Rating: 
Summary: Sir Winston spins history & covers his derriere
Review: It amazes me that this collection of wartime memoirs continues to be held up as an example of Great History & Great Literature. I hope the tendency to do so becomes less & less commonplace as a new generation that never knew Churchill comes to the fore. It seems as though two or three generations, both British and American, becames members of the First Church of Saint Winston, and Saint Winston casts a long shadow. To question his competence or motives was simply taboo for years & years. Only recently have scholars dared to impugn Churchill's memory.As to the veracity of the history, I can only say that it is as good as most memoirs. Of course, memoirs by their very nature are suspect & unreliable as historical source material, and Churchill is no more guilty of spinning history than have been countless other writers of memoirs. Churchill made an entire career out promoting himself through writing in the years leading up to his stint with the Admirality. Later, he would devote his energies to dressing up his late father's reputation for posterity in a wholly unobjective biography/hagiography, and then put his own unique spin on Britain's role in winning World War II (which was of course, Churchill tells us, due to his own great leadership). Suffice it to say, reading these books is essential to any serious study of World War II, but only in concert with other, more objective works. However, anyone who thinks this is great writing has to be out of his mind! For those who don't know, Churchill wrote exactly like he delivered speeches in Parliament as a young man. Parliamentary speaking during the late Victorian & Edwardian eras was something of an art form, which very much emphasized style over substance. The ability to expound at length, displaying mastery over the language, could make or break the oratorical career of a young MP. Whether or not you were actually saying anything substantial was truly beside the point; Churchill embraced this approach and adhered to it for the rest of his days, both in his speeches and his writings. Why describe an event in one page when you can just as easily do it in ten pages, asks Sir Winston. His prose flows effortlessly, page after page after page, not a grammatical error to be found. It is written beautifully, but it is not beautiful writing --- it is simply self-indulgence. Personally, I find his rather prolix stylings to be hard to endure, but I guess (for the time being) I am in the minority. I guess we will see how things change in the next twenty years or so.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Beyond Words -- Required Reading
Review: It must have taken me darn near a year to read all six volumes in this work. They're inconceivably great. They're certainly not fast reading (as evidenced by how long it took for me to complete the set), but they're truly awe inspiring. As I read through the work, the same thing kept running through my head: if it weren't for this man (Winston Churchill), we'd all be speaking German right now. There's no doubt about it. It's amazing that this set doesn't form the reading for a required course for every person in America. I don't know about the education system in Britain, but if it's not required reading there, something has truly gone wrong with that country. I can't stress enough how much I mean it when I say: "you MUST read these works."
Rating:
Summary: Great Beyond Words -- Required Reading
Review: It must have taken me darn near a year to read all six volumes in this work. They're inconceivably great. They're certainly not fast reading (as evidenced by how long it took for me to complete the set), but they're truly awe inspiring. As I read through the work, the same thing kept running through my head: if it weren't for this man (Winston Churchill), we'd all be speaking German right now. There's no doubt about it. It's amazing that this set doesn't form the reading for a required course for every person in America. I don't know about the education system in Britain, but if it's not required reading there, something has truly gone wrong with that country. I can't stress enough how much I mean it when I say: "you MUST read these works."
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate history lesson on WW II
Review: Most people have the feeling that Winston Churchill won a nobel prize. Since Churchill was the 1st minister of the United Kingdom during most of the Second World War, it's natural for them to think CHurchill won the Nobel Peace Prize for achievements during the war. That's not the truth. Churchill won the Nobel Prize for LITERATURE in 1953, accordingly to the Scandinavian institution, "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values". Among the books that granted Churchill the Nobel Prize is "The second world war". This book is a history lesson about WWII. Even if it's more than 1000 pages in length, it's never a tedious reading, even if it becomes very dense at some parts. Churchill was always in the center of the war, as a politician. "The second world war" is a book about the War's politics. All the motives and reasons behind the war are toroughly explained, as well as all the war's developments during the toughest six years in the history of humanity. Being a book mostly about politics, I felt at some times the lack of battle field scenes; being a book mostly about the war in Europe and northern Africa, I felt I wanted more information about the war in the Pacific. But it's undertandable that "The second world war" doesn't go very deep in these subjects, because Churchill writes mostly about what he was part of, so much so that in Brazil the title of this book is "Memoirs of the second world war". And that's what it is: Churchill's memories of what he was part of during WWII. So, it's not a complete book about the war, and it couldn't possibly be, but it's a fundamental book for readers to understand the war in a political way. For a complete understanding of other aspects of the war, there are other books that should also be read, like Cornelius Ryan's "The longest day", "A bridge too far", or Stephen Ambrose's books, just to name a few of the most popular. Now I'm looking forward to reading Churchill's books on the First World war. Grade 9.1/10
Rating:
Summary: Churchill is the greatest man of the 20th century
Review: Not only was Churchill the greatest leader of his time, he was the greatest historian as well. No student of history should be without this series. The fact that it is indefinitely out of stock should cause the publishers to be ashamed of themselves
Rating:
Summary: The best, in-depth book I have ever read on World War II
Review: Rarely can one read such a book as this one. While I have read approximately 500 books on World War II alone, I have never read one that I enjoyed as much as this. The Patton Papers was close, but not as good if judged on information solely. I recommend that anyone interested in the history of WW II to take the time to enjoy this book!
Rating:
Summary: 5 STARS AREN'T ENOUGH
Review: Sheesh - difficult to read? Perhaps one should try "WWII FOR DUMMIES"! This is an awsesome, detailed, and superbly documented historical work. By it's very nature it can't be light or entertaining. In a certain sense it's a reference book for future professional historians that want to improve their understanding of the 20th century. The author delves into a myriad of topics along the way; invariably with penetrating insights and a unique writing style. The average person doesn't really need to read it cover to cover. Most of the chapters can stand alone. The documentation isn't overly important to the narrative. The work also has great uniqueness and originality. No other world leader wrote a detailed memoir of their war experiences, let alone an overarching history of it. No one else had the perspective on the war that Churchill did. And like all major wars, it was unique, never to be duplicated in the history of the world. In regard to errors, I wonder how many of you bozos have saved the world from a power mad, genocidal, megalomaniacal dictator without making an error? Sheesh.
Rating:
Summary: 5 STARS AREN'T ENOUGH
Review: Sheesh - difficult to read? Perhaps one should try "WWII FOR DUMMIES"! This is an awsesome, detailed, and superbly documented historical work. By it's very nature it can't be light or entertaining. In a certain sense it's a reference book for future professional historians that want to improve their understanding of the 20th century. The author delves into a myriad of topics along the way; invariably with penetrating insights and a unique writing style. The average person doesn't really need to read it cover to cover. Most of the chapters can stand alone. The documentation isn't overly important to the narrative. The work also has great uniqueness and originality. No other world leader wrote a detailed memoir of their war experiences, let alone an overarching history of it. No one else had the perspective on the war that Churchill did. And like all major wars, it was unique, never to be duplicated in the history of the world. In regard to errors, I wonder how many of you bozos have saved the world from a power mad, genocidal, megalomaniacal dictator without making an error? Sheesh.
Rating:
Summary: The stuff of heroes
Review: The man was absolutely amazing - switching parties, positions, ideologies, a painter, a traveler, a politician and most of all, a leader of his beloved Britain. He served his country well at numerous positions from the Admiralty to MP (from multiple areas and multiple parties) to 10 Downing Street. But most of all, he is known by his unflagging strength and brilliant, fortifying speeches during WWII. Today he is quoted by those who think intervention is the only sound policy in response to potential terror. He was prescient in his warnings about the necessity of confronting evil but the nation turned its head (and suffered the consequences). This account, in his inimitable style, is a masterly work. He traces the reasons for conflict, the beginnings, the internal political machinations, the movers and shakers, the battles, the trials and the final push. The work succeeds on three levels: Historical, literary and personal. It should be required reading for students today who would learn more history between these pages than in any boring class. Again and again he stresses that the past must be studied if future errors are to be avoided and that past actions determine/predicate future activities. For him, it was easy to see the logical outcome of Hitler's ever-spreading land grab. His old-fashioned morality spoke to him, telling him that it was quite silly to expect rulers who terrorize their own people to uphold internation laws of civility. In the end, he issued a warning about Soviet Russia who he had always regarded with contempt. His "iron curtain" reference became an everyday term for the next fifty years. Buy these works for someone you care about - or give yourself a treat.
Rating:
Summary: The stuff of heroes
Review: The man was absolutely amazing - switching parties, positions, ideologies, a painter, a traveler, a politician and most of all, a leader of his beloved Britain. He served his country well at numerous positions from the Admiralty to MP (from multiple areas and multiple parties) to 10 Downing Street. But most of all, he is known by his unflagging strength and brilliant, fortifying speeches during WWII. Today he is quoted by those who think intervention is the only sound policy in response to potential terror. He was prescient in his warnings about the necessity of confronting evil but the nation turned its head (and suffered the consequences). This account, in his inimitable style, is a masterly work. He traces the reasons for conflict, the beginnings, the internal political machinations, the movers and shakers, the battles, the trials and the final push. The work succeeds on three levels: Historical, literary and personal. It should be required reading for students today who would learn more history between these pages than in any boring class. Again and again he stresses that the past must be studied if future errors are to be avoided and that past actions determine/predicate future activities. For him, it was easy to see the logical outcome of Hitler's ever-spreading land grab. His old-fashioned morality spoke to him, telling him that it was quite silly to expect rulers who terrorize their own people to uphold internation laws of civility. In the end, he issued a warning about Soviet Russia who he had always regarded with contempt. His "iron curtain" reference became an everyday term for the next fifty years. Buy these works for someone you care about - or give yourself a treat.
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