Churchill: The Power of Words

Being an Indian, ever since my childhood I have heard only bad things about this man; and with all honesty almost all of it is true. He was directly responsible for a devastating famine in India during the war. But as I grew up, I understood that the situation was beyond his control. He was leading a war against tyranny and his interests lied in victory of his country. Every human being is flawed and they take wrong decisions and in this case we were in the wrong side. So I thought of learning a bit about his life and works and purchased this book. The first good thing is, the organisation of the materials. It's like a journey through the life of Churchill rather than a boring documentary. Every section has an introduction to what follows, to put things in the right context. As you keep reading, you will see a certain new character trait of Churchill which he developed from a certain experience. Churchill's writings are sharp and clean and the author of this book has done a great job in sketching a brief picture of Churchill's life. The second second is History: I learned a lot about the world the world history by reading this book. Whenever I found anything that I have not heard before, I just went to Wikipedia and learned about that chapter of history. To cut the long story short, this book tells you a lot about Churchill's life and his journeys. A well read man who had travelled to far corners of the world and had all sorts of experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. I would advise the reader to go slowly through the book and use the internet to find more information about any incidents that she/he is not aware of. It might improve your history by a significant amount, at least it did for me.

Martin Gilbert is the foremost expert on Churchill in the world, beginning his work for Randolph Churchill on the biography in the early 1960s and taking over at Volume III upon Randolph's death in 1968. If there is anyone qualified to do this work,it would certainly be Sir Martin. It is a good work in one volume and the author presents his choices of WSC's speeches and writings through his years. Of course you can buy multi volume works of his speeches but this book relieves you of the brunt of the weight and provides you the best. While I am familiar with many of his most famous, there are many very interesting parts in here, for example "The Supreme Hour", when Winston had to tell the House of Commons that on July 4, 1940, the French fleet was sunk by His Majesties Ships and 1,297 French sailors were killed. How do you bear and bring this horrible news? England had watched France cave in to the Nazis and now he has to tell the House that the Royal Navy had to sink a large part of the French fleet. This was when England stood alone and things were bleak indeed. The power of his argument and presentation is brilliant and this one I had not come across before. There are others of interest that I won't spoil, but what a master of words he was. In some ways the book is like a box of fine chocolates. You really don't want to sit down and digest it in one sitting but it makes for a very interesting repast when you have a little time and want to go exploring with WSC again. I like it very much.

I haven't really delved very deeply into this book. I use it mainly to read speeches and writings pertinent to a particular moment in history and the book is organized extremely well for that purpose; the year on the top of the left hand page and his age on the top of the right hand page with the title of the subject at the start of an entry. I'm a moderate, although avid, Churchill historian; pitiful by some standards but vast in comparison to most Americans. In my view he was England's greatest statesman. A man of remarkable energy, vision, and wit. His use of the English language, disparaged by some literary scholars, I find immensely involving. Try to think of another 20th century personality quoted so widely and frequently; his ability to "turn a phrase" almost unparalleled. And one finds these pearls on almost every one of the 429 pages. For example on page 148 he discussed "the foul balboonery of Bolshevism" and the next entry on the same page is entitled "The Future Was Heavy With Foreboding." For me this work is best used as an excellent reference source. His "Never Give In" speech to Harrow School in 1941 should be required reading in the US Public School System. Of course omissions must occur when 429 pages cover the life works such a Titan. Pertinent to our country, when discussing (in his 6 volume compendium of WW II) the Battles of The Coral Sea and Wake Island which broke the spine of the Japanese Navy the wrote: "The annals of war at sea present no more intense, heart-shaking shock than these two battles, in which the qualities of the United States Navy and Air Force and the American race shown forth in splendour... the bravery and self-devotion of the American airmen and sailors and the nerve and skill of their leaders was the foundation of all." President Obama sent the bust of Churchill, a British Gift, a statuary resident in the Oval Office, back to England as one of his first acts in office... and that says so much about our obverse leader.

This book is a great read for someone that is really interested in hearing the history of Winston Churchill through his own words. The author did an excellent job in sorting through and including pertinent speeches that present a broad picture of his thoughts and experiences throughout his life. On the top corners of each page is reference to what year it was and how old he was at the time. The author introduces each speech or writing with context of when, where and why it was written or spoken. The reason I gave it four stars was I felt that on certain speeches the author included more than was necessary. Overall this book is a very well written history from Churchill's perspective.

Good English and many stories from him to learn and apply in our lives

Great words from the greatest leader of the 20th century.

Excelente leitura de um dos maiores estadistas do mundo! O livro traz a fascinante trajetória política do primeiro-ministro e ao mesmo tempo fornece a perspectiva histórica daqueles momentos. Impossível não gostar!

決定版！チャ－チル語録

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in Winston Churchill, whether they are just beginning to learn about the great man or even if they have studied him in depth. While biographies are always useful, by reading his own writings, speeches, etc. for oneself, one gets an understanding of Churchill, one of the greatest figures of the 20th century, that is free of the inevitable biases or interpretations that an author brings to any such work. The book is well organized, with the year in the upper left of the left hand page, and Churchill's age at the time in the upper right of the right hand page. If the reader knows the approximate year of the speech or writing, this makes it easy to find. I bought this book as a gift, as learning about Winston Churchill is learning on so many levels. One learns not only lessons about history and politics, but about literature, writing and philosophy. When one reads Churchill's writings and speeches one cannot help but compare them to those of contemporary politicians and observe how the quality of discourse has deteriorated. Modern politicians stand out in contrast, more often than not, for their lack of knowledge and understanding not only of history, but of fundamental reality. Their poor language skills, both oral and written, are in stark contrast to Churchill's eloquence and literary prowess. While we cannot expect everyone to be a Churchill, when reading his words one cannot help but notice how drastically language standards have declined. This should motivate us all to work to improve the contemporary quality of language and communication. Churchill's pithy quotations "tell it like it is" and are loaded with common sense. They often contain timeless lessons about human nature itself. The student of Churchill learns a great deal and this book is an excellent starting point for someone who is just beginning this process. I bought this gift for just such a person and I am certain that it will not disappoint.

I liked the highlights of Churchill's peerless personality. The format could have been different - just the speeches. In any case, format could be of many types. Happy with the information.

Quite apart from Churchill's writing (which to me is so breath-taking for lots of reasons), Martin Gilbert clearly has massive esteem and reverence for Churchill, and has chosen an excellent array of the great man's works. The hard back copy I have is both well bound, and, the type face and size is easily comfortable to read [I wear 1.5 lens spectacles]. I am delighted to own this book.