
I was hoping for a energetic takedown of the obnoxious Churchill myth and was not disappointed. It also has informed discussions of the pivotal conflicts, independence campaigns and social movements across the globe that coincided with Churchill's misdeeds. So this is more than an account of the career of a racist, imperialist and reactionary politician. It's also a short world history of the British empire's blood-streaked decline from 1890 to the 1960s.
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January 6, 2026It's more about Churchill's times than his crimes, perhaps, but it's still a well-researched, focussed and passionate work. The responses of the high priests of the cult to this book told me that it must be worth reading!
December 8, 2022
Probably a 2.8 out of 5 stars
This is highly readable, uneven and sometimes lacks references but the core argument is solid.
i) Churchill was a racist arch-imperialist, hated the left and was prepared to have them murdered.
ii) there is a cult of Churchill in Britain and his supporters / admiring biographers are tying themselves in knots to ignore or deny the facts and repercussions of WC’s policies and imperialism. iii) the British Labour Party has a rotten history of defending / supporting imperialism.
Defenders of WC are often outraged at the racism charge against him but it isn’t a complicated matter ─ If you talk about a “higher grade race'' and are referring to white Europeans, or defend those who do, you are being racist ─ simples.
I don’t think anyone much denies WC was an imperialist ─ protecting the empire was why he wanted to fight Hitler when many of his contemporary Tories/Liberals were happy to leave Hitler alone as long as he trashed Communists and Jews. But Churchill’s supporters want to deny the reality of imperialism. One of the best chapters in this book is, The Indian Cauldron which gives an overview of the British empire in India and how the Bengal famine happened. TA describes how imperialism works and becomes an embedded system, so he isn’t saying Churchill ordered that Bengalis should be allowed to starve. Some 5 million people died in the Bengal famine by 1944 and no one incident made it happen ─ rather the infrastructure of the British empire operating in India caused it.
Grain shipments were prioritised to cities and factories in the cities, denying food to the countryside. When farmers didn’t cooperate, some harvests were taken by force. On the coast and rivers transport was requisitioned leaving fishermen and others without the means to earn a living. There were mass evictions of tens of thousands for military priorities. The dislocation of communities and priorities of the empire at war meant epidemics spread. When rationing was introduced in 1944 only the cities got rations as though there weren’t millions of landless labourers facing spiralling prices. And so on. If we don’t accept that imperialism, the imperial power and WC as its prime minister is responsible, then we will fall back on victim-blaming. Indians themselves become to blame or Kikuyu or Malaysians or Palestinians or Iraqis or Afghans or any of the dispossessed people described here.
TA also refers to a range of films, fiction, poetry and other cultural expressions of Churchill's contemporary critics, particularly from those on the sharp end of imperialism. He discusses the 1985 Channel 4 documentary about the British army fighting Greek Communists straight after the Second World and its reception in British establishment circles, which is on youtube. Looking forward to watching it.
This is highly readable, uneven and sometimes lacks references but the core argument is solid.
i) Churchill was a racist arch-imperialist, hated the left and was prepared to have them murdered.
ii) there is a cult of Churchill in Britain and his supporters / admiring biographers are tying themselves in knots to ignore or deny the facts and repercussions of WC’s policies and imperialism. iii) the British Labour Party has a rotten history of defending / supporting imperialism.
Defenders of WC are often outraged at the racism charge against him but it isn’t a complicated matter ─ If you talk about a “higher grade race'' and are referring to white Europeans, or defend those who do, you are being racist ─ simples.
I don’t think anyone much denies WC was an imperialist ─ protecting the empire was why he wanted to fight Hitler when many of his contemporary Tories/Liberals were happy to leave Hitler alone as long as he trashed Communists and Jews. But Churchill’s supporters want to deny the reality of imperialism. One of the best chapters in this book is, The Indian Cauldron which gives an overview of the British empire in India and how the Bengal famine happened. TA describes how imperialism works and becomes an embedded system, so he isn’t saying Churchill ordered that Bengalis should be allowed to starve. Some 5 million people died in the Bengal famine by 1944 and no one incident made it happen ─ rather the infrastructure of the British empire operating in India caused it.
Grain shipments were prioritised to cities and factories in the cities, denying food to the countryside. When farmers didn’t cooperate, some harvests were taken by force. On the coast and rivers transport was requisitioned leaving fishermen and others without the means to earn a living. There were mass evictions of tens of thousands for military priorities. The dislocation of communities and priorities of the empire at war meant epidemics spread. When rationing was introduced in 1944 only the cities got rations as though there weren’t millions of landless labourers facing spiralling prices. And so on. If we don’t accept that imperialism, the imperial power and WC as its prime minister is responsible, then we will fall back on victim-blaming. Indians themselves become to blame or Kikuyu or Malaysians or Palestinians or Iraqis or Afghans or any of the dispossessed people described here.
TA also refers to a range of films, fiction, poetry and other cultural expressions of Churchill's contemporary critics, particularly from those on the sharp end of imperialism. He discusses the 1985 Channel 4 documentary about the British army fighting Greek Communists straight after the Second World and its reception in British establishment circles, which is on youtube. Looking forward to watching it.
November 3, 2023
With the spate of recent movies and books dedicated to the cult of Winston Churchill, Tariq Ali offers a radical reassessment of the man and his inseparable relationship with his beloved British Empire.
Far from being a fierce anti-fascist, as has been presented in popular media. Churchill was an advocate and strong supporter of both Mussolini and Franco. He believed that supporting Fascism during the interwar period was the only way for Britain to maintain its empire, or so Ali argues. One of Ali’s strengths is his ability to distill and explain complicated historical events and ideas in a digestible and comprehensible manner. Namely, that fascism rose as a reaction to the socialist and Communist movements and political parties of the 1910s and 1920s. That and the Soviet army as well as the Greek and former Yugoslav resistance and partisan forces don’t get proper credit and/or attention for defeating the Fascist Nazi army of WWII.
In this volume, Ali also catalogues the many crimes committed by the British Empire including those in Ireland, Africa, the Middle East, and India. Throughout his life and career, Churchill was an apologist and defender of empire as well as an unrepentant racist and believer in white supremacy and the “civilized” races.
What makes this volume enjoyable to read is Ali’s use of poems and primary sources to elucidate his argument. Some of my issues of concern are that there are a few errors of fact as well as tighter editing needed. These however, do not diminish Ali’s overall analysis. This book serves as a worthwhile corrective to all the supporters of Churchill and defenders and mythologizers of the British Empire. Yes, the British Empire was just as bad as its European counterparts. This book also could serve as a valuable counterpart to William Dalrymple and Anita Anand’s Empire podcast series.
Far from being a fierce anti-fascist, as has been presented in popular media. Churchill was an advocate and strong supporter of both Mussolini and Franco. He believed that supporting Fascism during the interwar period was the only way for Britain to maintain its empire, or so Ali argues. One of Ali’s strengths is his ability to distill and explain complicated historical events and ideas in a digestible and comprehensible manner. Namely, that fascism rose as a reaction to the socialist and Communist movements and political parties of the 1910s and 1920s. That and the Soviet army as well as the Greek and former Yugoslav resistance and partisan forces don’t get proper credit and/or attention for defeating the Fascist Nazi army of WWII.
In this volume, Ali also catalogues the many crimes committed by the British Empire including those in Ireland, Africa, the Middle East, and India. Throughout his life and career, Churchill was an apologist and defender of empire as well as an unrepentant racist and believer in white supremacy and the “civilized” races.
What makes this volume enjoyable to read is Ali’s use of poems and primary sources to elucidate his argument. Some of my issues of concern are that there are a few errors of fact as well as tighter editing needed. These however, do not diminish Ali’s overall analysis. This book serves as a worthwhile corrective to all the supporters of Churchill and defenders and mythologizers of the British Empire. Yes, the British Empire was just as bad as its European counterparts. This book also could serve as a valuable counterpart to William Dalrymple and Anita Anand’s Empire podcast series.
January 21, 2024
The man was no comrade of the human race. He was a talented but profoundly blemished leader who very efficaciously accomplished to disguise himself with an extraordinary shield of legends, fables and folklores. History has been far too sympathetic to him. And boy!! Was he not a dedicated imperialist? Was he not one resolute to preserve the British Empire not just by overpowering the Nazis but much else in addition? He was and much more.
Ali’s tome situates Churchill within the ruling class that fought against workers and dissenters at home and built a vast empire abroad. This was a man who purposely orchestrated the death and starvation of over 4 million Bengalis in the Bengal Famine of 1943. And he is believed to have said: “..it’s all their fault anyway for breeding like rabbits”.
Ali’s book contains sixteen chapters:
1. A World of Empires
2. Skirmishes on the Home Front
3. The ‘Great’ War
4. The Irish Dimension
5. The Wind that Shook the World
6. Nine Days in May 1926
7. The Rise of Fascism
8. Japan’s Bid for Mastery in Asia
9. The War in Europe: From Munich to Stalingrad
10. The Indian Cauldron
11. Resistance and Repression
12. The Origins of the Cold War: Yugoslavia, Greece, Spain
13. The East is Dead, the East is Red: Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam
14. Castles in the Sands: Re-mapping the Arab East
15. War Crimes in Kenya
16. What’s Past is Prologue: Churchill’s Legacies
Only reason why two stars go for a toss is purely due to the author’s relentless inconsequential Trostskyism which makes the reading tad exasperating.
Ali’s tome situates Churchill within the ruling class that fought against workers and dissenters at home and built a vast empire abroad. This was a man who purposely orchestrated the death and starvation of over 4 million Bengalis in the Bengal Famine of 1943. And he is believed to have said: “..it’s all their fault anyway for breeding like rabbits”.
Ali’s book contains sixteen chapters:
1. A World of Empires
2. Skirmishes on the Home Front
3. The ‘Great’ War
4. The Irish Dimension
5. The Wind that Shook the World
6. Nine Days in May 1926
7. The Rise of Fascism
8. Japan’s Bid for Mastery in Asia
9. The War in Europe: From Munich to Stalingrad
10. The Indian Cauldron
11. Resistance and Repression
12. The Origins of the Cold War: Yugoslavia, Greece, Spain
13. The East is Dead, the East is Red: Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam
14. Castles in the Sands: Re-mapping the Arab East
15. War Crimes in Kenya
16. What’s Past is Prologue: Churchill’s Legacies
Only reason why two stars go for a toss is purely due to the author’s relentless inconsequential Trostskyism which makes the reading tad exasperating.
August 18, 2023
History as polemic that occasionally loses its way down the murky paths of "his times" but nevertheless it is in the grand tradition of EP Thomson's later writing.
"His crimes" are driven by Churchill's attempt to shore up the British Empire against the Bolshevik threat,which is repeated over and over as the spoils of empire are divided up or partitioned.
In each arena he defended white rule to prop up this vision .
For example, in Northern India :"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas … I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gases against uncivilised tribes".(https://www.theguardian.com/world/sho...). Or to take another example he thoughtfully suggested that the Tory election slogan for the 1955 general elections could be ‘Keep England White’.
Or in his evidence to the Peel Commission on Palestine :
I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia . I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, or at any rate, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.:
The cover-up in Kenya ( UK concentration camps), the collaboration with facist groups in Greece, his support of Franco and Mussolini,the list goes on.
No wonder Thatcher looked up to him, and kept the myth alive that he saved the UK.
"His crimes" are driven by Churchill's attempt to shore up the British Empire against the Bolshevik threat,which is repeated over and over as the spoils of empire are divided up or partitioned.
In each arena he defended white rule to prop up this vision .
For example, in Northern India :"I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas … I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gases against uncivilised tribes".(https://www.theguardian.com/world/sho...). Or to take another example he thoughtfully suggested that the Tory election slogan for the 1955 general elections could be ‘Keep England White’.
Or in his evidence to the Peel Commission on Palestine :
I do not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia . I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, or at any rate, a more worldly-wise race, to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.:
The cover-up in Kenya ( UK concentration camps), the collaboration with facist groups in Greece, his support of Franco and Mussolini,the list goes on.
No wonder Thatcher looked up to him, and kept the myth alive that he saved the UK.
July 6, 2024
Kaleidoscopically penned, Ali's work gives insights on the politics of the late nineteenth and twentieth century. One must keep in mind, while purchasing and reading this piece, that this work is not a biography of Winston Churchill but a critique on the imperial politics and Churchill's role in it. Ali explores the roots of neo-imperialism of today and summarizes that the US is actually an extension of the erstwhile British Empire. The beauty of this work is that it encompasses deep analysis, intellectual depth, historical sense and in-depth knowledge of the events unfolding at that time of history. Moreover, the reader finds a different approach from usually available literature on the subject. One constantly feels while reading that one is looking at the events from the pedestal of a common man who bears the suffering of politics of politicians like Churchill. Interestingly this book deals with the shenanigans of imperialism, especially the British one, thus, by default it relates the histories of all those people and places who were under imperialist yolk. Consequently, one can know a little about many people, corners and conflicts of the world.
September 25, 2025
It's not well-written, and is more about what was swirling around before, during and after Churchill's life than it is about Churchill. No real insight about Churchill beyond that he was a calculating, small-minded, self-aggrandizing politician. It's a mish-mash with lots of literary excerpts from 19th and early 20th century poems and plays, which disrupt any narrative flow, and fill up a lot of space. It's as if each time we are supposed to be dazzled, "Wow! This guy is well-read!" But, I did not find these literary bits, nor even the straight historical facts were used to build to the author's summaries of Churchill. The author's last sentence, "Best to scrub him off," (in this case a pedestal of nostalgia imagined as a boat hull) is repeated in many such biting, similar condemnations throughout the book. I found the book heavy-handed, smarmy, without the beautiful writing of an historian also critical of imperialism, Peter Frankopan, and overall a waste of money. Its premise could be written in a paragraph.
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July 7, 2022I bought this book wishing to learn more about Churchill and Ireland, being someone who was not taught much of history at school other than that kings and queens of England. I have read other material and grew up knowing that my grandfather had a particular antipathy for Churchill, so I wished to understand more. Unfortunately this book did not offer me any insight that I had not already gleaned from reading elsewhere. I reacted to the occasional description of a character as ‘obnoxious and talentless’ - I prefer to draw those conclusions myself from the evidence an author provides, and in this the volume disappoints.
December 28, 2024
In some ways I am not very well qualified to review this book. I am glad that Tariq wanted to dispel popular notions about Churchill, but I think he was just using Churchill as a depersonalized theme to promote his own world-view which suffers from too much mainstream education and a reluctance to pursue the question "why" in favor of "what." I got to about 3 pages short of the end, read the last paragraph and left the rest unread. Churchill had some more interesting and dark connections that fueled his goals in life; Tariq glossed over them and/or missed them entirely. Disappointing read for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2024
Look I'm all for a good anti-Churchill book, but for a book literally called 'Winston Churchill' he doesn't actually show up that often? The majority of the book is context, and I just found it a kind of dull read? Also the way Ali talks about this book as some kind of radical counter to an unstoppable Churchill Lobby, like he's the first guy in Britain in the last 50 years to have realised Churchill is perhaps imperfect is just so annoying lol, like this is not that big of a revelation, man, I've been on this shit since I was 14.
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