This chunk of Winston Churchill's life by Robert Schmuhl is painstakingly researched and reported. I have read 3 other books about Winston Churchill: Hero of the Empire, about his service as a soldier during the Boer War; The Splendid and the Vile, describing his personal and public life during his first term as Prime Minister during WWII, and Lady Clementine, which also describes his personal life during WWII alongside the lives of those closest to him. In many ways this book extends his biography to include Churchill's intensified interactions with President Roosevelt once the U.S. joined the war, as well as his strong relationship to President Eisenhower during Churchill's 2nd term as P.M. "With a new biography, Robert Schmuhl walks readers through Winston Churchill’s frequent stays at the White House – and the strong bonds those sojourns forged" Christian Science Monitor, July 31, 2024). For me at least, it did cement in my mind that this was a truly a great man who initially stood alone against the Nazi threat and who advocated relentlessly for peace and democracy. I had not realized he won a Nobel Prize for literature and just how extensively he studied and documented history of the western world.
Publishers Weekly notes that, in spite of the hundreds of books written about Churchill, Schmuhl takes a unique approach by focusing extensively on the character of the men involved and their relationships and closes by strongly recommending the book to "history buffs." As one example cited by the Wall Street Journal's review reveals, "In an extraordinary gesture of trust, the American president [Roosevelt] left Washington, D.C., on Sept. 9, 1943, and handed the British prime minister his keys. 'Winston, please treat the White House as your home. Invite anyone you like to any meals, and do not hesitate to summon any of my advisers with whom you wish to confer.' Winston Churchill had been staying at the White House for more than a week and Franklin Roosevelt was departing for his country home in Hyde Park, N.Y. 'I availed myself fully of these generous facilities,' Churchill later wrote. Assembling the British and American chiefs of staff, he led a meeting on the invasion of Italy. One onlooker wondered whether 'there has ever existed between the war leaders of two allied nations, a relationship so intimate as that revealed by this episode.'" Moreover, Churchill is famously quoted as saying, "No lover ever studied every whim of his mistress as I did those of President Roosevelt" (letter to John Colville, May 2, 1948). Kirkus says, "An educational recollection of an era when geopolitics was based on respect, mutual understanding, and friendship....It adds up to a fresh approach to an important piece of history."
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