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Churchill: The Unexpected HeroStock informationGeneral Fields
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DescriptionDuring the Second World War, Winston Churchill won two resounding victories. The first was a victory over Nazi Germany, the second a victory over the legion of skeptics who had derided his judgment, denied his claims to greatness, and excluded him from high office on the grounds that he was sure to be a danger to King and Country. Churchill was the only British politician of the twentieth century to become an enduring national hero. The curious thing is that it happened at the age of 65, at a time when he was considered to be a spent force, with a track-record of disastrous decisions. All but the most hostile of his adversaries conceded that he possessed great abilities, remarkable eloquence, and a streak of genius. But it was almost universally agreed that he was a shameless egotist, an opportunist without principles or convictions, an unreliable colleague, an erratic policy-maker who lacked judgment, and a reckless amateur strategist with a dangerous passion for war and bloodshed. Table of contentsPrologue; 1. The Youngest Man in Europe 1874-1901; 2. The Renegade 1901-1911; 3. The Lilliput Napoleon 1911-1915; 4. The Winstonburg Line 1915-1924; 5. Respectability Won and Lost 1924-1939; 6. The Making of a Hero 1939-1945; 7. Climbing Olympus 1945-1965; 8. Churchill Past and Present; Notes; Bibliography; Index |