Never Give In: The Best of Winston Churchill's Speeches

Rating:
Summary: Needed today
Review: As a politician Churchill made some mistakes, and he was not always consistant, but he was right pretty often, and right on most of the big things. Today we need the qualities of courage and determination against all odds that he projected, as well as his great vision of history. One can imagine how decisively he would have dealt with the war on terrorism had he been alive today. He combined valour and a high romantic vision of nobility and of the worth of our civilization's heritage with (most of the time) a firm foundation and framework of common sense and appreciation of what was and was not possible. Though he loved military pageantry he cared for humanity and did much more than most to save it in a dark Century. These speeches are an important part of the heritage of the besieged West, and a tool-kit to aid clear and decisive thinking in toubled and confusing times. The book deserves its high place on Amazon's sales list. Reading it is a tonic for the spirit.

Finally, reading great chunks of Churchill is the best thing for improving one's own English style that I know. His prose is a delight to read, and a painless lesson in the effective use of words.

Rating:
Summary: courage and vision
Review: Originally this book seemed to have high hopes. Churchill was simply the best, most eloquent moving speaker of the 20ths century. Anyone who has listened to his speeches on tape will agree that his metered tone, angry growl and twisting of words like Nazi into 'Nazziiii' will move you to tears and to want to follow him. This book is a compilation of his `greatest speeches'. Unfortunately the volume does not emphasize his BEST speeches, namely the ones he made from 1938-1941. The author, his grandson, should have spent more time introducing the really famous speeches and spent less time and space on the more marginal speeches which took place in 1942-44.

Churchill has always been remembered for three things; Warning Britain of impending war in the 30s, rallying the country when all seemed lost in 1940 and finally for warning the world of communism in the `iron curtain' speech. Although these important speeches are in this book its not easy to find them and they are jumbled in with speeches that are easily forgettable.

Its almost impossible to locate the `Never give in, never surrender' speech for which the book is named. Its even harder to locate the `fight on the beaches, fight in the hills' speech. Not quite as hard to find is the `finest hour' speech. Also hard to locate though is the `if a large part of our island should be occupied we shall retreat to our empire and our navy' portion of his famous 1940 speech. This essential line occurs in the end of a speech that is not introduced as being important, and yet this line was important in seeing Churchill's unending hatred and indomitable will to defeat Hitler, no matter the cost, a personality trait which probably saved western civilization from the Huns.

An important book, a great reference and a good gift. Its downfall is that the author didn't want to add much commentary. He must have figured readers would find the important speeches and statements themselves. But to someone who enjoys Churchill but is not familiar with when exactly his famous speeches occurred it will be hard to find his best one liners.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: Originally this book seemed to have high hopes. Churchill was simply the best, most eloquent moving speaker of the 20ths century. Anyone who has listened to his speeches on tape will agree that his metered tone, angry growl and twisting of words like Nazi into 'Nazziiii' will move you to tears and to want to follow him. This book is a compilation of his 'greatest speeches'. Unfortunately the volume does not emphasize his BEST speeches, namely the ones he made from 1938-1941. The author, his grandson, should have spent more time introducing the really famous speeches and spent less time and space on the more marginal speeches which took place in 1942-44.

Churchill has always been remembered for three things; Warning Britain of impending war in the 30s, rallying the country when all seemed lost in 1940 and finally for warning the world of communism in the 'iron curtain' speech. Although these important speeches are in this book its not easy to find them and they are jumbled in with speeches that are easily forgettable.

Its almost impossible to locate the 'Never give in, never surrender' speech for which the book is named. Its even harder to locate the 'fight on the beaches, fight in the hills' speech. Not quite as hard to find is the 'finest hour' speech. Also hard to locate though is the 'if a large part of our island should be occupied we shall retreat to our empire and our navy' portion of his famous 1940 speech. This essential line occurs in the end of a speech that is not introduced as being important, and yet this line was important in seeing Churchill's unending hatred and indomitable will to defeat Hitler, no matter the cost, a personality trait which probably saved western civilization from the Huns.

An important book, a great reference and a good gift. Its downfall is that the author didn't want to add much commentary. He must have figured readers would find the important speeches and statements themselves. But to someone who enjoys Churchill but is not familiar with when exactly his famous speeches occurred it will be hard to find his best one liners.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding and thoughtful collection of great speeches
Review: This is an outstanding collection of speeches from perhaps the greatest orator to grace the English language. Having been edited and published by his grandson, Winston Churchill, it would be tempting to be cynical and think of this as a money making exercise, but that would be very wrong.

The editor has taken great care in his selection, and the thoughtfulness shows through. For example, the book ranges from the famous, such as "Be ye men of valour" or "We shall fight them on the beaches" to esoteric speeches such as that delivered on the repudiation of the Balfour Declaration.

This is book which will rightly appeal to many, from those interested in history, to those wanting to study the works of a great orator, and pure and simple Churchill fans. The best thing though, is that one can dip into the book and sample it at different places. It holds pride of place on my bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: courage and vision
Review: What strikes the reader most is this: WSC saw the moral dimension of political and economic events. I expected the eloquence and the courage; I didn't expect the insight and moral depth. So this becomes more than a collection of great speeches; more than a demonstration of the power of words used well; it shines as an example of the importance of the moral dimension of everyday events. Churchill saw that, and shared it with us all. This is a terrific book.