My most recent read was The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone, 1932-1940. This was volume two of William Manchester's trilogy on the life of WC. I finished it yesterday; and like part one, it was a slog. Do not let that word detract from the value of this book. It is as valuable as it is dense. Finishing books of this proportion gives the reader great satisfaction, particularly when one is a slower reader.
William Manchester does an excellent job telling the story of one of England's greatest figures. If an author is to write a biography of Churchill, this is the way to do it. His life is divided into three major acts, covering both world wars and all other parts of Churchill's rich cigar flavored story.
Part two covers WC during the build up to WWII. His struggle to strengthen the weakening Royal Navy as a distrusted back bencher and his consistent warnings about Nazi Germany bring him through the disastrous, appeasement latent government of Neville Chamberlain to the eventual ascension to the Prime Ministership in 1940, after the invasion of France and the low countries.
If you have a love of history and the life of Winston Churchill, as well as the stamina for long books, this one and the other two of the trilogy, I highly recommend.
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Here are my reading selections for St. Paddy's Day on instagram. Slanté!
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