Winston Churchill I

Late last year the publisher Little Brown brought out the third volume of a biography of Winston Churchill that has been in the works for decades, The Last Lion.

The first volume, by William Manchester, The Last Lion: Visions of Glory, appeared in 1983.

The second volume, subtitled Alone, came out five years later.

Then Manchester put the final volume on the back burner and turned to another project, A World Lit Only By Fire, his informal meditation on medieval Europe, published in 1992.

In 1998, Manchester suffered two strokes. He had, by this time, compiled extensive research materials for volume three, including interview transcripts, but had only made a start onthe actual composition.

Over the following years, Manchester realized that his condition was not going to allow him to complete this project, and in 2003 he told his friend Paul Reid, a feature writer for Cox Newspapers, "I'd like you to finish the book." Manchester passed away the following year.

So now we have it, The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm, 1940 - 1965, by William Manchester and Paul Reid.

Nine-tenths of the book, not surprisingly, concerns the first five years of the covered period. However valuable the coverage of the post-war years, and Churchill's return to 10 Downing Street in 1951, it is the discussion of the Second World War from a Churchill-centric point of view that will get buyers into the tent.

Having provided enough of a backstory, I will quote a bit from the Manchester-Reid volume in tomorrow's entry.

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