Churchill s Shadow The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill

Churchill s Shadow  The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill
Author: Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Publsiher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 640
Release: 2021-10-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781324002772

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A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A major reassessment of Winston Churchill that examines his lasting influence in politics and culture. Churchill is generally considered one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century, if not the greatest of all, revered for his opposition to appeasement, his defiance in the face of German bombing of England, his political prowess, his deft aphorisms, and his memorable speeches. He became the savior of his country, as prime minister during the most perilous period in British history, World War II, and is now perhaps even more beloved in America than in England. And yet Churchill was also very often in the wrong: he brazenly contradicted his own previous political stances, was a disastrous military strategist, and inspired dislike and distrust through much of his life. Before 1939 he doubted the efficacy of tank and submarine warfare, opposed the bombing of cities only to reverse his position, shamelessly exploited the researchers and ghostwriters who wrote much of the journalism and the books published so lucratively under his name, and had an inordinate fondness for alcohol that once found him drinking whisky before breakfast. When he was appointed to the cabinet for the first time in 1908, a perceptive journalist called him “the most interesting problem of personal speculation in English politics.” More than a hundred years later, he remains a source of adulation, as well as misunderstanding. This revelatory new book takes on Churchill in his entirety, separating the man from the myth that he so carefully cultivated, and scrutinizing his legacy on both sides of the Atlantic. In effervescent prose, shot through with sly wit, Geoffrey Wheatcroft illuminates key moments and controversies in Churchill’s career—from the tragedy of Gallipoli, to his shocking imperialist and racist attitudes, dealings with Ireland, support for Zionism, and complicated engagement with European integration. Charting the evolution and appropriation of Churchill’s reputation through to the present day, Churchill’s Shadow colorfully renders the nuance and complexity of this giant of modern politics.

Churchill s Shadow

Churchill s Shadow
Author: Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Publsiher: Vintage
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-04-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1529110998

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In A.J.P. Taylor's words, Churchill was 'the saviour of his country' when he became prime minister in 1940. Yet he was also a deeply flawed character, whose personal ambition would cloud his political judgement - and as a result he was often plain wrong. While Churchill's Shadow gives due credit to the achievements, it also reveals some spectacular failures; indeed, it appears that for every Finest Hour there were many more Gallipolis. But this book goes beyond the reappraisal of a life and a career- it reveals that Churchill has cast a complex shadow over post-war British history and contemporary politics - from the 'Churchillian stance' of Tony Blair taking the country to war in Iraq to the delusion of a special relationship with the United States to the fateful belief in British exceptionalism- that the nation can once again stand alone in Europe. Geoffrey Wheatcroft takes a radically different approach to other biographies and studies of Churchill, zooming in on crucial moments in his life that help us understand the man in his many contradictions. Churchill's Shadow both tells the story of his extraordinary life and the equally fascinating one of his legacy, focusing on how Churchill was viewed by contemporaries and those who came after.

In Churchill s Shadow

In Churchill s Shadow
Author: David Cannadine
Publsiher: Oxford University Press on Demand
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2004-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780195171563

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With In Churchill's Shadow, David Cannadine offers an intriguing look at ways in which perceptions of a glorious past have continued to haunt the British present, often crushing efforts to shake them off. The book centers on Churchill, a titanic figure whose influence spanned the century. Though he was the savior of modern Britain, Churchill was a creature of the Victorian age. Though he proclaimed he had not become Prime Minister to "preside over the liquidation of the British Empire," in effect he was doomed to do just that. And though he has gone down in history for his defiant orations during the crisis of World War II, Cannadine shows that for most of his career Churchill's love of rhetoric was his own worst enemy. Cannadine turns an equally insightful gaze on the institutions and individuals that embodied the image of Britain in this period: Gilbert & Sullivan, Ian Fleming, Noel Coward, the National Trust, and the Palace of Westminster itself, the home and symbol of Britain's parliamentary government. This superb volume offers a wry, sympathetic, yet penetrating look at how national identity evolved in the era of the waning of an empire.

Churchill s Shadow Raiders

Churchill s Shadow Raiders
Author: Damien Lewis
Publsiher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-04-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780806540634

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From bestselling and award-winning war reporter Damien Lewis and for fans of Erik Larsen’s The Splendid and Vile and Alex Kershaw’s The Forgotten 500 comes a thrilling account of one of the most daring raids of WWII…the true story of the race to stop Hitler from developing a top-secret weapon that would change the course of history. "One of the most readable World War 2 history books I have read in years” —We Are the Mighty In the winter of 1941, as Britain faced defeat on all fronts, an RAF reconnaissance pilot photographed an alien-looking object on the French coast near Le Havre. The mysterious device—a “Wurzburg Dish”—appeared to be a new form of radar technology: ultra-compact, highly precise, and pointed directly across the English Channel. Britain’s experts found it hard to believe the Germans had mastered such groundbreaking technology. But one young technician thought it not only possible, he convinced Winston Churchill that the dish posed a unique and deadly threat to Allied forces, one that required desperate measures—and drastic action . . . Capturing the radar on film had been an amazing coup. Stealing it away from under the noses of the Nazis would be remarkable. So was launched Operation Biting, a mission like no other. An extraordinary “snatch-and-grab” raid on Germany’s secret radar installation, it offered Churchill’s elite airborne force, the Special Air Service, a rare opportunity to redeem themselves after a previous failed mission—and to shift the tides of war forever. Led by the legendary Major John Frost, these brave paratroopers would risk all in a daring airborne assault, with only a small stretch of beach menaced by enemy guns as their exit point. With the help of a volunteer radar technician who knew how to dismantle the dish, as well as the courageous men and women of the French Resistance, they succeeded against all odds in their act of brazen robbery. Some would die. Others would be captured. All fought with resolute bravery . . . This is the story of that fateful night of February 27, 1942. A brilliantly told, thrillingly tense account of Churchill’s raiders in their finest hour, this is World War II history at its heart-stopping best. “This highly informative book almost reads like a genuine techno-thriller." —New York Journal of Books “A little-known behind-the-lines spectacular led by two heroic British officers.” —Kirkus Reviews “Anyone who wants to learn more about the origins of the British Special Forces should read this book. It intertwines historical research and eyewitness testimony to tell the untold story of heroism, courage, and ingenuity.” —Military Press “Lewis presents a richly detailed and nail-biting tale.” —Library Journal

Target Churchill

Target Churchill
Author: Warren Adler,James C. Humes
Publsiher: Unknown
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2017-01-24
Genre: Electronic Book
ISBN: 1953959016

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The Long Shadow The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century

The Long Shadow  The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century
Author: David Reynolds
Publsiher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2014-05-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780393244298

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Winner of the 2014 PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for the Best Work of History. "If you only read one book about the First World War in this anniversary year, read The Long Shadow. David Reynolds writes superbly and his analysis is compelling and original." —Anne Chisolm, Chair of the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize Committee, and Chair of the Royal Society of Literature. One of the most violent conflicts in the history of civilization, World War I has been strangely forgotten in American culture. It has become a ghostly war fought in a haze of memory, often seen merely as a distant preamble to World War II. In The Long Shadow critically acclaimed historian David Reynolds seeks to broaden our vision by assessing the impact of the Great War across the twentieth century. He shows how events in that turbulent century—particularly World War II, the Cold War, and the collapse of Communism—shaped and reshaped attitudes to 1914–18. By exploring big themes such as democracy and empire, nationalism and capitalism, as well as art and poetry, The Long Shadow is stunningly broad in its historical perspective. Reynolds throws light on the vast expanse of the last century and explains why 1914–18 is a conflict that America is still struggling to comprehend. Forging connections between people, places, and ideas, The Long Shadow ventures across the traditional subcultures of historical scholarship to offer a rich and layered examination not only of politics, diplomacy, and security but also of economics, art, and literature. The result is a magisterial reinterpretation of the place of the Great War in modern history.

The Dream

The Dream
Author: Winston S. Churchill
Publsiher: Rosetta Books
Total Pages: 33
Release: 2014-05-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780795329388

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A powerful, emotional short story from the prime minister and Pulitzer Prize–winning author, detailing a conversation with the ghost of his beloved father. Legendary politician and military strategist Winston S. Churchill was a master not only of the battlefield, but of the page and the podium. Over the course of forty books and countless speeches, broadcasts, news items and more, he addressed a country at war and at peace, thrilling with victory but uneasy with its shifting role in global politics. In 1953, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for “his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.” During his lifetime, he enthralled readers and brought crowds roaring to their feet; in the years since his death, his skilled writing has inspired generations of eager history buffs. In this rare work of fiction, Churchill imagines a visit from the ghost of his father, Randolph. Churchill reveals to his father all that has happened in the world since his death in 1895, leaving out one crucial detail: his own critical role in determining the unfolding of world events. His yearning for his late father shines through his terse, careful prose, lending emotional weight and nostalgia to this unusual foray into fiction.

Churchill s Band of Brothers

Churchill s Band of Brothers
Author: Damien Lewis
Publsiher: Citadel Press
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2021-04-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780806541389

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One of WWII’s most daring Allied D-Day missions and the hunt for Hitler’s war criminals is brought to breathtaking life by award-winning, bestselling war reporter Damien Lewis. Award-winning, bestselling author Damien Lewis explores one of WWII’s most remarkable Special Forces missions during the Normany landings on D-Day—and the extraordinary hunt that followed to take down a cadre of fugitive SS and Gestapo war criminals. On the night of June 13th, 1944, a twelve-man SAS unit parachuted into occupied France. Their objective: hit German forces deep behind the lines, cutting the rail-tracks linking Central France to the northern coastline. In a country crawling with enemy troops, their mission was to prevent Hitler from rushing his Panzer divisions to the D-Day beaches and driving the Allied troops back into the sea. It was a Herculean task, but no risk was deemed too great to stop the Nazi assault. In daring to win it all, the SAS patrol were ultimately betrayed, captured, and tortured by the Gestapo before facing execution in a dark French woodland on Hitler’s personal orders. Miraculously, two of the condemned men managed to escape, triggering one of the most-secretive Nazi-hunting operations ever, as the SAS vowed to track down every one of the war criminals who had murdered their brothers in arms . . . all with Churchill’s covert backing. With Nazi Germany’s lightning seizure of much of Western Europe, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had called for the formation of specially trained troops of the “hunter class.” Their purpose was to incite a reign of terror across enemy-occupied Europe. Churchill’s warriors were to shatter all known rules of warfare, taking the fight to the enemy with no holds barred. In doing so, the Special Air Service would be tested as never before during the pivotal D-Day landings, and the quest for vengeance that followed. Breathtaking and exhaustively researched, Churchill’s Band of Brothers is based upon a raft of new and unseen material provided by the families of those who were there. It reveals the untold story of one of the most daring missions of WWII, that not only had ramifications for the war itself, but lead to the most extraordinary and gripping of aftermaths.