Winston Churchill's War Leadership

Invited to lecture at the White House in February 2002, Gilbert, known as Winston Churchill's official biographer, hopes this commentary "can be of service" to the leaders of the war on terror. Whether George W. Bush and Tony Blair have been consciously imitating Churchill will be left for future historians to discover; Gilbert, for his part, cautions that "Churchill's war leadership can have no parallel," except during a war conducted on the scale of World War II. Caveat announced, Gilbert proceeds point by point to Churchill's direction of affairs, of which his celebrated speeches and buoyancy in public (depicted in the author's photo album Churchill at War [BKL F 15 04]) was only one praiseworthy aspect. Above all, Gilbert credits Churchill's refusal to deal with Hitler in 1940 and rates highly as well Churchill's articulation of the war's aim as the defense of democracy. Beneath the public plane, Churchill's day-to-day activity (such as attending to intelligence and logistical details) was, according to Gilbert, equally integral to his leadership. Gilbert Taylor
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How does he assess the information that is brought to him? How does his personal or political philosophy, or a moral sense, sustain him? How does he draw inspiration from those around him? How does he deal with setbacks and disasters? In this brilliant close-up look at Winston Churchill's leadership during the Second World War, Gilbert gets to the heart of the trials and struggles that have confronted the world's most powerful leaders, even up to current politicians such as George Bush and Tony Blair.

Basing the book on his intimate knowledge of Churchill's private and official papers, Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer, looks at the public figure and wartime propaganda, to reveal 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.