The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932

Many lists say the best historical biography is "Disraeli" by Blake. This is better. Way better. The only author that has ever kept me glued to a book as much as Manchester's is Michael Crichton. It's odd to compare a biography to Jurassic Park, but Manchester makes history come alive. He spends a lot of time and care setting the "culture" in a way that is not pedantic or boring (unlike some Civil War histories I've read!). And then he builds on Churchill's stories in a way that makes you feel like you're in Churchill's shoes, with the same issues and challenges.Unfortunately, there is no Volume 3 about the war years. Manchester's illness prevented this. What a sad loss to history. Read Vol 1 and 2. You won't regret it.

It is hard to tell who is the larger hero -- Churchill or Manchester. Not because the historian is bigger than history, but rather because the historian has so captured history.Churchill aficionados don't need to read heroic prose to be attracted to all that has been written about him. But for the rest of us, Manchester has strung together the words that truly capture the place Churchill created in world history.This volume is the first in what was obviously intended as a trilogy. Unfortunately, we have yet to see the concluding book. I hope it makes it.Here is a challenge. Pick up the book and read the first two pages. You will find yourselve with two major problems. First, about 2000 pages (volumes one and two) of reading that you will want to complete faster than you have time for. Worse, a dull ache of longing for the third volume that may never materialize.

William Manchester's two volume biography on the life of Winston Churchill is unforgettable. Manchester retells this great man's life with startling details that keep you consistently enthralled. The book's genius is not only in the biographical account, but in Manchester's ability to weave this biography into a lush context. The Last Lion's power comes from detail. Here, when Hitler first moves his troops we find that on the same day Margaret Mitchell's editor changed "Pansy" to Scarlet, and "Tommorow is Another Day" to "Gone With The Wind." Manchester seizes every opportunity to share his vast knowledge with his readers. The result is a work that seriously re-evaluates criticisms of Churchill that abounded both during and long after his lifetime. I am a better man for knowing the amazing life story of Churchill. Manchester's book makes this learning enormously entertaining.

Manchester provides a lucid and entertaining perspective of the events that shaped the rise of this century's greatest statesman. This volume of the two volume series is essential to understanding the man, his politics, and his rise to power. Manchester's perspicacious narrative reveals the elements that composed the Churchillian psyche including his mother's maternal indifference and promiscuity, his fathers's political maneuvering, Victorian morality and immorality, his contempt for formal education, his love for military fortunes, and his call to the political arena. Volume I is a must read before Volume II (1932-1940)

Brilliant biography by an author who is to the political left of his subject. Manchester doesn't let his political beliefs color his judgement of Churchill. The Victorian Era comes to life with Manchester's prose. The author's defense of Churchill's strategy in the failed Dardanelles campaign is convincing.