Category: Reviews

Book, media, audio and video reviews by Richard M. Langworth

Orwell
Publicity photo for the CBS Studio One production of “1984,” 1953: L-R: scenic designer Kim Swados, Norma Crane, Eddie Albert, director Paul Nickell. (CBS, public domain)
Churchill, Orwell and “1984”

Churchill, Orwell and “1984”

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Orwell on Churchill: "It is rumoured that after promising to fight in the streets he turned from the microphone and said: 'We'll throw bottles at the bastards; it's about all we've got left!' One may assume that this story is untrue, but at the time it was felt that it ought to be true. It was a fitting tribute from ordinary people to the tough and humorous old man whom they would not accept as a peacetime leader [in 1945] but whom in the moment of disaster they felt to be representative of themselves."

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Susskind
Robert Hardy in Susskind’s “Churchill.” (PBS).
“Leaders: Churchill,” with Robert Hardy (1986)

“Leaders: Churchill,” with Robert Hardy (1986)

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With all its flaws and inaccuracies, the performance brings out Churchill's greatest characteristic. That was his essential humanity, which made him so different from other leaders past and present. James Humes noted another quality. "Churchill told his audiences what he wanted them to hear." And Sir John Gielgud closes with words to remember. "Churchill was as ordinary as any of us—and as extraordinary as any of us can hope to be."

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"Peaky Blinders"
Neil Maskell nicely portrays Churchill’s collegiality toward Labour MP Tommy Shelby in “Peaky Blinders” (Netflix, https://bit.ly/3aItS2e)
Winston Churchill in “Peaky Blinders” and On the Art of Sleep

Winston Churchill in “Peaky Blinders” and On the Art of Sleep

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Given the differences in ages, Maskell's makeup and mannerisms are excellent. Close-ups are better than full figure shots. Unfortunately the scriptwriter didn't consult the right experts. For example, Churchill wouldn't have lorded over Tommy Shelby for being lesser born than he. That simply was not Churchill's style. Nor did he regard Oswald Mosley as a serious a threat as "Peaky Blinders" makes him.

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Punch
“Mr. Churchill and Friend. ‘Winston: We have both made history and we have both written it. Let us exchange headgear.’” (Oversize collars and absurdly small hats were a feature of Churchill caricatures between the wars.) Cartoon by Leonard Raven-Hill, 14 February 1923. (From “Churchill in Punch”)
Echoes and Memories: Foreword to “Churchill in Punch” by Gary Stiles

Echoes and Memories: Foreword to “Churchill in Punch” by Gary Stiles

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Gary Stiles's new book, "Churchill and Punch," captures their long relationship during an unprecedented career. The best artists of their time represented Punch’s often querulous, at times hilarious, sometimes wry, yet almost always respectful attitude toward Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. In these pages, Gary Stiles and those artists renew those echoes and memories for future generations.

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Bucknell
“The Rival Screevers” (pavement chalk artists). Samuel Hoare: “‘Ullo Mate! So you’ve done an elephant too?” Winston: “Ah! But my composition’s different—an’ I’ve made a lot more of the background.” Hoare and Churchill were on opposite sides over the proposed India Bill granting India more self-government. (Bernard Partridge in “Punch,” 1 November 1933, public domain)
Review: Bucknell University’s Panel on “Churchill, Hero or Colonialist?”

Review: Bucknell University’s Panel on “Churchill, Hero or Colonialist?”

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In an age where Churchill is often subject to one-sided discussions by panelists who agree with each other, Bucknell deserves great credit for seeking balance on a fraught subject. Likewise the panelists, Drs. Arnn, McMeekin and Mukerjee, who manage to disagree without rancor, and to acknowledge each other's points of view. The Bucknell program is definitely worth the time of thoughtful readers.

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Gettysburg
“The Treaty of Harper’s Ferry, which was signed between the Union and Confederate States on 6 September 1863, embodied the two fundamental propositions: that the South was independent, and the slaves were free.” —WSC, 1930
Fantasies: Trollope’s Brittanula, Churchill’s Battle of Gettysburg

Fantasies: Trollope’s Brittanula, Churchill’s Battle of Gettysburg

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1930: Kaiser Wilhelm II may today occupy "the most splendid situation in Europe." But "let him not forget that he might well have found himself eating the bitter bread of exile, a dethroned sovereign and a broken man loaded with unutterable reproach...if Lee had not won the Battle of Gettysburg."

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Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons furnishes a lifelike Neville Chamberlain. (Netflix)
“Munich, The Edge of War,” with Jeremy Irons: Fine Acting, Edgy History

“Munich, The Edge of War,” with Jeremy Irons: Fine Acting, Edgy History

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Regardless of whether you like the movie—and Jeremy Irons gives it an authentic, watchable flavor—we know much more about Munich in the light of scholarship since. We know that Soviet Russia was prepared to stand with Czechoslovakia in 1938, and had become a German ally in 1939. We know how—with the help of Czech armaments—Poland was eradicated in three weeks, the Low Countries in eighteen days, France in six weeks. If resisting Hitler was so ludicrous an idea in 1938, what was there about fighting him in 1939-40 that made it preferable? Given what we know, we are obliged to consider Churchill’s opinion—which was, characteristically, far from baseless.

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My Visit
The Prime Minister presents an Aid to Russia flag to his wife Clementine, 9 December 1941. (Photo by Capt. Horton, Imperial War Museum, public domain)
“My Visit to Russia”: Clementine Churchill’s Wartime Travelogue

“My Visit to Russia”: Clementine Churchill’s Wartime Travelogue

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Clementine Churchill dramatic word-picture of Russia’s devastation remind us of Winston’s words to her about war: “I feel more deeply every year—and can measure the feeling here in the midst of arms—what vile and wicked folly and barbarism it all is.”

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Leaming
WSC visiting the German Reichstag in Berlin, 16 July 1945. Behind him in the Jeep is Anthony Eden. (Photo by Capts. W.T. Lockeyear and E.G. Malindine, No. 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Imperial War Museum, public domain)
“Churchill Defiant,” by Barbara Leaming: Still the Best on Churchill Postwar

“Churchill Defiant,” by Barbara Leaming: Still the Best on Churchill Postwar

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Barbara Leaming: “Others Heard Taps, Churchill Heard Reveille”

Churchill Defi­ant: Fight­ing On 1945-1955, by Bar­bara Leam­ing. Lon­don: Harp­er Press, 394 pages.

“Great cap­tains must take their chance with the rest. Cae­sar was assas­si­nat­ed by his dear­est friend. Han­ni­bal was cut off by poi­son. Fred­er­ick the Great lin­gered out years of lone­li­ness in body and soul. Napoleon rot­ted at St. Hele­na. Com­pared with these, Marl­bor­ough had a good and fair end to his life.” —Win­ston S. Churchill, Marl­bor­ough: His Life and Times, 1936, Book Two.

A decade on, still a book to read

Read­ers some­times ask for the best books to read on Churchill’s career after the Sec­ond World War.…

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Christmas Eve
The White House, 24 December: FDR at the microphones, Churchill to follow. (White House Archives, public domain)
Christmas Eve, Washington, 1941: Eighty Years On

Christmas Eve, Washington, 1941: Eighty Years On

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"Here, in the midst of war, raging and roaring over all the lands and seas, creeping nearer to our hearts and homes, here, amid all the tumult, we have tonight the peace of the spirit in each cottage home and in every generous heart. Therefore we may cast aside for this night at least the cares and dangers which beset us, and make for the children an evening of happiness in a world of storm." —WSC

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RML Books

Richard Langworth’s Most Popular Books & eBooks


Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality

Churchill by Himself

Churchill in His Own Words

Churchill and the Avoidable War

The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill

The Patriot’s Churchill

Triumph Cars - The Complete Story
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