'I would choose this account over and above the rest. It is a fabulous book: full of perceptive insight that conveys all the tragedy, triumph, humour and intense drama of Churchill's time as wartime leader; and it is incredibly moving as a result' James Holland, Literary Review
In 1941, in the midst of British defeats in Greece and the Middle East, a bitter conflict was taking place between two of the most charismatic leaders of the time, Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Britain, and Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia. At issue were the conflicting demands of prosecuting the war while protecting the Empire--yet in later years both leaders sought to gloss over their violent division over the best course of action. Drawing on meticulous and original research into private papers and diaries, David Day outlines in highly readable fashion their fascinating struggle for power.
In the months following his resignation as PM in late August 1941, Menzies swayed between relief at his release from the burdens of office as PM and despair that his life at the top had come to so little. Many followers of Australian political history, including Liberal party supporters, forget that Robert Menzies had many years in the political wilderness not knowing he would end up being Australia’s longest-serving prime minister. This book focuses on the period between 1941, when Menzies lost the prime-ministership, to 1949, when he regained it. In the interim he travelled around the world, spending an extended time in Britain during World War II, set up the Liberal Party and, the author argues, developed the leadership qualities that made him so successful. Anne Henderson refers to this time as his real political blooding.
Dark and Hurrying Days is the text of a diary kept by Robert Menzies, then Prime Minister of Australia, of his experiences during a wartime trip to England in 1941. It was a grim time when British cities were enduring heavy bombing and German invasion seemed imminent. Menzies' Diary reveals the shifting feelings and fears which these experiences engendered in him, and is of prime importance in capturing the brooding spirit of this grim time.
In Mawson: Life and Death in Antarctica, explorer Tim Jarvis relives Sir Douglas Mawson's extraordinary polar survival journey of 1912-13. Battling against ferocious blizzards and headwinds, Jarvis struggles to overcome extreme isolation, physical deprivation and his own self-doubt. He embarks on his hellish journey using the same equipment, clothing and starvation rations as Mawson had available to him almost a century ago in an attempt to answer some of the questions and controversies surrounding Mawson's tragic expedition in which both of his companions died. This is the story of two journeys, undertaken a century apart, to the limits of human endurance.
Renowned Churchill historian Sir Martin Gilbert examines Winston Churchill’s War Leadership. Continue to Pester, Nag and Bite is the complete text of the 2004 Barbara Frum Historical Lecture, given at the University of Toronto. This annual lecture “on a subject of contemporary interest in historical perspective” was established in memory of Barbara Frum and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One’s Ideas. “The problem is not winning the war, but persuading people to let you win it.” —Winston Churchill Continue To Pester, Nag And Bite is a brilliant, in-depth look at Winston Churchill’s leadership during the Second World War, written by the world’s top authority on Churchill. By looking behind the public figure and wartime propaganda images, Gilbert reveals a very human, sensitive and often tormented man, who nevertheless found the strength to lead his nation forward from the darkest and most dangerous of times, towards the defeat of a tenacious enemy. Today’s readers will be fascinated to compare Churchill’s tactics and attitudes with those of modern-day leaders. By looking behind the public figure and wartime propaganda images, Gilbert reveals a very human, sensitive, and often tormented man, who nevertheless found the strength to lead his nation forward from the darkest and most dangerous of times, towards the defeat of a tenacious enemy.
Churchill has gone down in history as one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. From the day the Second World War was declared he stood out as the only man wanting to take offensive action. But is this accolade deserved? The first few years of the war were nothing short of disastrous, and author Stephen Napier shows how Churchill’s strategies - and his desire not to be the first British prime minister to surrender the nation - brought the war effort to the brink of ruin and back again. Did his series of retaliatory raids in response to a German accidental bombing help cause the Blitz? Were plans already at large for the US to join the war, with Churchill as the primary puppet master? Napier explores all this and more in a shocking examination of Churchill’s leadership using first-person accounts from his peers and his electorate.
Man of the Century is the often surprising story of how Winston Churchill, in the last years of his life, carefully crafted his reputation for posterity, revealing him to be perhaps the twentieth century's first, and most gifted, "spin doctor." Ramsden draws on fresh material and extensive research on three continents to argue that the statesman's force of personality and romantic, imperial notion of Britain has contributed directly to many of the political debates of the last decades--including American involvement in Vietnam and the role of the Anglo-American alliance in promoting and protecting a certain vision of world order.
An authorized biography of the spymaster Sir Stewart Menzies, head of secret intelligence service during the War. Anthony Cave Brown reveals spying operations both for and against the allies, as well as controversial revelations about Philby whose betrayal had vast repercussions on Menzies.