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Churchill's Shadow by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
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Churchill's Shadow

An Astonishing Life and a Dangerous Legacy
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Narrator Jonathan Keeble

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Length 23 hours 49 minutes
Language English
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Brought to you by Penguin.

A critical but fair political biography of Churchill that zooms in on crucial moments in his life and career that help us understand the man in his many contradictions.

While in A.J.P. Taylor's words, Churchill was 'the saviour of his country', he was also a deeply flawed character, whose personal ambition would cloud his political judgement - and as a result he was often plain wrong. But the book's central argument goes beyond biography: argues that Churchill has cast a dark shadow over post-war British history and contemporary politics - from the 'Churchillian stance' of Tony Blair taking the country to war in Iraq to the delusion of a special relationship with the United States to the fateful belief in British exceptionalism: that the nation can once again stand alone in Europe.

Wheatcroft takes a radically different approach to other hagiographies of Chruchill. This is a biography that doesn't just tell the story of his life but the equally fascinating one of his legacy, focusing on how Churchill was viewed by contemporaries and those who came after.

This book is both a biography of the man and a fresh and revealing account of post-war politics seen through his legacy.

ยฉ Geoffrey Wheatcroft 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Geoffrey Wheatcroft is a journalist and author, who has been Literary Editor of the Spectator, 'Londoner's Diary' Editor of the Evening Standard and a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph. He contributes regularly to the Guardian, TLS, New York Times and the New York Review of Books, and his books include The Randlords, The Controversy of Zion, which won a American National Book Award, Le Tour, The Strange Death of Tory England and Yo, Blair! He and his wife Sally Muir, the painter and designer, have two adult children and two ageing whippets. They live in Bath.

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Reviews

Hagiographers beware; Wheatcroft has skewered the cult of Churchill hero worship. This book reminds us that while Churchill was Britain's saviour in 1940, his views on race and empire, and his military debacles from the Dardanelles to Dieppe, make it unwise to revere him like a saint Even readers sick of Churchill will find much to enjoy, partly because Wheatcroft is such a fluent and entertaining writer, but also because he has so many interesting and provocative things to say Stimulating, erudite and above all entertaining... For any reader tired of the seemingly endless round of Churchill-worship of the last few years, Geoffrey Wheatcroft provides a lively corrective A clear-eyed, incisive and superbly balanced account of Churchill, the man and the myth... Much to think about in the twenty-first century Wheatcroft is a skilled prosecutor with a rapier pen ... [Churchill's Shadow] could be the best single-volume indictment of Churchill yet written Expand reviews
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