Just about perfect

Winston Churchill was incredible man. This book goes through his life from the school boy who couldn't learn his Latin to an old man who couldn't really get over the fact that he was no longer Prime Minister.

Roy Jenkins comments with the gentlest of touches as he goes through bringing numerous sources together to paint a vivid picture of a massive personality.

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Great biography

Overall a great biography, blighted by the occasional annoyance of silly "I'm cleverer than you" phrases in French and latin. That's bad enough but having thrown these entirely unnecessary phrases randomly in the author does not profer a translation of same. SIlly me - I keep forgetting the author is a politician, so such politico "leet speak" is only to be expected.

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Good but audio quality a problem

A very interesting book though I feel that it could have expanded a lot more on Churchill's death and legacy.
Also the sound quality is not very good and is only just bearable on decent headphones.

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Good political bio

the performance was excellent. the book itself is a largely political biography which for me left lots of open questions. that said Roy Jenkins is clearly a confident and personable historian and writer. recommended for sure!

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The Greatest Briton of the 20th Century

This book was the epoch of my interested in reading history, having picked this book up as a secondary school pupil when it was first published. I have now come back to it twenty years later and it has reminded me of how good this book is. Roy Jenkins is an utterly masterful writer, his use of language kept me hooked from the beginning in 1874, to the end in 1965, 90 years of jaw dropping adventure, war, momental writing and dog eat dog politics. I found myself finding time to come back again and again, sitting with this book in hand at every opportunity.

It is of course obvious and necessary to compare this to Andrew Robert’s Churchill: Walking with Destiny and even though I have given this book five stars, Robert’s is still the better of the two. The simple reason being 41 papers and documents have been deposited into the Churchill Archive since the writing of Jenkins book and HM The Queen allowed Roberts to use King George VI’s diaries. This provides the important backdrop of the essential PM-monarch relationship during the Second World War which was so important to victory. Jenkins did not have this to use and so it is missing.

Having said that, this is excellent. Jenkins a Labour and then SDP politician, who states that a Tory PM is the greatest to ever to hold the office tells you all you need to know about this most famous of men. This is by no means a hagiography, Jenkins shows how Churchill could be obtuse, childish and indulgent. However, as this was written in 2001 he does not have to justify Churchill against the modern wokery and insane thoughts such as he was responsible for the sinking of the Lusitania or masterminded the Bengal Famine. You can just sit back and enjoy the history as it is supposed to be.

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A great autobiography of a great man.

Fascinating story, authoritatively told. Can't recommend this book highly enough. Roy Jenkins is the perfect author to tell Churchill's story.

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The definitive Churchill biography?

Roy Jenkins has produced what could well be the definitive biography of Winston Churchill. Others may produce more detailed works on particular aspects of his career, notably the period of his premiership during the Second World War, but this is probably the best covering his whole life.



Jenkins uses his long experience as a politician who held some of the highest offices of state, though he never made it to Number 10, to analyse various aspects of Churchill's political career. Churchill was of course far more than a politician, having also written a number of highly praised histories and biographies, and here too Jenkins has no little experience to add.



This is no hagiography - Churchill was a great, but of course not a perfect, man and Jenkins does not shy away from his faults. But it is also not a revisionist history - the author greatly admires his subject and this is clear throughout the book. I found it to be a very fair account.



The narrator does an excellent job with this lengthy work and I happily listened to the complete audiobook, enjoying the whole experience. Five stars from me for this magisterial work on one of the greatest men to have ever lived.

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Churchill (Unabridged)

A great insight to one of the most distinguised figures of the 20th century. A true understanding of the ruling classes and thier insight of how the world should be. Without Churchill leading from the front the course of history would most certainly have been different. No matter what you previously thought of the man this book will give you a much deeper insight.

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Magesterial biography of a great life

This a comprehensive and engaging biography of an extraordinary man who was a major player in shaping the history of the 20th century. An example of how circumstances can catapult a person's career from the doldrums into world-fame and huge influence on the fate of a country and the world. It is sad that after achieving so much Churchill clung to power well beyond his ability to carry out the onerous tasks of leading a government.
Roy Jenkins has produced a magnificent biography and history of the turbulent first 7 decades of the 20th century and making it a great listen that is admirably narrated by Simon Vance.

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Churchill bý Jenkins

Fair, fast-moving, long, unputdownable. View from inside by a politician of international stature who combines a broad historical perspective with fine details.

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