$14.87$14.87
$3.99
delivery:
April 26 - 29
Ships from: Revolver Market Sold by: Revolver Market
$10.23
Other Sellers on Amazon
+ $4.99 shipping
89% positive over last 12 months
& FREE Shipping
100% positive over last 12 months
FREE Shipping
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- To view this video download Flash Player
Audible sample Sample
Follow the authors
OK
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 Paperback – November 5, 2013
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Purchase options and add-ons
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
The Wall Street Journal • The Daily Beast • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Daytona Beach News-Journal • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist
“Majestic . . . This book is superb. It has tremendous pace, rich detail and immense drama.”—The Washington Post
“Masterful . . . The collaboration completes the Churchill portrait in a seamless manner, combining the detailed research, sharp analysis and sparkling prose that readers of the first two volumes have come to expect.”—Associated Press
“Matches the outstanding quality of biographers such as Robert Caro and Edmund Morris, joining this elite bank of writers who devote their lives to one subject.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Breathtaking . . . brilliant and beautiful, evocative.”—The Boston Globe
“A must-read finale for those who loved Manchester’s first two books.”—USA Today
“The final volume is . . . majestic and inspiring.”—People
“One of the most thorough treatments of Churchill so far produced.”—Library Journal (starred review)
- Print length1200 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBantam
- Publication dateNovember 5, 2013
- Dimensions5.3 x 1.9 x 8.1 inches
- ISBN-100345548639
- ISBN-13978-0345548634
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may ship from close to you
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Masterful . . . The collaboration completes the Churchill portrait in a seamless manner, combining the detailed research, sharp analysis and sparkling prose that readers of the first two volumes have come to expect.”—Associated Press
“Matches the outstanding quality of biographers such as Robert Caro and Edmund Morris, joining this elite bank of writers who devote their lives to one subject.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Breathtaking . . . brilliant and beautiful, evocative.”—The Boston Globe
“A must-read finale for those who loved Manchester’s first two books.”—USA Today
“The final volume is . . . majestic and inspiring.”—People
“One of the most thorough treatments of Churchill so far produced.”—Library Journal (starred review)
About the Author
Paul Reid is an award-winning journalist. In late 2003, Manchester, in failing health, asked him to complete The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm. He lives in North Carolina.
Product details
- Publisher : Bantam; Reprint edition (November 5, 2013)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 1200 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0345548639
- ISBN-13 : 978-0345548634
- Item Weight : 2.53 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.3 x 1.9 x 8.1 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #289,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #284 in Historical British Biographies
- #1,435 in Political Leader Biographies
- #2,366 in World War II History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
William Manchester (1902–2004) was Professor of History Emeritus at Wesleyan University. His bestselling books include The Last Lion, a multi-volume biography of Winston Churchill; American Caesar, a biography of Douglas MacArthur; The Death of a President, The Arms of Krupp, and A World Lit Only by Fire.
Paul Reid is an award-winning journalist who has covered wars in Colombia, Yugoslavia, and Iraq (2003). In late 2003 his friend, William Manchester, in failing health, asked Paul to complete The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm. Paul lives in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
In spite of several reviews that diminish the work because Paul Reid took over from William Manchester, and the contention was that Reid was not as good a writer, I have to take exception to the charge. I could not tell where Manchester left off and Reid began. The writing is excellent, and yes, there is a world of information, especially about the war, but in all fairness to Reid, he had to cover this ground thoroughly because it was such an important part of the long and productive life of Churchill.
Having read a good deal of the war and Churchill, I still found many things of interest in this book. One good example is the excellent information on the Battle of Britain, when England stood alone in the face of the Nazi menace. We all know of the long odds against the British and their bravery in fighting off the Luftwaffe during this critical time, but the book introduces us to the British Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding. Mostly disliked by the people around him, and essentric in his own British way, it was Dowding that was the champion of radar as far back as 1937 when he ordered work to begin along the eastern and southern coasts with a chain of stations, some of which were low-level with ranges of 50 miles and the others, high-level with a range of 120 miles. This enabled the British to detect German squadrons in many cases before they entered the English Channel. It was this radar that helped them to scramble fighters to meet the menace as it approached the island. COnsidering that Dowding in July, 1940 had eight hundred single engine aircraft to hold off a much larger force, it was in a sense, a miracle for Britain. The German Second and Third Air Fleets were comprised of 750 bombers, 250 Stuka dive bombers, 600 Bf109 fighters and 250 twin Bf110 fighters, but Dowding placed the emphasis on knocking out the bombers and not getting into dog fights with the fighter escort. Goring tried to keep up appearances and lied about the results, but the German strategy was changing. And, even though they knew the location of the two factories that Rolls Royce used to build the Merlin engines, they never bombed these facilities. By September, Hitler elected to concentrate on London and bomb the British to the peace tables. That did not work out well for Adolph.
Another important person in all of this was Lord Beaverbrook, who worked in producing the aircraft needed to fight this air battle. In July, 1940, British workers produced 496 fighter planes, which was an astounding accomplishment. In addition, Beaverbrook's Civilian Repair Organization was busy salvaging parts from fighters shot down over England and in some instances, were able to resurrect German planes that would next fly as a RAF craft.
It is without a doubt that 1940 was Winston's best year, although in many ways the darkest for England. They stood alone. France had fallen, Europe was a Nazi land mass, Hitler and Stalin were beginning their workings toward an alliance, and America stood away from the fight largely because of the isolationist movement and FDR's firm decision not to let his political foes take him down for getting America involved in the war. And while the RAF had performed splendidly in the air, the evacuations from Dunkirk were still fresh in everyone's mind and England was in a sense, a nation with a moat around it awaiting landing barges to finish them off.
In a large sense, it was Churchill's determination that led England during this dark time, and yet, Churchill's big problem was that he knew he could not challenge Hitler on the continent, and thus tried to snipe at him in other areas, which largely centered throughout the Mediterranean Sea. For a time, North Africa enjoyed some success, and then Rommel appeared and the British were once more in flight, and add to this the humiliating surrender of Sinapore in the Pacific, and greatly in need of a victory. Churchill began to draw criticism because of the lack of victory, and then Montgomery gave him a sound victory over Rommel at El Alamein and this got the monkey off of Churchill's back.
Finally, by the end of 1941, America was in the mix and the English were no longer alone. By June of 1942, Hitler had invaded Russia and the Allied effort, while still recoiling from defeats, at least had the potential to break the enemy's back.
There is a great deal of information about the war and especially the workings between American and England. Both Eisenhower and Marshall favored an invasion in France, while Churchill looked to menace the Germans along the periphery, thus the invasion into North Africa (Torch) and the later invasion on the south of France (Anvil, later renamed Dragoon). As during the first war, Churchill's designs as in the Dardanelles, was to go around instead of directly at. The American logic was simple: cut to the chase, go the shortest route and kill the beast. The American version won the day, certainly at the urging of Stalin, who was losing in civilian and military casualities, 10,000 people per day (YES PER DAY), and had no sympathy for what might turn into a high kill rate. England was very deadly in their night bombings of German cities (especially Hamburg and Berlin)but that was not impressing Stalin, who continued to demand more, and quite rudely. Churchill had to contend not only with Uncle Joe's bad manners but also FDR's vision of a world after the war where Britain played a lesser part.
Much of this story shows, as it should, how events unfolded during the war, and how Britain and Churchill began to be overruled by Stalin and Russia. In effect, this war broke England and WSC was faced with the grim knowledge that after the killing was over, England would no longer be a first rate world power. It was certainly not the role that Winston wanted to play, but the inevitability of losing most of the empire was there, and FDR was probably the most heartless in his desire to see that England was no longer a colonial power.
The books shows us a large support cast. Of interest was Winston's only son, Randolph. Randolph was just not a happy man, and while his father loved him, he was a contrary person. His sister Mary later wrote that he could pick a quarrel with a chair. He married the beautiful Pamela Digby who ditched him for Averill Harriman. I hate to be ugly, but he looks like Clementine in drag to me.
Overall, I think this is a fine conclusion to the story of one of the most interesting people in the history of our modern world. As the author/s points out, you would likely have to go back 400 hundred years to the reign of Elizabeth I to find the strength of character of such a leader of the British people.
I very much recommend this book to anyone interested in Churchill.
When Winston Churchill became prime minister in the dark days of May 1940, he was already sixty-five years old: retirement age for most of his generation, and faced a Nazi Germany which was consolidating its hold on Western Europe with only Britain to oppose its hegemony. Had Churchill retired from public life in 1940, he would still be remembered as one of the most consequential British public figures of the twentieth century; what he did in the years to come elevated him to the stature of one of the preeminent statesmen of modern times. These events are chronicled in this book, dominated by World War II, which occupies three quarters of the text. In fact, although the focus is on Churchill, the book serves also as a reasonably comprehensive history of the war in the theatres in which British forces were engaged, and of the complex relations among the Allies.
It is often forgotten at this remove that at the time Churchill came to power he was viewed by many, including those of his own party and military commanders, as a dangerous and erratic figure given to enthusiasm for harebrained schemes and with a propensity for disaster (for example, his resignation in disgrace after the Gallipoli catastrophe in World War I). Although admired for his steadfastness and ability to rally the nation to the daunting tasks before it, Churchill's erratic nature continued to exasperate his subordinates, as is extensively documented here from their own contemporary diaries.
Churchill's complex relationships with the other leaders of the Grand Alliance: Roosevelt and Stalin, are explored in depth. Although Churchill had great admiration for Roosevelt and desperately needed the assistance the U.S. could provide to prosecute the war, Roosevelt comes across as a lightweight, ill-informed and not particularly engaged in military affairs and blind to the geopolitical consequences of the Red Army's occupying eastern and central Europe at war's end. (This was not just Churchill's view, but widely shared among senior British political and military circles.) While despising Bolshevism, Churchill developed a grudging respect for Stalin, considering his grasp of strategy to be excellent and, while infuriating to deal with, reliable in keeping his commitments to the other allies.
As the war drew to a close, Churchill was one of the first to warn of the great tragedy about to befall those countries behind what he dubbed the “iron curtain” and the peril Soviet power posed to the West. By July 1950, the Soviets fielded 175 divisions, of which 25 were armoured, against a Western force of 12 divisions (2 armoured). Given the correlation of forces, only Soviet postwar exhaustion and unwillingness to roll the dice given the threat of U.S. nuclear retaliation kept the Red Army from marching west to the Atlantic.
After the war, in opposition once again as the disastrous Attlee Labour government set Britain on an irreversible trajectory of decline, he thundered against the dying of the light and retreat from Empire not, as in the 1930s, a back-bencher, but rather leader of the opposition. In 1951 he led the Tories to victory and became prime minister once again, for the first time with the mandate of winning a general election as party leader. He remained prime minister until 1955 when he resigned in favour of Anthony Eden. His second tenure as P.M. was frustrating, with little he could to do to reverse Britain's economic decline and shrinkage on the world stage. In 1953 he suffered a serious stroke, which was covered up from all but his inner circle. While he largely recovered, approaching his eightieth birthday, he acknowledged the inevitable and gave up the leadership and prime minister positions.
Churchill remained a member of Parliament for Woodford until 1964. In January 1965 he suffered another severe stroke and died at age 90 on the 24th of that month.
It's been a long time coming, but this book is a grand conclusion of the work Manchester envisioned. It is a sprawling account of a great sprawling life engaged with great historical events over most of a century: from the last cavalry charge of the British Army to the hydrogen bomb. Churchill was an extraordinarily complicated and in many ways conflicted person, and this grand canvas provides the scope to explore his character and its origins in depth. Manchester and Reid have created a masterpiece. It is daunting to contemplate a three volume work totalling three thousand pages, but if you are interested in the subject, it is a uniquely rewarding read.
Top reviews from other countries
A must read history of a tall figure in time
Provokes you to read about other leaders across the world
Peccato non esista ancora una versione in italiano
Consigliabile.
The thing I appreciate the most when I begin a book is to learn something. Well, I learned plenty. I won't disclose what's in it, but "The Last Lion" is a treasure of fascinating facts. In essence, through the authors pens, the reader is treated with Britain's version of the second world war; the fight to repel the German invaders, the struggle to stay alive, the numerous attempts to drag the US into the conflict and so on. The reader will learn through Churchill that WW2 evolved mainly from political concerns and not from military interest. In fact most military decisions were subject to political objectives and NOT with the goal of destroying the Axis army as fast as possible.
With the war over, the Cold War started and another fascinating episode of Winston Churchill's life began...
In a Century that saw Teddy Rosevelt, JFK, Gandhi, Ronald Reagan, Gorbatchev and Castro, Winston Churchill stands above all.