The Great Republic: A History of America

This excerpted work is a light summary of American History from the perspective of a good friend and ally. It is not, however, a book that would have been taken seriously had it not been written by Churchill. To students of U.S. history, it will seem too superficial in most places (eg. Industrialization), too romantic in others (eg. the Civil War), and downright misleading in still others (imagine anyone describing Jefferson as 'frugal'!!). Having said all that, I enjoyed it precisely because it is our cousin's celebration of his own American roots.

The Great Republic is essentially Churchill's historical overview of America contained within his History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Normally acknowledged as one of the great political statesman of his, perhaps any, age, Churchill was also quite the historian. His complete works span over 50 volumes of material. These excerpts of his larger work provide us with a unique perspective on American history from an alternative vantage point, although not entirely foreign. Churchill was, in fact, intimately connected with Amercia. As the introduction provided by his grandson (appropriately named) Winston S. Churchill reveals, three of Churchill's ancestors were actually passengers on the Mayflower. He had even more recent connections through his mother who was an American. Churchill was a great admirer of what he affectionately called 'the Great Republic' (thus, the title), and so his endearment of our country is also the result of embracing his own heritage.Only half of this edition is taken from Churchill's original history. Obviously, the work has a Euro-centrist perspective of America and its events. But this is part of its unique charm, added with the fact of the man who had written it is highly regarded world-wide. The span of history covered begins with the Europlean effort to find alternative routes to the East Indies, resulting in America's discovery. It ends at the beginning of the twentieth century having little to say of these times. Because American history was not the focus of the original work, much history must be expected by the reader to be left out. The themes discussed are almost entirely political, as one would expect. The central focus of our history it turns out is our Civil War. It seems that it is not only historians in America who have such a fascination with this epic. More emphasis is given this historic confrontation than that of our Revolutionary War (after all, what Englishman would glory in that story). Nevertheless, the greatness of Churchill as an historian is fully evident here.The latter half is a collection of Churchill's writings and speeches regarding America covering a span of over 50 years. Here we find how America was viewed by the prominent politian. He is certainly credible enough to have formed an opinion of our American customs and habits considering his background and his numerous trips to the New World. The topics vary covering our eating habits and social customs to our landscapes to our common language and heritage to opinoins on Prohibition and War. These, or course, act as a history of America in the first half of this last century. On the whole, The Great Republic is an exceptional and brief read in American history.

The best part of the audio was the telling of The Revolutionary War from the losers without bitterness but with humor. The coming together of the United States & Britain was excellent. Great Britain, at the end of the 19th century was the greatest power on earth yet had no alliances with any major power. It really didn"t take long for the two most powerful English speaking nations in the world to warm to each other. It is an important subject that has not been covered entensively in American History books.

This is a wonderful book on the Greatest Country of the century by the Greatest Man of the Century. I really enjoyed this book as it gave me an in depth account in one volume of the struggles and conflicts Americans had to go through to get to where they are today.