Author: Roy Jenkins

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux  (New York, 2001)

Book Reviewed By: Edward J. Fennell

If you were to choose a luminary about whom to write a biography in hopes of shining new light on the topic, Churchill would not be your choice. It would be lifetime challenge to read what already has been written about the man.

This book is unique because we are seeing Churchill through the eyes of a consummate insider and one of Britain’s preeminent biographers, having authored books on Gladstone, Asquith, and Atlee. His publications also include at least a dozen other noted works on British history. What you may be inclined to love or hate about this book may well stem from that inside perspective. He literally has walked part of his own political journey in the shoes of Churchill. He was born to the milieu in which Churchill operated. Jenkins, now in his eighties, met Prime Minister Churchill many years ago, having been introduced by his father, then Labor MP. Jenkins himself was already destined to climb the ladder of British power, eventually holding two of the positions held by Churchill, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Jenkins can walk the talk and talk the talk of a very powerful insider. In that sense he is a superb raconteur of political intrigue. He paints his own picture, and you may very well enjoy his perspective. And for some that may be the downfall of this book. You must like the approach; if you do, you will love it, if not it will grate on your nerves.

This book is a sweeping account that will detail for you the enormous talent of Winston Churchill to move himself to center stage of literary world, Parliament, Cabinet, 10 Downing Street and finally the world stage. In the author’s effort to display his mastery of the subtleties of the political game, few ministerial details of Churchill’s moves are left uncovered, and we are buried in facts.A focus on the character and the private man Churchill may have been was not a consideration for the writing of this book. The preface makes it clear: I do not believe that biography demands or even necessarily profits from personal knowledge. The author keeps his promise.

On this side of the big pond readers may shy from the form, as nuances of politics seem to fly under our radar screen, as we seem drawn more to the prurient lives of our politicians than to their cloakroom moves. It would also be unfair to say that the book does not contain strong clues as to what makes the man Churchill click. But, beware this is not a trip to your local big screen to watch Patton. You need to have your radar screen on for this one; you need to know the strength of the moves in order to flesh out the character of the man. The author will not give you the movie screen personality to which you are accustomed. If you are an insider and can provide that imagination for yourself, go for it.

But if you choose to go forward and sort out those clues as to the enormity of Churchill’s character, the clues will pop up early on and you can paint in the colors for yourself. From his early adulthood Churchill used his family’s political connections to roam the far-flung British Empire with a monumental talent to get published. He was a writer supreme, and before he died he had published 43 books that took up 72 volumes. His political columns, essays and written speeches are voluminous as well. With the energy and boldness that only a brash young man could brandish, he roamed the globe in search of adventure, fearless of danger and not shy at all to use the prestige of his fathers name and his mothers connections to file reports on the policies and practices of Britain’s far flung empire. He wielded a sword and a pen at the same time. His favor was curried more often than not by superiors who did not want to be wounded by his mighty pen. And rest assured the detail to which you are subjected by Mr. Jenkins will soon convince you that the purpose of his writing was not to become a literary giant, but was rather to wield for raw political power.

When Churchill ascended to position of Prime Minister in 1940, he was, by far, not the first choice. Britain was at the cusp of World War II and the British were not entirely convinced they could stem Hitler’s tide, and they had not yet secured the Alliance of the United States. When the war had ended and the man Churchill was no longer at 10 Downing Street his fame as one of history’s greatest leaders had been secured forever.

His life after retirement was not so well secured, according to the author. In the opening paragraphs of his last chapter, The Sun Sinks Slow, So Slowly, Jenkins tells us Churchill was not given much sense of purpose in life once temporal power had been sloughed off. It may take a reader some 900 pages to realize that we often become a prisoner of the roles we play; and the author may well be right that this biography would not profit from personal knowledge.

This book is about a political character. The author makes no apology from the very beginning that the book is absent from the cult of personality flavor. Perhaps he leans too far to the impersonal side at times. If you love the character Churchill, you may want to forgive the author, when you read his final words:

When I stared writing this book I thought that Gladstone was, by narrow margin, the greater man, certainly the more remarkable specimen of humanity. In the course of writing it, I have changed my mind. I now put Churchill, with all his idiosyncrasies, his indulgences, his occasional childishness, but also, his genius, his tenacity, and his persistent ability, right or wrong, successful or unsuccessful, to be larger than life, as the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street.

Edward J. Fennell
02/04/2002