Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Four brief passages from the Manchester/Reid book. The italicized  materials below are each taken from pp. 506-07. "It was over India and empire that Churchill and Roosevelt had their first serious political argument. Roosevelt presumed he could speak frankly to Churchill on most matters, including -- and mistakenly -- India. Churchill, out of politeness, kept Roosevelt abreast of Cripp's progress, or lack thereof." Stafford Cripps, in the spring of 1942 the most prominent member of the Labour Party in the War Cabinet, had gone to India to attempt to negotiate an understanding with the nationalist leaders, in particular Gandhi, by offering them semi-independent for India after the war if they would assist in the resistence to Japan in the meantime. It wasn't going well. But back to the book: "When the talks broke down, Roosevelt blamed Churchill, in the most frank terms. The two men had very different long-term objectives. Beyond the defeat of Hitler, Ch...

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 yea...