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  • Hero of the Empire

  • The Making of Winston Churchill
  • By: Candice Millard
  • Narrated by: Mr Simon Vance
  • Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (21 ratings)
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Hero of the Empire

By: Candice Millard
Narrated by: Mr Simon Vance
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Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard, read by Simon Vance.

From The New York Times bestselling author Candice Millard, this is the gripping true story of one dramatic - and emblematic - year in the early life of Winston Churchill

At the age of twenty-four, Winston Churchill believed that to achieve his ambition of becoming Prime Minister he must do something spectacular on the battlefield. Although he had put himself in real danger in colonial wars in India and Sudan, and as a journalist covering the Spanish-American War in Cuba, glory and fame had eluded him.

Churchill arrived in South Africa in 1899 to write about the brutal colonial war against the Boers. Just two weeks later, he was taken prisoner. Remarkably, he pulled off a daring escape - but then had to traverse hundreds of miles of enemy territory alone. The story of his escape is extraordinary enough, but then Churchill enlisted, returned to South Africa, fought in several battles and ultimately liberated the men with whom he had been imprisoned.

Churchill would later remark that this period, 'could I have seen my future, was to lay the foundations of my later life'. Candice Millard tells a magnificent story of bravery, savagery and chance encounters with a cast of historical characters - including Rudyard Kipling, Lord Kitchener and Gandhi - with whom he would later share the world stage, and gives us an unexpected perspective on one of the iconic figures in our history.

©2016 Candice Millard (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Completely engrossing (Andrew Roberts)
Combining vivid narrative and original scholarship, Candice Millard reveals how Winston Churchill laid the foundations of his political career during the Boer War. Supremely courageous, flagrantly ambitious and incredibly lucky, young Winston emerges as the authentic hero of this thrilling tale of imperial derring-do (Piers Brendon, Former Keeper of the Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge)
With consummate narrative skill and admirable first-hand research, Candice Millard has added to the canon of great works on Winston Churchill a book essential to a better understanding of his life and personality. Hero of The Empire is both eminently readable and exceptionally informative about the evolution of one of Britain's greatest statesmen (Phil Reed, Director of the Churchill War Rooms)

What listeners say about Hero of the Empire

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Great Addition to Our Knowledge of the Great Man

I couldn't wait to finish this. I knew the story from various sources, including Richard Holmes, Celia Sandys and the great man himself; but this is an excellent book that also includes the story from the point of view of the others, including Churchill's friends and rivals, the Boers and the indigenous population.

The narration is also first class.

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  • Overall
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Deviates from the title

I've listened to four hours of the book and there has been very little about Churchill. Instead it deviates in detail to indirectly connected information, for instance - the Boer going off to battle wore a wide brimmed hat with a 'Meerkat tail dark tipped and slightly bushy' and as he walked out the door his wife or mother handed him a linen sack filled with food etc etc.

Perhaps these details may go on to show a direct effect on the making of Churchill but as the book is only 10 hours long I'm going to exchange it for one that sticks to the man himself after all there is plenty enough material to fill a book or two.

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