The Churchill factor : how one man made history

by Boris Johnson     (Get the Book)
While there are many accounts of Winston Churchill and his political savvy, one would be remiss to ignore this sprightly written volume by Johnson, whose day job is serving as mayor of London. Johnson's purpose in retelling Churchill's story is quite simple: he believes that the portly, cigar smoking, whiskey imbibing politician was, without doubt, the greatest British statesman in history. He further contends that we can learn much from examining how Churchill defended the British Empire, defeated Adolf Hitler's intimidating forces, and confronted the rise of communism-all in the name of representative government in the modern age. The author surveys Churchill's life (1874-1965) from beginning to end in a style that uses descriptive and occasionally unexpected words to portray the politician's business arrangements and entry into World War II. (For example, he employs the terms vaginal, cervix, uterus, and phallus to describe the Gallipoli Campaign, one of the Allies' greatest failures.) VERDICT Johnson's history of Churchill is well crafted, amply researched, and a pleasure to read. It can serve as a change of pace from more plodding accounts. --Library Journal