A friend recently recommended I read Winston Churchill's book " My Early Life" I did and enjoyed it immensely. I am toying with buying his six volume history of WWII. I am not sure if I want to make the commitment or not. Has anyone here read it? If so, what did you think? I have several books around here that I purchased with every intention of reading, but got bogged down in and have not finished. Thanks, Waldo.

Any decent library should have it or can get it. Take a look and see what you think.

One of the first book set sthat I bought way back when. Mandatory for the WWII library.

Tomorrow, 20 August, his "so much owed by so many to so few" will be read exactly 70 years after he gave it Parliament.

Keep in mind that his delightful, "My Early Life" was a witty autobiography. The work you're thinking of getting is a formal history of the greatest conflict of all time. The style and scope is different.

But I doubt that any other author has dealt so well with that war, in an overview. Individual accounts may be more interesting to the average reader and lend a more human touch. But as history, I doubt that you'll find better, by one of the main plotters of that war's strategy.

T-Star

His History of the English-Speaking Peoples was well worth it; I have heard his history of WWII is as good.

I wonder whether the US media will mention that. I certainly hope so.

I real it years ago and consider it essential reading for any serious history buff. Churchill was truly one of the most influential men to live in the past 100 years - and then some.

I have all Churchill's major works and many of his early minor works including novels. They are always worth an occasional reread as my pea-brain doesn't retain things well. I would recommend "Second World War" highly.

Some years ago I was at a large gathering and the question was passed around: If you could spend an evening dining with anyone living or dead, who would you choose. An amazing number chose the current hot actress or other celebrity entertainer of the day. Some went the religious route. I chose Winston Churchill. He is my favorite historical character.

And no, Texas Star, the U.S. media sadly will not mention it. They are far more interested in stirring the pot with the president's real choice of religion (he's not TRULY anything in my view), Tiger Woods, and Lindsey Lohan. All is "yuck" in my view.

I wonder if Pat Buchanan will go off on some incoherent pro-Hitler tirade over it. He really has an obsession with hating Churchill, to the extent that he's willing to dive into a bottomless pit of fantasy in order to justify siding with Hitler.

Well worth reading. "My Early Life" was made into a movie somewhere in the 70s, titled "Young Winston". It's a bit hard to find and pricey, though.

The WWII set was published in paperback but the print is pretty small.

The movie got a lot of attention in the gun press at the time because of the portrayal of his use of a Mauser Broomhandle.

He is one of my most admired people, I have the set, a gift from a friend, her father passed and had it in his library. I'll admit, I haven't read it yet, but I have every intention of digging into it when I have more time.

I have a copy of the one of those motivational posters on my wall in my office, shows a picture of Winston with a sten gun and has a quote attributed to him, "Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."

Truly one of the great men of all time...

My mother was in the Belgian Resistance during World War II. Her first husband, the leader of a Belgian Resistance group, was eventually captured and endured more than a year of torture and Hell at Breendonk, south of Brussels. He was executed two weeks before D-Day.
Mom was twice imprisoned by the Gestapo, at St. Gilles Prison in Brussels.
Though she met an American G.I. (my father) after the Battle of the Bulge, and came to America in 1947 to marry him, she had the highest regard for the British.
I recall coming home from school in early 1965, when I was nine years old, and noticing that my mother had been crying. My father, a construction electrician, was often on the road. I immediately feared that something had happened to Dad.
"Winston Churchill died," she said, making me a snack on the counter while her back was turned. Then her shoulders sagged and her head hung a moment. She returned to the task at hand and rather quickly set the snack on the table and hurried away.
I sort of knew who Churchill was, because both parents had been in the war.
Mom came back a little while later, looking fine.
That little moment always impressed me with how much, and how far, Churchill affected the lives of people.
Later, when the National Geographic arrived, it had a small 45 rpm record enclosed that included recordings from his funeral. Mom looked through that issue and sighed occasionally. By then, the tears were over.

During the war, the Oppressed heard him on their radios, broadcasting from London, nearly every night.
For all of Europe, Churchill was the lifeguard standing on the beach yelling, "Hang on! Help's coming for you! Just hang on!"
He gave people hope, and inspired them to do what they could until help arrived.
And when he died, he gave an entire world a heartache, a reflection -- and an example of someone to emulate. Like any legend, he wasn't perfect; but his voice calmed and assured millions that they were not forgotten.
I don't believe the world's seen anyone like him since.

I have read the six volume WWII set twice. It's not an easy read, but well worth the effort. I have also read the four volume "History of the English-Speaking Peoples" and like it too. I have read most of the other books by and about Churchill, except for his biography of John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough, his ancestor. I hope to get that soon.

BTW, if you want to prowl used bookstores (or used book websites), you can find hardback copies of these series for very reasonable prices.


Buck

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile -- hoping it will eat him last.
Winston Churchill

One of the great and possibly the greatest leader of the 20th century.

It was in, "My Early Life" that Churchill described using that pistol in the cavalry charge at Omdurman. I believe that he said that he killed three men "for certain", got a couple of probables, and one "doubtful" as the Dervishes tried to kill him. Not bad, for one magazine fired while on horseback!

The quip about there being nothing quite so exhilarating (sp?) as being shot at without effect was from his description of having been under fire as a young officer in what is now Pakistan. At that time, he was carrying a Wilkinson-Webley .455, Model of 1892. When he went to France in WWI, he wore a Colt .45 auto. I think his use of it was why the .45 became the standard sidearm of the WWII Commandos, a force raised at his suggestion.

T-Star

A great story about Churchill. On one of his trips to Washington, Churchill stayed overnight at the White House as guest of President Roosevelt. Late at night Roosevelt knocked on Churchill's bedroom door and entered where he found Churchill standing naked drinking a glass of whiskey.

Roosevelt apologized and Churchill responded, " There will be no secrets between us Franklin!"

__________________
TomD

I recently discovered a large used book store not too far away from me. Next time I'm up there I'll hunt for Churchill's books. For a different perspective, I just finished Albert Speer's autobiography, Inside the Third Reich, and found that very interesting too. I think, all of these guys presented their facts in a light most favorable to themselves but, that's just human nature I guess. I fear, we are probably the last generation that will take any interest in these books.

If any one person was to be given credit for winning WWII It would be Winston Churchill.

Now there is no doubt in my mind, that what really defeated the Jap Empire, and the Nazis, was the Industrial might of the USA...

Winston was well aware of that fact, and he was the one that held everything together until we FINALLY got into the war.

If He had not been incharge of England, things might be a LOT different today...

If you want to read a really good book about WWII, that involves Winston Churchill, and some of the Secret things he did and authorized, Read,

"A MAN CALLED INTREPID" by William Stevenson.

I have just about finished the third volume. It is a fascinating book. I am finding it is going much quicker then I anticipated. His use of the English language is extremely interesting.

Churchill's 6 volume set is required reading for any serious WWII buff.

In his retirement and later years, Winston was vacationing in France very drunk, and a lady at the party told her friend that it is a shame what had become of him. She did not think he overheard her until he said, "Madam, tomorrow morning I will become sober, but you will still be ugly".

Churchill was without doubt one of the great men of history. He was not without out fault however, just like all other great men. I have read everything by or about him I have been able to lay my hands on, and he is absolutely the grand master of the language.
He was after all, half American (his mother).
Just before the end of the "phoney war" in 1940, Hitler attempted to get England to make peace, leaving Hitler pretty much owning Europe. The emmisary in an attempt to impress Churchill, told him about the might of the German armed forces, and added, "and we have the Italians", Churchill informed him, "seems only fair, we had them the last time".
At another time, Lady Astor(the English half of the New York Astors) told him, "If I were your wife I would poison your soup",Churchillreplied,"Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it".

For years, until I took a very serious interest in the events leading up to World War II, it seemed to be "common" knowledge that Sir Winston Churchill had somehow beguiled Franklin Roosevelt into entering the second European war of the century. While I have never been a fan of Roosevelt's economic policies which prolonged the Great Depression, he and Churchill both understood that after about 1936 war with Germany was inevitable. Hitler would never be satisfied with the Sudetenland, or any of the other land grabs leading up to the invasion of Poland.

Only after reading William Shirer's "Rise and Fall of The Third Reich", did I do some serious digging into the root causes of the war. I read a great deal on the economic issues, and discovered the root causes of the war were in the draconian terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Churchill knew that the terms of the treaty were draconian, but in his current position, and out of power, he and others were powerless to stop it.

Most folks can thank Georges Clemenceau and Phillippe Petain for sowing the seeds of WWII in 1921.

The terms of the Treaty of Versailles were just harsh enough to create the desire for revenge, but not harsh enough to prevent it.

"The peace to end all peace"...

Let us not be too harsh with Clemenceau and Petain , their countries suffered terribly, " Those who can win a war well rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war" WSC.,

As for Churchill he said "History will be kind to me as I intend to write it".

NB

I have just finished reading the last volume. I am very glad I purchased and read the whole set. I just got William Manchester's two volume biography of Churchill. Will read that soon. I find that if I read some light fiction in between serious non-fiction books it keeps me from getting bogged down. I retired a little over two years ago. I am amazed that the bargains I am finding on used books at the local used book store and Amazon.

On English politican Stafford Cripps Churchill said, "He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."

On former Prime Minister Clement Attlee he said, "Mr Attlee is a very modest man, indeed he has a lot to be modest about."

One of my favorite people of the 20th Century. Drank a quart of gin, smoked 10 to 20 cigars a day and lived to be 90.