Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16982 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 1044 pages

Synopsis
This edition is Churchill's own abridgement of his original six-volume history of World War II.

Customer Reviews

the war so easy to avoid
Literary quality of Winston Churchill it's impossible to judge for me, as English, it's clear, isn't my mother tongue.
Only I can say Sir Winston, who had to know all facts about WW II, exposes in this book things that films of Hollywood, a main source of knowledge for people who not lived the war, never or almost have treated. Persia, the Balkans, Iraq, Greece, Gibraltar, inner problems in of British politics are episodes practically never seen in screen or even in other books.
Sir Winston had to be prudent, and I think his criteria about Spanish Civil War is debatable as the attitude of France and Britain of arms embargo to the Spanish Republic. He was divided between two opinions, but was mostly conservative and must of all he didn't wanted a communist party in Spain. He expresses more clearly his opinion about the URSS, the country ruled cruelly by a dictator, but that with no doubt defeated the German Army in ground at an enormous cost. Sir Winston I think is partial but well, he was an Englishman with serious problems. He had a surprising praise for some able military enemies and this detail suggest he was a man with a mind from a past time, as WW II wasn't Boer, Napoleonic or colonial war. That fact supposed surprise and logical criticism toward him. He obviously didn't liked Gral De Gaulle, a conflictive personality but at last a forcemul friend or at less, a valuable or unavoidable allied.
I suppose no matter the extension of this book, Sir Winston never revealed things still secret when he wrote this memoirs. I think he was a true leader, a hard man wise for war, that he knew by direct experience at sea and land, not in the air, a novelty for everybody in the decade of 1940's and there is clear every country expected things partially wrong from war aircraft, some were surpassed, some never happened.
Sir Winston perhaps was not so good as a premier for peace time. British people perceived this and chose him for the heavy burden of war task but not at end of the terrible conflagration. Finally I think Winston Churchill died however, ignoring details of the war he managed. As it were, one can like or not Winston Churchill, he could be wrong or right, but he was an human being. Nazi people didn't merited that qualification, as if a strange fever or madness would have invaded the whole Germany while Japan was a far unknown country with costumes more proper of European Middle Age not understandable for Western countries. In 1930 - 40 TV and popular travels didn't existed and that favoured a fatal lack of understanding.

Awesome
A comprehensive collection of Churchill's history of the Second World War. A fantastic combination of historical fact, 'behind the scene' views of some of the most important events of the 20th Century, all written from a typically Churchillian point of view.

If you are looking for an unbiased overview of the Second World War this won't be for you. In parts Churchill, as one might expect, highlights his greatest achievements, and has an almost 'I told you so' attitude to some aspects (especially the policy of appeasement undertaken in the 1930's). However, who are we to criticise?!

An excellent read.

A great writer and a great leader
Winston Churchill's faults as a peace time politician have been well documented. His failings as a human being have also been pointed out. He was, by many accounts, exasperating, tireless, a control freak and he had an ego. You will get whiffs of all of that as you read this, his own abridgement of his account of the second world war. But what you will also get is the chance to sit on the man's shoulder as he directs the war, anaylyses his enemies, struggles with his own staff and fights to negotiate with Roosevelt and Stalin.

Ok, it's not a comprehensive account of every aspect of the second world war, it is partly biography and does contain Winston's side of the story, but his ability and talent as a writer is amazing. You see the war through his eyes and how lucky we are that he took the time and trouble to write it all down so comprehensively. The unique perspective he gives us, explains in many cases, why things worked out the way they did.

This is great taster to Churchill's talents as a writer and historian.