New Biographies

Winston Churchill

Admirers of Britain's great wartime leader, Winston Churchill, and history buffs interested in the events leading up to the Second World War, will enjoy William Manchester's two volumes of Churchill biography, The Last Lion:  Winston Spencer Churchill.  The first volume, Visions of Glory, 1874-1932, recounts Churchill's aristocratic background and childhood of "wretched neglect," his early career including his involvement in many of the most notable events of the time:  the Boer War, the creation of Jordan, Iraq, and the Irish Free State, and the legislation that led to old-age pensions, unemployment compensation and national health insurance.

Manchester's second volume, Alone, 1932-1940, charts the personal difficulty and political frustration Churchill encountered as, faced by ruinous debt he endeavoured to meet the challenge of the Nazi threat, attempting to persuade both his party and the public of the need to arm to face the force later turned on Britain.  

Martin Gilbert's In Search of Churchill:  A Historian's Journey is a personal memoir by the author of the famous 8-volume biography of the former Prime Minister.   Gilbert began his career in 1962 working as an assistant to Churchill and this easy-to read memoir, as it recounts Gilbert's work as Churchill's aide and biographer, reveals much more about Churchill as a man.  

Nathanael Greene

Not well known today, Nathanael Greene was a Revolutionary War hero who began his miltary career as a private and a volunteer.  Nathanael Greene:  A Biography of the American Revolution tells the story of Greene's career as Washington's hand-picked quartermaster general and his brilliant military campaigns in the South that helped turned the tide of the war.  Greene was a man of remarkable personal qualities:  he taught himself the art of military strategy as he anticipated war with England; he pledged his personal fortune to pay for the food and supplies of the troops he commanded.