Consulting Wikipedia I found that in addition to the original six-volume edition there’s also one that has twelve-volumes (same content I suppose), as well as a “condensed” edition, which appeared in a single volume (but still brings it to stately 1100+ pages). Before one begins the struggle with such a large-scale work, some planning is necessary, so the question was which edition it should be. Next library review: The Second World War John Keeganįor quite some time I wanted to engage Winston Churchill’s extensive history and memoir of the Second World War. Previous library review: The European Mind 1680-1715 Paul Hazard Whether that will actually come about, who knows? But it's now in that mental pile of books, instead of simply languishing on a basement bookshelf. Be that as it may (and I had never heard these criticisms when I first read the volumes), what Churchill gives the reader is, if nothing else, an insider's view - and not only an insider, but surely one of the most influential insiders that could be imagined.Īs for the writing itself, Churchill is a master at writing a historical narrative, I doubt that there would be much argument about that.īy the way, I decided to put this little review here tonight because I've decided that I'd really like to give at least the first volume (The Gathering Storm) another read. Such criticisms are, obviously (if they have any validity) the view of historians that have studied the second World War from a rather larger distance in time whereas the time between the events Churchill narrates, and when he actually put his thoughts on paper, was only about ten years. I've seen criticisms of the work, something like the idea that Churchill sometimes implies (or even insists) that his own view of things, or his own role in bringing something about, is just a bit dismissive of other conceptions, or parts that others played. Read this many years ago, it will certainly keep a history fan occupied for a long while.
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