The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940

"The Last Lion: Alone, 1932-1940," the second of William Manchester's projected three-volume biography of Winston Spencer Churchill, continues telling the story of the life of the 20th century's greatest statesman. This volume covers the eight-year period from the beginning of Churchill's longest period in the political "wilderness," to his rise to power as Prime Minister of Great Britain at the beginning of World War II. I think this book is even better than the first volume, "The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932." Manchester contends that the inter-war years, and not his years as Prime Minister, were Churchill's personal "finest hour." Politically ostracized by two successive Prime Ministers - Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain, the main architects of Britain's policy of appeasing Nazi Germany - Churchill was one of only a handful of men in Britain to speak out in favor of increased military preparedness as a means of countering the growing Nazi threat in Europe. Only when it became obvious in the late 1930s that the appeasement of Hitler had failed, did the British nation turn to the one man who had consistently advocated standing up to the Nazi dictator: Winston Spencer Churchill As he did in the first volume of Churchill's life, Manchester provides an insightful historical overview of the times in which Churchill lived. Especially fascinating to me was the account of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's 1938 trip to Munich, where the most infamous act of appeasing Hitler - the sellout of Czechoslovakia - took place, and where Chamberlain believed he had achieved "peace in our times." "The Last Lion: Alone, 1932-1940" once again clearly demonstrates why William Manchester is one of the pre-eminent biographers at work today. The book is written with obviously meticulous scholarship, insightful analysis, and crisp, sparkling prose; I have yet to find a better account of Churchill's life. Since the publication of "The Last Lion: Alone, 1932-1940" 25 years ago, several excellent books about Winston Churchill have been written, including "Warlord" by Carlo d'Este (2008) and "Winston's War" by Max Hastings (2011). As good as these works are (and they are very good indeed), William Manchester's "The Last Lion" remains the finest multi-volume biography of Churchill available today. It is a "must read" for anyone interested in the life of Winston Churchill; Highly recommended! AFTERWORD (November 2012): William Manchester died in 2004 before he could complete the third and final volume of his great triptych on the life of Winston Churchill. Manchester had apparently completed only a small portion of the manuscript for his final volume, which he had tentatively entitled "The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm 1940-1965." He had selected Paul Reid, an excellent writer and close friend, to carry on and complete his work after his death. In November 2012, this 1,200-page volume was published by Little, Brown and Company, the same publisher of the first two "Last Lion" volumes. As of this writing, "The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm 1940-1965" has garnered overwhelmingly positive professional and consumer reviews, much to the satisfaction of those of us who waited patiently for nearly three decades for its release.

As a newspaper reporter for 35 years, I take occasional side trips from the business of newsmakers and newsmaking to read for pleasure. The Last Lion Alone is simply one of the most fascinating, well-crafted books, about one of history's truly great men, by one of the master writers of his generation, William Manchester. Researching his subject and the times the man lived in, Manchester paints a vivid, striking and often horrifying account of a man whose love of his country, his objective, unblinking analysis of the emerging Nazi threat, and the almost abusive opposition he nobly suffered, from men and women in Britain who should have known better. Born in 1947 in the U.S., I had always considered Winston Churchill a great man from my study of history and WWII, along with Dwight Eisenhower and FDR. After reading Last Lion Alone, treasuring every word and passage, I regard this man and what he stood for in absolute awe. I'm not a person who freely indulges in hero worship - with the exception of Winston Churchill.

Churchill was one of the greatest world leaders in the 20th century. And one of the most unlikely. He was what we would say a brat spoiled by privilege, horrible in school, but as a young man joined the military because he thought that would be the fastest way he could gain a position in Parliament. Which it did. He was fearless in battle. I would say even foolhardy, walking upright at the top of the British trenches during WWI to review his troops, despite being constantly shot at by the Germans. He was one of only several men who, during the 1930s, believed that Hitler was secretly violating the Treaty of Versailles which provisioned that Germany must accept "all the loss and damage" it caused during WWI. Churchill, in violation of his own Parliamentary laws, secretly met with a score of civil servants who gathered actual statistics on the secret build up of German war instruments. Throughout the 1930s he warned Parliament over and over again of the danger presented by Hitler's rise to power. He was completely ignored for years. But he held on, and when Hitler finally began his murderous conquest of Europe, at the last minute, Churchill was elected Prime Minister, and the rest, they say, is history. Churchill was a prodigious student of history, compiling *A History of* *the English-Speaking Peoples*. In it, he preserves the rousing speech of Queen Elizabeth to her troops during their war with the superior Spanish armada: "Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts andcgoodwill of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, resolved, in the midst and heat of battle, to live or die amongst you, today down for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain or any prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field."

The second volume of William Manchester's superb chronicle of Churchill"s life covers the shortest time span of his career, and deals with his years in the political wilderness. It is still a gripping read.

This is really an outstanding piece of work. For a start, it is highly readable. Extremely well written, not over poweringly statistical, easy on the eye and fast paced. The work covers Churchill's lonely years out of power in the 1930's. It then outlines his extraordinary prescience in identifying the real risks with the rise of Nazi Germany. It highlights especially his incredible personal (and lonely) determination to bring to the notice of the Governments - the first lead by Baldwin and then by Chamberlain - and his repeateded attempts to stir them into action in rearming and excercising far more caution in their dealings with Hitler. What I found particularly intereting was the absolutley appalling conduct of both prime ministers. Baldwin's blatant, cynical, obstinacy and obsession with appeasement lead to him publicly admitting, finally, that he had put his party before country. He had even deliberately lied/mislead Parliament about the risks in Europe, simply in order to secure his re-election. It exposes his conceit, vanity and self interest, and in incredible detail. Following Baldwin, the book moves on to Chamberlain. The poor conduct of Chamberlain is perhaps better known. His utter arrogance, stubborness and vainglorious manner in pursuing appeasement is beyond belief. However, unusually - but interestingly, this book fully exposes his cohorts, especially Halifax ( foreign secretary) Wilson, the civil servant/cabinet secratary and unelected "advisor" to Chamberlain. Refreshingly it excoriates the misconduct of Henderson, the arch-nazi sympathiser and appeaser, who served as the British ambassador to Germany. These people are clearly shown to be liars, deceivers, fools and schemers. That these people were then never, ever, brought fully to account at the outbreak of war, is appalling and reflects poorly on the establishment of public school, upper class politicians at this time. After the invasion of Poland and the losses of more than 100,000 innocent Polish civilians in air raids, Halifax was STILL holding out for the chance to negotiate a "peace with honour"settlement with Hitler! In fact, he would have happily given away part of the Empire if it meant Britain was left untouched by Hitler. Unbelievable!! The book vividly highlights the utter contempt held by Chamberlain and Halifax (especially), towards the Cezch peoples, Poles and those from the lowland countries of Europe. On public record, Chamberlain readily admitted to his limited knowledge of these peoples and indeed almost every other country in the world. Even Baldwin his predecessor, admitted the same lack of interest and knowledge of foreign affairs. Yet BOTH These Prime Ministers insisted on taking a personal lead in Anglo-French, German and eastern european countries. This book really damming of these two leaders and their fawning sychophantic cabinet members, very few of whom escape this authors exposure of their miserable, pathetic performance. The contempt held by these men for Churchill is also brought sharply to the readers attention. This book is comprehensive, but very readable. It does not attempt to cover Churchill's many flaws. It is not a another piece of Churchillian glorification. It recognises well his determination, stubborness his fanciful ideas - some bordering on recklessness. But it also highlights the man's true greatness. He THE man for the times, of that there can be no doubt. The book stirs the readers blood in its condemnation of the incompetence of British politicians and pre-war leaders, with their incredibly blinkered, head-in-the sand attitude to develpoments in Europe - and their implications for Britain and its Empire. Their failure to look above the parapet so very nearly cost Britain the war. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the events prior to the start of WW2. One cautionary point - the grammar in this work is APPALLING! The punctuation looks like someone threw a bucket of commas at it. It is so bad that towards the end of this excellent work, the reader could easily oget slightly irritated by the constant misapplication of the comma. The book has a surprising number of spelling mistakes, too. That aside, this book is an exceptional piece of highly researched, enjoyable, writing.

If you are interested in a biography that doesn't limit itself on biographical dates and facts, but shows the whole political and cultural circumstances of a life, then this is the book. This part of William Manchester's thoroughly researched biography only contains information about the eight-year period of Winston's life preceding England's declaration of war against Germany in 1940. It's an impressive source of knowledge if you want to know what happened during this time from a British perspective, and you can also learn the details about Winston Churchill's toughest times in politics.

These 3 volumes covering Churchill's long life give a tremendous insight in to those years surrounding the two (great) wars of the 20th centuary. One finally understands why the 1914/1918 war 'happened'; and how the Treaty of Versailles sowed the seeds for the 1939/1945 war. The very understandable fear of war that led the English and French governments to endeavour to avoid war 'at all costs' was tragic. With hindsight one can say: this war could (and should) have been avoided. But that is not all.... The English/Northern Ireland situation is frankly discussed (already a serious problem before the 14/18 war). Also dealt with.... The English initiative to create a Jewish state in Palestine, The early negotiations were largely handled by Churchill.

A well researched work on this most complex of men. It gives a detailed, entertaining insight to the private and the public life of WSC when he was almost a loan voice crying in the wilderness, stating the obvious about what was happening in Germany, and the perils of Hitler and the Nazis, which most politicians, and many of the population not just of Britain, but the wider world that had fought the Great Was would rather ignore. Recommended reading for history scholar and anybody else trying to make sense of the past hundred years.