Winston Churchill: A Brief Life

Richard Nahabedian was Manager, Personell Services, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ontario.

Piers Brendon attempts to present the life of Winston S. Churchill, one of most astonishing men in twentieth century history, in one slender volume. Scepticism arises when one picks up this work, glances at the table of contents, and wonders whether Churchill’s life, from his birth at Blenheim Palace in 1874 to his death in London in 1965, can possibly be satisfactorily chronicled. The answer in this instance is a definite “yes.” Brendon presents the reader with each of the careers Churchill pursued — journalist, soldier, politician, statesman, writer, historian — and cogently chronicles the problems and frustrations he encountered and the successes he achieved. Brendon counterbalances these outward successes with brief accounts of the personages who shaped Churchill’s private thinking and provided him with the courage and support he needed when faced with disaster — his father (Lord Randolph Churchill), mother (Jennie Jerome), and wife (Clementine).

This book is an excellent introduction for the general reader who wishes to know who Winston Churchill was and what he accomplished, but it also serves as the foundation from which to progress to biographies of greater depth. Heavily illustrated. Highly recommended.