Tag: Simon Schama

Manchester
Martin Gilbert’s spontaneity was part of his charm. Here he is with good friend Jacqueline Dean Witter on our 1996 Churchill’s England tour, where he led fifty people on a fast-paced walkabout in London. The venue is Horse Guards Parade, with Churchill’s Admiralty in the background.
Churchill’s Biographers: Manchester vs. Gilbert

Churchill’s Biographers: Manchester vs. Gilbert

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Man­ches­ter vs. Gilbert is excerpt­ed from a longer piece which can read in entire­ty on the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. 

Question:

I’ve been slog­ging through the William Man­ches­ter Churchill tril­o­gy, The Last Lion. How is Hillsdale’s eight vol­ume Win­ston S. Churchill by Ran­dolph Churchill and Mar­tin Gilbert dif­fer­ent? —M.A., Louisiana.

Answer:

If you are slog­ging through Man­ches­ter, you may find Gilbert a chal­lenge. There is a vast dif­fer­ence, both writ­ers have their advan­tages, but Gilbert is the source on which schol­ars rely.

Music by Churchill, Lyrics by Manchester

William Man­ches­ter was a styl­ist, a lyri­cal, beau­ti­ful writer.…

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Roberts
Admiring but not uncritical, Roberts’ book is a masterpiece. To paraphrase Simon Schama, it is a Churchilliad, and Andrew Roberts is its Bard. (Cartoon by David Low on WSC’s 80th birthday.)
“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’ Superb Churchill Biography

“No Cutlet Uncooked”: Andrew Roberts’ Superb Churchill Biography

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Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walk­ing with Des­tiny. New York, Viking, 2018, 1152 pages, $40, Ama­zon $25.47, Kin­dle $17.99. Also pub­lished by the Hills­dale Col­lege Churchill Project. For Hills­dale reviews of Churchill works since 2014, click here. For a list of and notes on books about Churchill from 1905 cur­rent­ly through 1995, vis­it Hillsdale’s anno­tat­ed bib­li­og­ra­phy.

“No Cutlet Uncooked”

He lies at Bladon in Eng­lish earth, “which in his finest hour he held invi­o­late.” He would enjoy the con­tro­ver­sy he still stirs today, in media he nev­er dreamed of. He would rev­el in the assaults of his detrac­tors, the ripostes of his defend­ers.…

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Schama
Photograph by Walter Stoneman, 1940.
“Unswerving Moral Decency”: Churchill Remembered by Simon Schama

“Unswerving Moral Decency”: Churchill Remembered by Simon Schama

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At a time when Churchill is under vio­lent and irra­tional attack, it is time for a ton­ic. One good anti­dote to it all  is an elo­quent essay by Simon Schama.

Years ago the Colum­bia his­to­ri­an reviewed, for The New Repub­lic, Mar­tin Gilbert‘s offi­cial biog­ra­phy Vol­ume VI, Finest Hour 1939-1941. It was, inci­den­tal­ly a fine trib­ute to Sir Mar­tin, whose epic biog­ra­phy Pro­fes­sor Schama chris­tened “The Churchilliad.”

What we should con­sid­er right now, though, are Schama’s ever­green words about Churchill. Mar­tin Gilbert’s vol­ume VI reach­es its apogee in May 1940—the very time com­mem­o­rat­ed by the movie Dark­est Hour.…

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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