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Profiles in Power
Churchill
Keith Robbins provides an excellent introduction to Winston Churchill's dramatic rise to power and traces the unpredictable way his career moved between triumph and tragedy . Providing a vivid picture of the political landscapes through which he moved, it outlines his career and uncovers what made possible Churchill's leading role in national and world affairs.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
186 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1992
27 people want to read
About the author
Keith Robbins
51 booksKeith Gilbert Robbins FRSE FRHistS FLSW was a historian and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales, Lampeter. A specialist in modern British history, Robbins was educated at Bristol Grammar School, and Magdalen and St Antony’s Colleges, Oxford.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 20, 2008
always think that I want to read biographies of famous and important people, but I don't. All I really want is a Wikipedia entry and a sense of false pedagogy (Oh Wikipedia, you unreliable little skank. Even though you've been proven a liar on numberless occasions, I still believe every word that comes out of your mouth). Because, see, if Wikipedia were to tell me, rather ominously, that the Battle of Omdurman lay ahead of the young Winston Churchill, and then move on without ever referencing it again, I could just click the link and in a few Wikiminutes, totally know what they were talking about. Books do not have links.
And I know that I'm totally politically dumb, and that I get bogged down in words like 'liberal' and 'conservative' because whatever, I'm an idiot. But I feel like a really good book can make you interested in a subject even when it's kind of over your head, you know? Robbins pretty much assumes that Winston Churchill is your dad's uncle and that you already have an in-depth understanding of British political history between 1914 and 1951 and that you'll know who all these people are and what all these Acts and Amendments and Battles and Crises are, and I understand that he's trying not to draw out interminably what is in all honesty an incredibly dry book, but had he added an extra fifty pages of explanation to the already-slim 176-p. volume, those 176 pages might have been more of a pleasure and less of a tedious, tedious chore.
Still, history is interesting in its own dusty way, and this book manages to shed new light on an old, dead man. In my mind, Winston Churchill = WWII, and that's that, but it turns out that he had a whole life before 1939. Who knew? Most of it consisted of him seizing power and rabble-rousing and being ousted from power and sneaking his way back into power, but his wide variety of political experience ended up being essentially a prep school for his Prime Ministering. It's pretty widely accepted (according to Robbins, but I wouldn't know because I'm an idiot, remember?) that Churchill was only PM because of the war. The situation called for someone with a hefty dose of bull-doggery and intrigue and attention to detail and an apparent ability to go whole weeks without sleeping and lo, Winston was that man.
He was also a bit of a sneaky bastard, sitting down to write one of the first histories of the war almost immediately after it ended, combining his legendary literary skills with all the secret governmental information he was privy to into making one sweet pile of dollars (although I suppose it was pounds, being England. Or was it crowns? A sweet pile of sovereigns? Tuppence? The English are crazy).
I'm starting to think that biographers don't feel like they need to engage their reader. The fact that the person they're writing about is famous is reason enough, and they've put so much damn effort into the research that putting words to paper is about the best they can do. Please, someone, disagree with me. Memoirs and autobiographies tend to be awesome, but straight up bios usually stink up the joint, no? Is it just me? Maybe Lance Kurke, Ph.D was right and I am the problem.
(review originally posted on www.booksidoneread.blogspot.com)
And I know that I'm totally politically dumb, and that I get bogged down in words like 'liberal' and 'conservative' because whatever, I'm an idiot. But I feel like a really good book can make you interested in a subject even when it's kind of over your head, you know? Robbins pretty much assumes that Winston Churchill is your dad's uncle and that you already have an in-depth understanding of British political history between 1914 and 1951 and that you'll know who all these people are and what all these Acts and Amendments and Battles and Crises are, and I understand that he's trying not to draw out interminably what is in all honesty an incredibly dry book, but had he added an extra fifty pages of explanation to the already-slim 176-p. volume, those 176 pages might have been more of a pleasure and less of a tedious, tedious chore.
Still, history is interesting in its own dusty way, and this book manages to shed new light on an old, dead man. In my mind, Winston Churchill = WWII, and that's that, but it turns out that he had a whole life before 1939. Who knew? Most of it consisted of him seizing power and rabble-rousing and being ousted from power and sneaking his way back into power, but his wide variety of political experience ended up being essentially a prep school for his Prime Ministering. It's pretty widely accepted (according to Robbins, but I wouldn't know because I'm an idiot, remember?) that Churchill was only PM because of the war. The situation called for someone with a hefty dose of bull-doggery and intrigue and attention to detail and an apparent ability to go whole weeks without sleeping and lo, Winston was that man.
He was also a bit of a sneaky bastard, sitting down to write one of the first histories of the war almost immediately after it ended, combining his legendary literary skills with all the secret governmental information he was privy to into making one sweet pile of dollars (although I suppose it was pounds, being England. Or was it crowns? A sweet pile of sovereigns? Tuppence? The English are crazy).
I'm starting to think that biographers don't feel like they need to engage their reader. The fact that the person they're writing about is famous is reason enough, and they've put so much damn effort into the research that putting words to paper is about the best they can do. Please, someone, disagree with me. Memoirs and autobiographies tend to be awesome, but straight up bios usually stink up the joint, no? Is it just me? Maybe Lance Kurke, Ph.D was right and I am the problem.
(review originally posted on www.booksidoneread.blogspot.com)
June 29, 2016
Keith Robbins has written a fine focused and short "Study" of Winston Churchill's life and his career. This book is part of the excellent series, Profiles In Power, of which Keith Robbins is the General Editor. This is a series I urge you to look at if you are interested in looking into the paths and experiences of key world leaders. Churchill's rise to power is a dramatic "Case Study" of a brilliant, flawed, unpredictable journey marked by set backs, loss of friends through his political maneuvering and his absolute belief in himself and his call to "Destiny." As a study in Leadership, Robbins gives us a careful, superbly crafted and written book into Churchill's "Character as a Leader." This is a valuable case study for anyone seeking to understand and seeking to unlock the special qualities of this remarkable man. Was Winston Churchill born with a "DNA" destined to succeed? Or, was he an individual whose wide experiences , combined with a gift and ability to understand history, give him the Vision so important and vital in a successful leader? Keith Robbins successfully gives us the insights into the man allowing you to make your own judgement through your own insightful experiences and intuition. Churchill's greatest gift to all of us may be his magnificent defiance in defeat when his strength of character, along with the power of his words was all that stood between Hitler's success and the freedom of the world.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews