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Book Review By John Ellis
Churchill: A Biography by Roy Jenkins

The author Roy Jenkins, now deceased, was a distinguished British parliamentarian who occupied many senior cabinet positions, was president of the European Commission and Chancellor of Oxford University. Perhap most relevantly he was also the author of several excellent political biographies and a writer of considerable style and insight.

The books tells the entire story of Churchill's life from his lonely childhood to his long and rather melancholy decline after his overdue retirement. His life does, of course, read rather like a romance. If one didn't know the facts to be true, it would be hard to believe them. Tales of heroism during the Spanish American War, on the North West Frontier, in the Sudan, and finally during the Boer War when he was taken prisoner and escaped. Then a political career that gave him high office at a very young age and a staggering series of triumphs and tragedies. All culminating in that moment in 1940 when man and hour came together in unforgettable fashion.


Plot & Themes
Plotlet:
War/Cloak & Dagger story? - Led as politician
War/Spying Yes
Which war?

Subject of Biography
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Ethnicity - White
Nationality - British
Unusual characteristics:

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 8 ()
Europe Yes

Writing Style
Book makes you feel? - in awe
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