After JFK and Jack the Ripper, perhaps no other man has had more written about him than Winston Churchill, so why write another weighty tome? Well, this is focussed on just the war years when he was leader, so 1940 to 1945, and it is written by a historian who is both analytical and articulate. Once again, he has written a magnificent book from various original sources and manages to include the voice of the common man as well as the great and the good.

In for much of 1940 and 1941 Britain and its Empire stood alone against the Third Reich and Churchill was quick to recognise that to win it needed support. During this period, he had two priorities, to stand as a bulwark against invasion and to try and draw the American’s in on the side of the Allies. The former he did through magnificent rhetoric and sheer force of will, at great personal expense as is demonstrated by the author. There is a tendency to overlook that by then he was an old man, fuelled by Pol Roger champagne and Romeo y Julieta cigars he worked punishing hours and by the end he was a spent force. The US was a tougher nut to crack despite his Anglo-American background. Here Mr Hastings demonstrates that throughout there were those working against Churchill and Britain as a colonial power. The side-lining of him towards the end of the war as FDR met with Stalin is all the more shocking as Churchill foresaw what would quickly happen in the immediate post war period.

The man himself was complex and very much of time, with obvious flaws and opinions which are considered as unacceptable in the current day. Here he is given a fair portrayal as a man with faults but still a formidable presence and a skilled negotiator. Support for him and the war effort was not as unanimous as some people would like to believe, as can be seen by the labour disputes and struggles to maintain output which are highlighted in the book. Whether another British politician could have paved the way for Allied victory is a moot point, but this is a fitting testimony to a man many saw as the greatest Briton of the Twentieth Century.

I would like to thank Net Galley for access to this book in exchange for a fair review.

This is an incredibly detailed account of Churchill and the second world war. I would only recommend it to serious war and Churchill fans, I read it for weeks and realised I had only covered up to the end of 1940!