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Summary
Summary
Is it possible to offer a fresh perspective on a figure as familiar as Winston Churchill? Distinguished historian Peter Clarke shows the answer is yes. When Churchill received the Nobel Prize in 1953, it was not for his role as a world leader, but for his literature. In fact, Churchill was a gifted and successful writer long before he was a politician, publishing a stream of books and articles over the course of his life. In this engaging and revealing new narrative, Clarke traces the making of the magisterial work that occupied Churchill for a quarter century, his four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples .
Churchill signed the contract for History in 1932, at a time when his political career seemed over. His stunning return to power when the Nazis swept across Europe meant the book went uncompleted until the 1950s. But long before he took office, the massive project was shaping his worldview, his speeches, and his leadership: This was the work that defined the "special relationship" between Britain and America. In Mr. Churchill's Profession , Peter Clarke explores an untold chapter in history and offers an intimate new portrait of an iconic leader.
Author Notes
Peter Clarke's many books include Keynes: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 20th Century's Most Influential Economist; The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire; The Keynesian Revolution in the Making, 1924-1936 ; and the acclaimed final volume of the Penguin History of Britain, Hope and Glory, Britain 1900-2000.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Clarke enhances his distinguished reputation as a scholar of modern Britain (The Last Days of the British Empire) with this original perspective on Winston Churchill. Clarke defines and interprets Churchill in the context of a writing career (paralleling his more familiar roles as statesman and politician) that brought him the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. Capitalizing on his family connections, encouraged by his American mother, Churchill published two books by the time he was 25. His authorized collected works require 34 volumes. Memoirs, biography, history, and fiction-Churchill essayed them all. Clarke considers Churchill's defining work not the more familiar History of the Second World War but his four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Begun in 1938-1939, polished and published n the 1950s, it was conceived and constructed in a political context, to demonstrate a "special relationship" between Britain and the U.S. Looking at the development of the idea of "the English-speaking peoples," Clarke also demonstrates that the manuscript expressed Churchill's need to emphasize the link between America and Britain as events advanced toward the outbreak of war. Winston Churchill was a man of action and of oratory; as Clarke underscores, he was also a formidable man of letters. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A detailed examination of Winston Churchill the author. British historian Clarke (Keynes: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 20th Century's Most Influential Economist, 2009, etc.) has studied Churchill for decades, but the author has been bothered by a gap in the scholarship concerning the critical evaluation of the statesman's literary interests. Churchill, born to a privileged life, began writing and publishing learned, well-written books while still in his 20s. He expected renown as an author, never anticipating that his apparently washed-up political career would be rejuvenated by World War II. Clarke is most interested in the decades-long gestation of the four-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. The project would have been massive if Churchill had committed to no other ventures, but the difficulty expanded exponentially because he had agreed to write so many other books, partly because of his desire to attract audiences, partly because his spendthrift ways left him almost perpetually in debt. Clarke clearly admires Churchill's talent and persistence as an author, but he is candid about Churchill's periodic bouts of procrastination and outright lies to publishers about the pace of manuscript progress. As Churchill realized he would never finish all of his book projects unaided, he relied on the scholarship of others (both compensated and uncompensated). Clarke provides painstakingly researched accounts of the individuals who might have earned the status of co-author in a world less seduced by famous names. The author's elucidation of Churchill the writer necessarily delves into biographical elements, including the influences of Churchill's glamorous, famous father and mother on the son's writings. Original, gap-filling, engagingly presented scholarship.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The writer Winston Churchill the British statesman, not the now-obscure American novelist engages historian Clarke (The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire, 2008). He describes the genesis of most of Churchill's works (save for that of The Second World War, which he concedes to David Reynolds' In Command of History, 2005) and focuses on one of Churchill's greatest popular and financial successes, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Contracted in 1933, it was published 25 years later. As Clarke recounts, the culprit in the delay was not the gathering storm but Churchill's idiosyncrasies as a writer. Though indefatigably industrious, cash-strapped Churchill accepted too many literary projects in the 1930s, and when composing, he was tempted to engage in the time-consuming pursuit of historical tangents. As a result, he wrote English-Speaking Peoples hurriedly, which his publisher recognized by rejecting the manuscript. When it was exhumed in the 1950s, assistants put the book into final shape, allowing Clarke to identify which sections are authentically Churchill's. Detailing Churchill's writing aids of whiskey and stenographers as well as his income, Clarke will interest many in Churchill's authorial career.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist
Table of Contents
| Prologue | p. ix |
| Part I The Two Careers of Winston S. Churchill | |
| 1 Father's Boy: Heritage, 1874-97 | p. 3 |
| 2 Mother's Boy: The Author of his Fortune, 1898-1921 | p. 34 |
| Part II The Author of his Reputation | |
| Entr'acte | p. 73 |
| 3 The English-Speaking Peoples Before Churchill | p. 81 |
| 4 One Author, Two Contracts, 1922-32 | p. 116 |
| 5 The Struggle on Two Fronts, 1933-38 | p. 152 |
| 6 The Historian as Prophet, 1938-39 | p. 195 |
| 7 The Author of Victory, 1940-45 | p. 232 |
| 8 The Author as Celebrity, 1945-65 | p. 268 |
| Epilogue | p. 290 |
| Appendix: Churchill and the British Tax System p. 297 | |
| Notes | p. 301 |
| Bibliography | p. 317 |
| Acknowledgements | p. 333 |
| Index | p. 337 |
