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Young Titan: The Making Of Winston Churchill (2014)

by Michael Shelden(Favorite Author)

4.19 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1451609922 (ISBN13: 9781451609929)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: This is the tenth Winston Churchill biography that I've read and, in my opinion, one of the best. Over the last year I've gotten into "specialist" Churchill biographies - "Mr. Churchill's Profession" (about Churchill as a writer), "Warlord" (about Churchill as a military leader) and now this one (in addition to re-reading the three-volume Manchester bio). In particular, this book provided fresh new insight - something quite rare into so-studied a man as Winston - in the area of Churchill's evolution through his twenties.In particular, I was impressed by the fresh telling of the story of Churchill and Violet Asquith (the daughter of the Prime Minister and the grandmother of the modern-day actress Helena Bonham-Carter). I was well-aware, from having read numerous other Ch... moreurchill stories, of their close friendship stretching across many decades and had always wondered why, in spite of the signs, their extreme closeness, the romanticism of their words about each other over the years, they had not married. I had always assumed - given the knowledge of how Churchill was rejected by a series of famous women that he proposed to throughout the first decade of the 20th Century - that she had spurned him. Instead, apparently it turns out that she held a largely-unrequited love for him, but he regarded her as too similar (and perhaps too assertive), and instead kept her, basically, in reserve as he courted Clementine. On account of this, he felt obligated - during their very-short engagement - to make a long journey to Scotland to tell her in person, very-nearly resulting in Clementine breaking off their engagement and also sending Violet into a violent depression.As I mentioned, despite having read thousands and thousands of pages about Churchill - including Manchester's bio, his own account of his early life, and the authorized biography - I had literally never heard of any of this certainly-significant episode before. I found the book a thoroughly-interesting read and recommend it very highly.
review 2: I have already read a few biographies of Churchill which were, for the most part, fairly good. However, I always felt that they skimmed through Churchill's youth and, naturally, focused on him during WWII. By reading this new book by Shelden, I was hoping to gain a few insights into the events that shaped Churchill's life and made him into the person he was.Since the title suggests that the focus is on young Churchill, I was expecting to read about Churchill's childhood. Nevertheless, Shelden covers Churchill's life from after he returns from the Boar War and up to WWI, which is a missed opportunity, because a lot can be learned about someone from his childhood years.However, I did learn plenty of new and amusing facts about Churchill, and I do feel I have a better grasp of who Churchill was and what drove him. This book won't change your opinion of Churchill for better and worse. Yet, it will offer you a few hours of enjoyment and amusement. less

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