Churchill: The Unexpected Hero - Softcover

Addison, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199297436 ISBN 13: 9780199297436

Publisher: Oup Oxford, 2006

Synopsis

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill won two resounding victories. The first was a victory over Nazi Germany, the second a victory over the legion of skeptics who had derided his judgment, denied his claims to greatness, and excluded him from high office on the grounds that he was sure to be a danger to King and Country. Churchill was the only British politician of the twentieth century to become an enduring national hero. The curious thing is that it happened at the age of 65, at a time when he was considered to be a spent force, with a track-record of disastrous decisions. All but the most hostile of his adversaries conceded that he possessed great abilities, remarkable eloquence, and a streak of genius. But it was almost universally agreed that he was a shameless egotist, an opportunist without principles or convictions, an unreliable colleague, an erratic policy-maker who lacked judgment, and a reckless amateur strategist with a dangerous passion for war and bloodshed. At one time or another in his career, he had offended every party and faction in the land, yet despite this he became the embodiment of national unity, an uncrowned king who threatened to eclipse the monarchy. In this incisive new biography, Paul Addison tells the story of Churchill's life in parallel with the history of his reputation. He seeks to explain why Churchill was transformed into a national hero, and why his heroic status has endured ever since in spite of the attempts of iconoclasts to debunk him. He argues that we are now in a position to reach beyond the mythology - both positive and negative - to see the real Winston Churchill, a warrior-statesman whose qualities were remarkably consistent through all the vicissitudes of his career.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Addison is an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars at the University of Edinburgh.

From Booklist

To distinguish his Churchill biography from the many others, historian Addison focuses on Churchill's critics. Whether contemporaries or historians, they are numerous and caustic, calling Churchill an opportunist and a warmonger. Against that stands Churchill's leadership in World War II, which inescapably shadows his prior record in British politics. To his account of the pre-WWII career, Addison appends telling insights on Churchill's character traits, prime among them a profoundly juvenile egotism. Brilliantly intuitive though he was, Churchill, impatient and impulsive, took little account of others' feelings; hence, his acquisition of political enemies over time. Narrating the indictments they leveled at him (twice switching parties, the Dardanelles disaster of WWI), Addison paradoxically humanizes Churchill, for he is a far more iconic figure for Americans than for the British. Nevertheless, Addison makes the case for why Churchill should be iconic, disputing a revisionist school that negatively deconstructs Churchill's actions in WWII. Astute in its interpretations, Addison's work makes for swift reading and is a practical alternative to the monuments by William Manchester and Martin Gilbert. Gilbert Taylor
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About this edition

• Publisher: Oup Oxford
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0199297436
• ISBN 13: 9780199297436
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 322