Churchill: The Unexpected Hero
To distinguish his Churchill biography from the many others, historian Addison focuses on Churchill's critics. Whether contemporaries or historians, they are numerous and caustic, calling Churchill an opportunist and a warmonger. Against that stands Churchill's leadership in World War II, which inescapably shadows his prior record in British politics. To his account of the pre-WWII career, Addison appends telling insights on Churchill's character traits, prime among them a profoundly juvenile egotism. Brilliantly intuitive though he was, Churchill, impatient and impulsive, took little account of others' feelings; hence, his acquisition of political enemies over time. Narrating the indictments they leveled at him (twice switching parties, the Dardanelles disaster of WWI), Addison paradoxically humanizes Churchill, for he is a far more iconic figure for Americans than for the British. Nevertheless, Addison makes the case for why Churchillshouldbe iconic, disputing a revisionist school that negatively deconstructs Churchill's actions in WWII. Astute in its interpretations, Addison's work makes for swift reading and is a practical alternative to the monuments by William Manchester and Martin Gilbert.Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved