Churchill in His Own Words: The Life, Times and Opinions of Winston Churchill in His Own Words (Book) Review
by Rob Betterton
RRP: 15.00
Publisher: Ebury Press
Author: Winston Churchill edited by Richard M. Langworth
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9780091933364
Pages: 640
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When I first decided to start doing book reviews on military history, I had a very basic idea of what type of book I would want to evaluate. This ‘type of book’ would ideally be about a major figure in time, maybe an appraisal of their achievements, or at the very least a limited history of the individual and their views on life, times and conflicts.
So when I received this book “CHURCHILL: In His Own Words”, I thought I had hit the jackpot. Not only did it fulfil the pre-set criteria I had hoped for, it surpassed it. Not only is it about Winston Churchill, one of the most politically savvy Prime Ministers to walk this green and pleasant land, but it is written by Winston Churchill. I must stress however, that this delightful compendium was pieced together masterfully by Richard M Langworth. His notes throughout the book provide incredible insight to the time and emotion around Churchill at the point of his speeches.
It is as the name would suggest, a vast collection of quotes, speeches, and excerpts of genuine wit, that would sit rather comfortably on the bookshelf of both a History lecturer, and also on that of a keen reader, who just wants to delve mildly into the mind of this incredible man.
I began to go through this collection, with a stack of ‘post-it’ notes so I could glean important quotes, or helpful passages that would enable me to get my point across when writing this review. However on almost every page there is a snippet of intellect that would serve anyone well, especially so for this purpose.
As Churchill himself said,
“The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.”
I’m glad that I have had the opportunity to look back.
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