The Gathering Storm

I started reading these six volumes during my military service in the 1960s, and have not been without them since. I have not only the hardcover edition, but picked up this paperback set also. I've always felt the good side of Britain turning their collective backs to this great man after World War II, not returning him to office, was the greatest blessing of all. For to us that action directed him to write these volumes of war memories, and in my mind's eye can see him standing, for he always stood to do his later writings, with both cigar and whisky and soda firmly in hand. Revisiting his firm convicitions that right would eventually triumph over wrong, good over evil. Taking comfort that he almost alone, gave both voice and backbone to England during their darkest hour. He always believed too in the myth that King Arthur would return during England's hour of greatest need, and his romantic side must have seen himself somewhat filling that role. He always said if Arthur did not exist, he should have. From his earliest, youthful days in office at the turn of the 20th century, he always had a gift for both good writing and good speech. His weak speaking voice, sometimes with lisp, may not have always equalled these abilities, but many of his speeches and writings yet give evidence of this talent. I still recall one older gent telling me in a book store years ago that to read these six volumes he needed continuously both a dictionary and Bible by his side. He was happy to share his enjoyment in these books with me, as many thousands of other readers down through the years have also shared in that enjoyment. I'm so prejudiced that it would seem remiss for any World War II library to be without these volumes. No matter what else one reads, I feel this set of books to be requisite to anyone's study and enjoyment of those war years. I would recommend these six volumes without any hesitation to one and all. Only the most hard at heart could be against this monumental work. And the farther World War II recedes into the past, the more monumental they become. Semper Fi.

I just finished reading The Gathering Storm. I have read other books about World War II including, A Man Called Intrepid. This has been, by far, the best. Winston Churchill shows himself to be not only a great statesman, but also an increadibly articulate writer.First, the story captured me by his tremendous grasp and use of the English language. Churchill's writing is very understandable even though he uses very proper or "High" English. His words draw you in and paint pictures in your mind. It was easy to feel as if you were in the story.Secondly, Churchill tells an incredible story of suffering, perserverance, sacrifice and honor. Churchill describes how people served with honor and respect without regard to their own needs. History is so easily forgotten but fills such an enormous void in society. Churchill turned his very life over to the country and to the world in order that good would win out over the evil of Nazi Germany and Hitler.Churchill does not just tell of the things that were done right. In fact, the bulk of the book tells primarily of the failure of the Allies to prevent war. Churchill presents a valuable lesson that dictators and bullies can not be tamed by appeasement. The dictator's appetite grows with every inch given over. Churchill also points out his own failures and mistakes, never once trying to shift the blame or make an excuse.The Gathering Storm should be a lesson to all of the consequences of thinking that "if it doesn't affect me I don't care". It is a valuable history lesson for all. It is also an excellent book on being a leader. Churchill shows that being a leader is not about being famous and winning admiration. It is about self-sacrifice and thinking of the greater good.This should be required reading for all high school students as well as every politician. We all need to remember what a tremendous price was paid for us. Winston Churchill was one of the worlds greatest leaders and heroes.

Winston Churchill may slowly be being forgotten as one of the twentieth century's most prolific writers. Those who learn about him today, if they hear his name at all, usually discover that he was a British Prime Minister, and little more. Even the fact that it was he who put the War Cabinet together in 1940, which managed to hold out both strategically and psychologically against Hitler, is slowly fading. "We will fight them on the beaches..." is slowly becoming merged with the sounds of popular music, and the original sense being lost. Whether that is a good thing or not, I hardly know. Yet there was so much more to this long-lived British soldier, journalist, novelist, parliamentarian, artist, statesman and historian, than mere good generalship.In "The Gathering Storm," we are evidently preparing for the disaster of 1939. Churchill was not in office during those years, and indeed, although it is probably becoming a more obscure fact than ever as time goes on, he was something of a political pariah. The trend of British politics in the thirties, and to some extent within the influential part of British society, was toward pacifism and a consequent reduction in armaments and defence expenditure. Churchill was on the outside, voicing his concern from time to time as a private Member of Parliament, but unable to make himself heard. So this is the background to the book, a time of political intrigue at the international level, and of unwillingness to face up to the facts of the rise of fascism, in Britain. Perhaps it may be said, in fairness, that until Czechoslovakia turned ugly, war with Germany was not to be thought of, for all sorts of reasons. The decisions that were perhaps ill made in those dying days at the end of the 30s, were nevertheless of the tallest order. It is perhaps true that Churchill is unable to give us a completely unbiased version of events. However, in the main he sticks to history and what is coloured in the text is probably what is left out rather than anything reported as fact. One of the interesting snippets in the book (and of course, there are many), is the fact that Churchill, while still out of office, was invited to meet Hitler in the Rhineland in 1937, declined to do so, and subsequently never met him at all. His son Randolph, on the other hand, did meet him in Berlin in the 30s.This is history, first and foremost, and as it intends to cover the war and not just Churchill's part in it, it strays into all sorts of odd corners of international foreign policy. Yet none of it is tedious in the hands of such a gifted writer, and when it becomes a question of the central facts touching upon the lives of so many millions, this point of view is a critical one indeed.

Churchill's book is really astonishing, not only for the sheer size, but for the vast expand of knowledge displayed and the personal experience behind it. Churchill includes hundreds of documents and thus gives ample proof of what he writes. His strongest moments are his criticism of British appeasement policy and the account of 1940/41, where his will to survive and his pertinacity can still be felt through the pages. His personal experience is always there, though he refrains from giving his readers too many anecdotes. In spite of the fact the everything was written very shortly after the war, most things are quite accurate, though the pages on Nazi Germany are not always enlightened. But - being German - I have never felt any hatred towards my people as a whole and one can well join in with his disgust of Germany at that time. The book, or rather books, never bore. An absolute masterpiece of historical writing.