Product Description

Pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before. Winston Churchill was the greatest war leader Britain ever had. In 1940, the nation rallied behind him in an extraordinary fashion. But thereafter, argues Max Hastings, there was a deep divide between what Churchill wanted from the British people and their army, and what they were capable of delivering. Himself a hero, he expected others to show themselves heroes also, and was often disappointed. It is little understood how low his popularity fell in 1942, amid an unbroken succession of battlefield defeats. Some of his closest colleagues joined a clamour for him to abandon his role directing the war machine. Hastings paints a wonderfully vivid image of the Prime Minister in triumph and tragedy. He describes the 'second Dunkirk' in 1940, when Churchill's impulsiveness threatened to lose Britain almost as many troops in north-west France as had been saved from the beaches; his wooing of the Americans, and struggles with the Russians. British wartime unity was increasingly tarnished by workers' unrest, with many strikes in mines and key industries. By looking at Churchill from the outside in, through the eyes of British soldiers, civilians and newspapers, and also those of Russians and Americans, Hastings provides new perspectives on the greatest Englishman. He condemns as folly Churchill's attempt to promote mass uprisings in occupied Europe, and details 'Unthinkable', his amazing 1945 plan for an Allied offensive against the Russians to liberate Poland. Here is an intimate and affectionate portrait of Churchill as Britain's saviour, but also an unsparing examination of the wartime nation which he led and the performance of its armed forces.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #264 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 576 pages

About the Author
Max Hastings studied at Charterhouse and Oxford and became a foreign correspondent, reporting from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard. He has won many awards for his journalism. Among his bestselling books 'Bomber Command' won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both 'Overlord' and 'Battle for the Falklands' won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize. After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was knighted in 2002. He now lives in Berkshire.

Customer Reviews

Hastings on Churchill's vital contribution to victory
What more is there to say about Churchill? There is certainly no shortage of books, biographies, autobiographies and histories written about Britain's wartime leader.
Hastings seeks to show how Churchill was so crucial to the eventual Allies' victory in World War II in spite of his well known faults.
Although largely a praising work, Finest Years does lay bare faults, such as his impetuous addiction to (usually disastrous) raids and smaller operations for Britain's over-stretched forces.
But overall Hastings finds that Churchill's personality, drive and charisma were crucial in securing overall victory.
He argues persuasively that it was Churchill, who, in the dark days of 1940, had the resolve to continue the fight when all other alternative premieres were advocating coming to an accord with the Nazis.
In a time when Britain and its Empire was viewed with suspicion and even hate by many Americans, his courting of their good opinions through well received visits was important in putting the case for entering the war across.
Churchill's strategic judgement, often criticised, is also praised - he saw very early that the only way to victory was by the US entering the conflict, and also, as a famed hater of Bolshevism, he swallowed his pride, endured many insults and double dealing, and supported the Russians.
Hastings puts forward an argument that it was only Churchill who was equipped to lead Britain to victory - and it is hard to argue with him.
I don't think it shows us an awful lot new, but Hastings brings his considerable judgement to bear on this time to excellent effect.

A good read
I have long admired Max Hastings approach and style of writing. He takes subjects and following obviously long and detailed research, creates a work that details and highlights historical events with clarity and considered judgement. The subject of Winston Churchill must have been a mammoth undertaking, given the wealth of material available. Although I have not read any other book in WSC and this period, this book takes you into all the challenges he faced at the time. It has made me reconsider the British relationship with the USA and made me fully understand some of the major events that led to the way Europe developed in the post war period. A really good read, and enlightening.

Hastings, Churchill and the War: as good a read as it gets?
All the qualities you expect in a work by Max Hastings; an absolute wealth of equitably balanced information and opinion, entertainingly presented in, appropriately, more the style of Editor than Armageddon.

I imagine that most readers will already be aware of Winston's very many human faults and eccentricities and what an absolute nightmare he must have been to have worked with. Finest Years will do nothing to confound your opinion, nor persuade you that you missed the opportunity of a thousand years.