detailed recounting of the European front in WWII in a Winston wrap
This book has a point of view, e.g. starting off the first sentence of the introduction by calling Churchill right"one of the greatest human beings of the twentieth century, indeed of all time." For a moment I thought I was reading about Gandhi, or Steve Jobs. But this is a hefty well-researched work that shows you can have a point of view, even some snide tabloidish commentary, while still relating historical facts that don't support it. It would have been nice if the author could have brought himself to use the word "racism" when contrasting Churchill's defense of the free world while not extending those ideals to his "brown and black" colonial subjects, instead giving him a pass with a who's got the time when you're so busy with a world war.
But beyond the Winston worship, this is a detailed and unsparing account of the war (the competence of …
This book has a point of view, e.g. starting off the first sentence of the introduction by calling Churchill right"one of the greatest human beings of the twentieth century, indeed of all time." For a moment I thought I was reading about Gandhi, or Steve Jobs. But this is a hefty well-researched work that shows you can have a point of view, even some snide tabloidish commentary, while still relating historical facts that don't support it. It would have been nice if the author could have brought himself to use the word "racism" when contrasting Churchill's defense of the free world while not extending those ideals to his "brown and black" colonial subjects, instead giving him a pass with a who's got the time when you're so busy with a world war.
But beyond the Winston worship, this is a detailed and unsparing account of the war (the competence of the British military and Churchill's military meddling don't come off well here), the messy politics of dealing with various devils (which the author notes would have been good background reading for those recently attempting regime change), and profile of the other principals including Roosevelt and Stalin (referred to repeatedly as the "Soviet warlord" but it would have been shorter to just say use his name), and the British public, who decided Churchill was who they needed during the war, but not the right person to lead them to a new post-war Britain.