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decade.” Kimball, Warren F., ed. Churchill and Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence, 3 Vols., 1983, 2192 pages, Zoller A463. This seminal three-volume achievement collects all the Roosevelt-Churchill correspondence, carefully arranging and footnoting every communication between them. Kimball adds scholarly connecting tissue to reveal the background, and his own opinions. A major sourcework, not least for Kimball’s own subsequent books such as The Ju gler and Forged in War, which we also recommend. Langworth, Richard M. A Connoisseur’s Guide to the Books of Sir Winston Churchill, 1998, 372 pages, Zoller A616. A guide to Churchill’s works for bibliophiles, scholars, collectors and librarians which combines features of a buyer’s guide, book review and catalogue of editions, issues, states and variants—English, American, Canadian, Australian and foreign. Includes aesthetic judgments, comments of contemporary reviewers and the author; about 200 photos. Reves Award 2000. Larres, Klaus. Churchill’s Cold War: The Politics of Personal Diplomacy, 2002, 592 pages. While one hundred pages of this book cover Churchill’s pre- World War II career, most of the work is dedicated to his actions during and after it: a tour de force that dispels the “widespread perception of Churchill as a simplistic cold warrior,” as the author says. Depicts a depth of personal diplomacy that was both imaginative and visionary, whether or not it succeeded or failed, and WSC experienced ample cases of both. Makovsky, Michael. Churchill’s Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft, 2007, 368 pages. Makovsky’s excellent study on the statecraft of Churchill over Jewish matters is a highly readable accompanying work to Gilbert’s Churchill and the Jews. Both books provide up to date archival research and perspectives on Zionism that were not available, or not offered by, earlier writers. Manchester, William and Reid, Paul. The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, 1983-88, 2 vols., vol. 3 to come by 2010, 1730 pages to date, Zoller A453. The longest biography short of the O.B. Lyrical, romantic, overwhelmingly pro- Churchill and not without factual errors, it nevertheless captures his life and times better than any other full-scale biography. FINEST HoUR 140 / 25 While patronizing and gratuitous in parts, it has probably brought more lay readers to Churchill than any other single Churchill title. Reves Award 1995. McMenamin, Michael and Zoller, Curt. Becoming Winston Churchill: The Untold Story of Young Winston and his American Mentor, 2007, 274 pages. One of the most important recent books about Churchill packs his full correspondence with the man who made him who he was. A book of the year candidate for its extraordinary insights into Churchill’s genius. If you want to know what made Churchill the extraordinary personality he became, you have to contemplate the events of 1895—the most important of which was meeting Cockran. Meacham, Jon. Franklin and Winston, 2003, 412 pages. This book’s virtue is not that it expresses so much that is new, but that it skillfully distills everything that matters about the Roosevelt-Churchill relationship from every key source, while forming its own conclusions. Beautifully written, it gathers the testimony of virtually every witness present at the time—a true achievement. While you may not agree with every conclusion, you will find it hard to put down. Reves Award 2004. Midgely, Peter, ed. The Heroic Memory: Memorial Addresses to the Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Spencer Churchill Society, Edmonton, Alberta, 1965-1969, 2004, 438 pages. No collection of books by WSC’s associates is complete without these sterling speeches by such luminaries as Lord Mountbatten, Mark Clark, Colin Coote, Jock Colville, Lord and Lady Soames, Fitzroy Maclean, and more—the first twenty-five years of speeches to the first Churchill Society and the only one founded in WSC’s lifetime. Montague Browne, Anthony. Long Sunset: Memoirs of Winston Churchill’s Last Private Secretary, 1995, 376 pages, Zoller A576. An intimate memoir of “life on the inside,” eloquently written by Sir Anthony; forthright and at times blunt, for the author has very conservative views. Eminently readable and exciting, the book also covers the author’s career in the RAF, Foreign Office, and as a courtier to the Queen. Moran, Lord (Charles), Churchill at War 1940-45, 2002, 352 pp., Zoller A301. While the original work was published in 1966, this new edition qualifies it for our list (along with the 1968 response to it: see Wheeler-Bennett, >>
1968-2008 FIFTY BEST BOOKS... page 27). Alistair Cooke wrote (FH 118) of “the unique pleasure of the book is the doctor’s eye for Churchill’s human foibles and ear for the tang of his speech.” Muller, James W., ed., Churchill as Peacemaker, 1997, 344 pages, Zoller A624. An elegant testimonial to Churchill’s peace efforts from South Africa to India, Yalta to Bermuda, ably refutes the canard that he was only a man of war. Nine leading historians shed light on each phase, highlighting many little-known episodes. Editor won Farrow Award, 1995. Nel, Elizabeth. Winston Churchill’s Secretary: Recollections of the Great Man by a Woman Who Worked for Him, 2007, 178 pages, Zoller A196. This charming memoir was first published in 1958, but its recent revival makes it essential for any list of top Churchill works. With WSC from 1941 to 1945, the author accompanied him to numerous critical summit meetings. Primary source testimony to why his staff remained devoted. Ramsden, John. Man of the Century: Winston Churchill and His Legend since 1945, 2002, 652 pages. A tour d’horizon of how Churchill fashioned his own legend and how that image has played out and transformed over time, full of information, with faultless prose and endless detail. Ramsden also considers how major historians dealt with the image, and how so many institutions were founded in his name, from grammar schools to The Churchill Centre. If you want to know the hows and whys of WSC’s image, read this book. Farrow Award 2003. Reynolds, David. In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War, 2004, 646 pages. The first in-depth study of how Churchill wrote his memoirs to create “a useable past that would secure his fortune, vindicate his judgment and assist his ongoing political career....a masterly feat of sustained scholarly analysis,” as Paul Addison describes it. Indispensable to understanding WSC the writer. Reves Award 2003. Reynoldson, Fiona. Winston Churchill, 2002, 64 pages. The shortest book in our list, but it’s the best “juvenile” ever published. Covers every aspect of Churchill in twenty chapters with excellent illustrations, timeline, list of key people, glossary, index, and an allimportant page on how British government works. Brief but accurate sidebars pace the story, explaining clearly why WSC did FINEST HoUR 140 / 26 what he did, how he felt about it, and why it matters. Still in print, this needs to be disseminated widely. Reves Award 2003. Rhodes James, Sir Robert. Churchill: A Study in Failure, 1900-1939, 1972, 372 pages, Zoller A348. An important work on Churchill’s lost causes through 1939, this book develops the controversial argument that Churchill would be a historical footnote had he died before 1939. The author is grinding no personal axes and his analytical work is among the most balanced critiques. Despite the advent of new research and archives, it is still widely quoted. Rhodes James, Sir Robert, ed. Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1897-1963, 1974, 8 vols., 8918 pages. While not entirely complete, 98 percent of Churchill’s oratory must be gathered here, by a young Rhodes James who let on that he was paid all of £5000 for this titanic job. Alas now rare and expensive, this is the masterwork from which all quotations must be drawn, based as it is on Hansard (Parliamentary Debates), with expert introductions by the editor. Russell, Douglas. Winston Churchill Soldier: The Military Life of a Gentleman at War, 2005, 388 pages. Although much of the story has been published variously before, Russell has brought Churchill’s military career together in one compact, highly praised package which qualifies it as essential for the serious Churchill library. The expertly footnoted narrative is never boring, and the depth of the author’s knowledge is manifest throughout. Sandys, Celia. Churchill, 2003, 160 pages. A brief life by WSC’s granddaughter, profusely illustrated and well researched. Widely admired for its applications to education, used as a tool by the Churchill Centre to reach young people: an ideal “Churchill 101,” and an introduction to the author’s other books, notably including Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive and Chasing Churchill, the latter now a television documentary. Seldon, Anthony. Churchill’s Indian Summer: The Conservative Government, 1951-1955, 1981, 662 pages, Zoller 442. Virtually all biographies run quickly through Churchill’s second premiership, from 1951 through 1955. Here is the only work thus far which concentrates in detail on that Conservative Government, distinguished by numerous first-person interviews.
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Page 62 and 63: THE CHURCHILL QUIZ JAMES R. LANCAST
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Churchill Centre Regional and Local
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