Political biography was a gentlemanly affair of delving into one or two archives until Martin Gilbert came on the scene. It founded the British school of Churchillians who admire him 'warts and all'. Research has moved on since then, but as an analysis of the essential Churchill the book has never been surpassed. Churchill: Four Faces and the Man (Various)įirst published in 1969, this sparkling collection of essays anatomised Churchill's qualities as a statesman (AJP Taylor), politician (Robert Rhodes James), historian (JH Plumb), military strategist (Basil Liddell Hart) and depressive human being (Anthony Storr). A classic adventure story, it was also a lament for a vanished age of aristocracy and empire. Written in late middle age, his autobiography recalled his unhappy childhood and his youthful quest for glory as a soldier and war correspondent. The best source on the making of Winston Churchill is still Churchill himself. My top 10 have not been arranged in order of merit - but if they had been, this would still be number one.
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