Churchill and America, by Martin Gilbert

New York: The Free Press, 2008. Pp. xxiv, 501. Illus., maps, notes, biblio., index. $18.00 paper. ISBN:0743259939.

From his death, in the mid-1960s, until 2000, an average of about one book a year was published on Winston Churchill, a figure which as risen to slightly over two from 2001 to the present, perhaps because the West is desperate for brilliant leadership. Some of these works have addressed unusual aspects of Churchill's life, as is the case for Churchill and America .

Having written Churchill's "official biography," edited the man?s wartime papers, in this volume Martin Gilbert turns his attention to the narrower, largely overlooked, though very critical subject of Churchill's ties to and relationship with his mother's homeland, the United States.

The result is work that effectively weaves several threads; Churchill's connections to America , including family ties, friendships, business interests, an outline biography that includes Churchill's political career, and, most importantly, the Second World War. There are a lot of surprises in the book, such as Churchill's notably lucrative lecture tours and publishing success in the U.S. , which were quite lucrative, as well as his considerable success in business in the U.S.  There are also numerous insights into Churchill's remarkably complex personality, a mixture of hard-nosed warrior, romantic, political magician, and more. 

Churchill and America is likely to be of interest to any student of the twentieth century and would be a good book to serve as an introduction to the man for the interested layman.

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