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Winston S. Churchill: Finest Hour, 1939–1941 (Winston S. Churchill Biography) Kindle Edition
Starting with the outbreak of war in September 1939 and ending with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, this volume in the epic biography of Winston S. Churchill draws on remarkably diverse material: from the War Cabinet and other government records to Churchill’s own archive and diaries and letters of his private secretariat to the recollections of those who worked most closely with him.
On the day Hitler invaded Poland, Churchill, aged sixty-four, had been out of office for ten years. Two days later, he became First Lord of the Admiralty, in charge of British naval policy and at the center of war direction. In May 1940 he became prime minister, leading his nation during a time of grave danger and setbacks. His first year and a half as prime minister included the Dunkirk evacuation, the fall of France, the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the Battle of the Atlantic, the struggle in the Western Desert, and Hitler’s invasion of Russia.
By the end of 1940, Britain under Churchill’s leadership had survived the onslaught and was making plans to continue the war against an enemy of unlimited ambition and ferocious will. One of Churchill’s inner circle said: “We who worked with Churchill every day of the war still saw at most a quarter of his daily tasks and worries.” Martin Gilbert has pieced together the whole, setting in context much hitherto scattered and secret evidence, in order to give an intimate and fascinating account of the architect of Britain’s “finest hour.”
“The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.” —Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRosettaBooks
- Publication dateApril 5, 2015
- File size12209 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B07NMSQN8F
- Publisher : RosettaBooks (April 5, 2015)
- Publication date : April 5, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 12209 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 1296 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #159,513 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #10 in Historical Russian Biographies
- #18 in Historical French Biographies
- #27 in Historical German Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Learn more about Sir Martin at www.martingilbert.com
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Sir Martin Gilbert CBE is the official biographer of Winston Churchill and a leading historian on the Twentieth Century, who, in his 88 books has shown there is such a thing as "true history".
Apart from the seven Churchill Biographies, accompanied by seventeen Churchill documents, a lifetimes work; his other major works includes Churchill a Life,The First World War, The Second World War,The Holocaust,Israel A History, History of the Twentieth Century and his nine pioneering atlases which harness cartography to history.
Born in London in 1936 to Jewish parents, Peter and Miriam Gilbert whose own parents came as refugees from Czarist Russia, he was sent with his parents to Cornwall in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. In the spring of 1940, Martin was evacuated with thousands of children to safety in Canada and returned from Toronto after four years in 1944 as a seven year old boy with his parents and baby sister. They were later evacuated, to Wales, where they were when the war ended. He attended Highgate School for ten years from 1945 to 1955.From 1955 to 1957, Martin did his National Service and in 1957, received a Demyship to Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating in 1960 with first-class honours in modern history.
Two years were spent as a Research Scholar at St Antony's College, Oxford where Gilbert was approached by Randolph Churchill to assist his work on a biography of his father, Sir Winston Churchill. That same year, 1962, Gilbert was made a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and he spent the next few years combining his own research projects in Oxford with being part of Randolph's research team in Suffolk, working on the first two volumes of the Churchill biography. When Randolph died in 1968, Gilbert was commissioned to take over the task, completing the remaining six main volumes of the biography.
In 1995, he was awarded a Knighthood "for services to British history and international relations and in 1999 Merton, Oxford, awarded Sir Martin Gilbert a DLitt, " for the totality of his published work."
Researching and exploring, lecturing and teaching, Sir Martin had many travels to major cities throughout the United States and Canada. His travels through Europe included lectures in Lisbon, Cracow, Skopje, Kaunas, Prague, Geneva, and Paris, among others. In each place he visited old friends, made new ones, and was constantly making notes of personal experiences or eye-witness accounts he could weave into his books.
"I returned from New York to Liverpool by ship in April 1944. Since then, having been a mini-part of history, I have never stopped travelling in search of history."
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For your money's sake, sometimes one purchases a series of books because they look impressive on a bookcase, or feel good in the hands, or give one a warm feeling when they catch the eye. These look great. Thick, heavy, well-made, good paper stock, with attractive matching dust jackets in tones muted, yet eye-catching. If you want books for display, but don't want to shell out buckets of money for the Easton Press series, do yourself a favor and buy some Brodart dust covers and wrap them around the dust jackets, as I did.
For your time's sake, it was reading Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson that convinced me of the value of reading history at ground level. But few historical characters really stand up to a day-by-day study. Churchill certainly does. To read the story of his life just one step removed from his elbow is to witness the center of events for the bulk of the 20th Century. Along the way, we meet virtually every character who put a stamp on the 20th Century.
This volume begins almost on the day of Churchill's rehabilitation and entry back into Chamberlain's government at the outbreak of hostilities (such as they were) in 1939, and carries through the fall of France (with Churchill making several dangerous trips to France in an effort to prop up his ally), the invasion of the Soviet Union (with Churchill instantly offering support to Stalin both publicly and privately), and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But for me, the most dramatic and gripping part of this drama is none of these, nor even the Battle of Britain, but the agonizing to-and-fro of Neville Chamberlain clinging to power which he was not capable of using well, while Churchill, who had prepared for this role his whole life, loyally supported his chief. It took a will of carbon-fiber steel not to quail at taking the helm as France crumpled, the BEF stood under-equipped before the panzered might of the Reich, and no ally existed anywhere in the world.
I suppose some might accuse Gilbert of hagiography, but I frankly disagree. Writing honestly about Churchill's life appears overly fawning precisely because he was a man who sought responsibility even more than he sought power, and used his power to discharge his responsibilities as tirelessly as any historical figure one might name. He deserves encomiums. And Gilbert also presents how difficult Churchill could be with equal candor. I can't recommend this series highly enough. Devote the time it takes to read it, and you will not be disappointed.
This is not a book of battles and tactics, but a look into the personalities and details in the midst of the greatest conflict of the 20th century.
Sir Winston was an amazing man who understood the chess games of life at war better it does appear , than any of his counterparts.
Rating this book prior to completing does not enable Justice in the readers evaluation so suffice please, that thus far I'm loving my books.
Most importantly ; THANK you Staff and Administration of Hillsdale College for doing all that you do for the growing numbers of us who know about your amazing academic work!
Sir Winston Churchill was a man of many skills, and many faces.
The last of a very rare breed of man.