The Last Lion: Volume 1: Winston Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874 - 1932 [Kindle Edition] Author: William Manchester | Language: English | ISBN:
B0092XHPWC | Format: PDF, EPUB
The Last Lion: Volume 1: Winston Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874 - 1932 Free PDF
Download books file now The Last Lion: Volume 1: Winston Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874 - 1932 Free PDF from mediafire, rapishare, and mirror link William Manchester met Winston Churchill on January 24, 1953. Their encounter on the Queen Mary sparked an intense curiosity in Manchester that would eventually result in his classic three-volume magnum opusThe Last Lion.
In this, the first volume, we follow Churchill from his birth to 1932, when he began to warn against the remilitarization of Germany. Born of a lovely, wanton American mother and a gifted but unstable son of a duke, his childhood was one of wretched neglect. He sought glory on the battlefields of Cuba, Sudan, India, South Africa and the trenches of France. In Parliament he was the prime force behind the creation of Iraq and Jordan, laid the groundwork for the birth of Israel, and negotiated the independence of the Irish Free State. Yet, as Chancellor of the Exchequer he plunged England into economic crisis, and his fruitless attempt to suppress Gandhi's quest for Indian independence brought political chaos to Britain.
Throughout, Churchill learned the lessons that would prepare him for the storm to come, and as the 1930's began, he readied himself for the coming battle against Nazism--an evil the world had never before seen. Direct download links available for The Last Lion: Volume 1: Winston Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874 - 1932 [Kindle Edition] Free PDF
- File Size: 10970 KB
- Print Length: 992 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (November 6, 2012)
- Sold by: Hachette Book Group
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0092XHPWC
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,310 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > U.K. Prime Ministers - #11
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Churchill, Winston - #23
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British
- #11
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > U.K. Prime Ministers - #11
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( C ) > Churchill, Winston - #23
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British
"The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932," is the first of William Manchester's projected three-volume biography of Winston Spencer Churchill. I found it a superbly crafted, supremely well researched account of the first 58 years of the life of the 20th century's greatest statesman. With wit and candor, Manchester chronicles Churchill from his earliest days as the neglected and troublesome first child of Lord Randolph Churchill and his American-born wife, Jennie, to his entry into the political "wilderness" over home rule in India in 1932. Manchester's portrait of his subject is balanced and objective; we see Churchill at his finest: a courageous (almost to the point of foolhardiness) army officer, and later a gifted Member of Parliament who became one of the youngest Cabinet ministers in British history. We also see him at his worst: a Cabinet minister with appalling political judgment at times, quick to meddle in other ministers' affairs while neglecting his own, and with an uncanny ability to alienate not only his political foes, but almost all his political allies as well.
In addition to a wonderfully written chronology of Churchill's life, Manchester provides an overview of the times in which Churchill lived. I was fascinated by the author's account of Victorian England -- its culture, its mores, and its view of itself in the world. The sections which describe Churchill's times make highly entertaining and absorbing reading by themselves.
"The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932," clearly shows why William Manchester is one of the pre-eminent biographers at work today.
William Manchester (1922 - 2004), one of the World War Two generation's finest writers, wrote about everything from the Kennedys to acid-penned reporter H.L. Mencken. But in this book he presents his greatest work - a superb biography about one of the twentieth century's greatest heroes - Sir Winston Churchill. This volume, which includes the first fifty years of Churchill's crowded life, is written with a Victorian style and passion for adventure that Churchill himself would have admired. (What other biography uses the word "Array", instead of "Table of Contents", to list the chapter headings)? Churchill's life does read like something out of a Hollywood script - he was the scion of one of England's most prominent families. His father was a member of Parliament and could have become Prime Minister, had he not developed syphillis, which eventually drove him mad and killed him at an early age. He was often cruel to his son Winston, harshly criticizing even his smallest mistakes. His beautiful American-born mother had extramarital affairs with many handsome men, including the King of England.
Largely ignored by his wealthy and famous parents, Churchill was raised mostly by servants (including his beloved nanny); in his youth he was often a "problem child" and was expelled from several private schools. He finally found a career in the British Army, and fought in a number of small but bloody wars in Britain's colonies in Africa and India. He often was in the thick of the fighting, recklessly exposing himself to bullets and cannon fire. In the Boer War in South Africa in the late 1890's Churchill was captured by enemy troops and placed in a prisoner-of-war camp, but made a daring escape and returned safely to his own forces.
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