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The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History
Unavailable
The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History
Unavailable
The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History
Audiobook11 hours

The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History

Written by Boris Johnson and Simon Shepherd

Narrated by Simon Sheperd

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

From London's inimitable mayor, Boris Johnson, the story of how Churchill's eccentric genius shaped not only his world but our own.

On the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill's death, Boris Johnson celebrates the singular brilliance of one of the most important leaders of the twentieth century. Taking on the myths and misconceptions along with the outsized reality, he portrays-with characteristic wit and passion-a man of contagious bravery, breathtaking eloquence, matchless strategizing, and deep humanity.

Fearless on the battlefield, Churchill had to be ordered by the king to stay out of action on D-Day; he pioneered aerial bombing and few could match his experience in organizing violence on a colossal scale,  yet he hated war and scorned politicians who had not experienced its horrors. He was the most famous journalist of his time and perhaps the greatest orator of all time, despite a lisp and chronic depression he kept at bay by painting. His maneuvering positioned America for entry into World War II, even as it ushered in England's post-war decline. His openmindedness made him a trailblazer in health care, education, and social welfare, though he remained incorrigibly politically incorrect. Most of all, he was a rebuttal to the idea that history is the story of vast and impersonal forces; he is proof that one person-intrepid, ingenious, determined--can make all the difference.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 13, 2014
ISBN9780698180178
Unavailable
The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History
Author

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson was elected Mayor of London in May 2008. Before this he was the Editor of the Spectator and Member of Parliament for Henley on Thames. He is the author of many books, notably ‘Have I Got Views For You’, ‘Dream of Rome’ and ‘The Spirit of London’.

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Rating: 4.189473768421053 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Brilliantly written insight into Churchill the man and the polititian. Really well researched, this books provides a very detailed account of his upbringing, military career and his political life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Excellent book. Boris obviously sees himself as a latter - day Churchill, but that is no surprise to anyone. Boris' joi-de-vivre is ever - present and his turn of phrase as delightful as anyone who has heard him would imagine. Maybe not the most studious Jenkins - like bio of the great man but a good read none-the-less.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson is a fun biography of the great statesman and icon who led Britain through World War II. It is not a detailed description of the actions of Churchill's life but is instead written in essay form with Boris setting up arguments against Churchill's positions and then bundling enthusiasm and explanation to show why what Churchill did was the right thing to do. Johnson's writing style is fast and flowing. This is a 355 page tale that races by. It is a large font book and can be read in a couple of extended sittings. The pacing makes it an easy read though Johnson does very occasionally drop in parts of his extended vocabulary. It is also written from the perspective of an author of privilege so some of the assessments about Churchill's relative lack of classics can be a little hard to relate to.The narrative begins with the most fundamental of all Churchill's decisions, to fight on against Nazi Germany. It is the defining decision of the 20th Century. The appeasers such as Chamberlain and Lord Halifax are given short shrift and their personal failings become part of Johnson's story. It is the right place to start though because it is perhaps the greatest rebuff to the argument that the individual has no place in history. The decision to fight and not submit when the odds looked so heavily stacked against Britain in the face of continued Nazi successes is why Churchill is remembered and beloved. Johnson does not put the counter-factual. His argument is mainly against something of a strawman but is is fun nonetheless. Johnson does go into biography at times but it is more hagiography than biography. Some of the details of Churchill's life are present, notably his horrible relationship with his father Randolph and his love for his wife, Clementine. An incident of apparent cowardice at school when running away from bullies pelting cricket balls at him plays more of a role in the narrative than seems sensisble. However, the other side of Churchill is amazing to read. The Churchill who defied huge amounts of danger in various military skirmishes around the world and later on tried everything he could to be there on D-Day is astonishing. Churchill is a man of action and Johnson rightly admires him for that quality.It is interesting that Johnson is able to be so analytical about some of Churchill's other personal qualities, particularly his speech making. Churchill's inspirational turn of phrase is remembered with such clarity but Johnson is the right man to provide analysis. Johnson himself is a superb wordsmith, able to conjure phrases from nothing. Churchill apparently could not and had to plan his phrases in advance. The other thing Churchill did that is indisputably great is drawing America into the war. Had it been someone else it may not have happened but the half-American British leader was the right man to bring the US into the allied side. Johnson could perhaps have done more to spell out the strategy but the interactions at key point are a fun read.Aside from the key war decisions, Churchill was a major factor in other parts of British history in the 20th century. He role in WWI is mixed. Johnson does well to identify the leadership he had as a Minister which enabled others to develop the tank which was the major technological innovation of the war. On the other hand, Johnson does own up to Churchill's mistakes at Gallipoli. The idea of driving through Turkey to create a second flank should have been a good idea but Johnson does not spell out why it went so badly wrong even though he does identify it as being a cause of national awakening in Australia and New Zealand which ultimately is a key part of the later collapse of the British Empire.Johnson describes Churchill's other innovations including his sense of social justice. He tries to claim credit for Churchill in laying the ground for Atlee's legendary reforms after 1945. As a Conservative it is natural for Johnson to try to play down a Labour achievement but it is a bit odd to try to claim credit for the welfare state when it was so clearly not Churchill's doing.Johnson's hyperbole sometimes gets the better of him. He gives Churchill credit for winning the Cold War in one of his chapter titles which is faintly ridiculous. No argument is put forward for Churchill winning that war in the late 1980s long after his death but Johnson does spell out his identification of Communism as a monsterous ideology in the hands of one of history's great evils, Stalin. The role of Churchill in the Middle East is fascinating. Inevitably, assessment of Churchill's actions is coloured by whether someone believes in the existence of Israel or not but Johnson puts the case in a well-balanced way and draws his own conclusion. Throughout, Johnson does give a glimpse into Churchill the man. His incredible working habits, the drinking, the wit and putdowns, the life of a descendent of Malborough. There is enough of the man himself in this narrative to enjoy beyond the description of what he did. Johson's research is extensive and the sources are remarkably numerous for such a light read.This biography of Winston Churchill by Boris Johnson is fun and accessible. It is easy to read and a great way to engage with the great man himself. It is somewhat hagiographic in that does read as an essay defending Churchill rather than a true biography but nonetheless it is a welcome addition to the set of works on this legendary figure and is rightly lauded.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very readable and stimulating book on the factors that made Churchill great. I enjoy Boris Johnson's style and varied approach. He exposes Churchill's warts and contrasts them to good traits. He examines criticisms and put them in perspective or shoots them down.
    Over all he shows us Churchill's 'indominitable human spirit' and 'in his essential character he is a source of eternal inspiration'.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My first book about Churchill which I really enjoyed. It's an easy read, but very informative and provides a new perspective on his life whilst debunking some of the myths about him.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Whilst I'm no fan of Boris Johnson as a person, boy, the man can write! Fun, entertaining, engrossing, informative, sensible, analytic, erudite, a great read, which takes the form of a combination of a greates hits album dissected & a psychological analysis of the man, his deeds, & his misdeeds. Obviously an admirer (& so am I), Johnson does however pause, look at both sides of an argument & most importantly of all, describes why positions were taken & how those positions were reached. This isn't exahustative, I think if you want that on Churchill, you have to look at Gilbert, but it is a good overview & more than that, is more of an analysis of why the man was the man he was, & why & how, he did what he did. A timely, important book, & well worth the time & investment.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have never been a big fan of Boris Johnson. I find his carefully constructed air of buffoonery particularly irritating - whatever his other shortcomings might be, he is very far from a buffoon - and I find his relentless self-regard irksome in the extreme. He is, however, a fine writer, and his analysis of Churchill's success as a politician is both informative and immensely entertaining.I was lamentably ignorant about the life of Churchill before reading this book. Obviously I knew of his steadfast leadership of Britain through the Second World War, and his powerful rhetoric and oratory, but I was unaware of the extent of his personal heroism throughout his own military career, or of his huge literary output. As Johnson makes clear, not only did his published writings exceed the total output of either Dickens or Shakespeare, they exceed the aggregate of both Dickens AND Shakespeare. Where did he find the time, with all his other responsibilities (which clearly weren't shirked).This isn't an exhaustive biography. Johnson chooses instead to focus on a series of aspects of the great man's life, and illuminates them with his own coruscating prose. It is clear that Churchill is one of Johnson's heroes, though this book avoids falling into the trap of blind hagiography. Johnson concedes that Churchill had his faults, and he addresses them fairly, offering some mitigation where appropriate, but clearly acknowledging them.For most of the book, which seemed to have been very deeply researched (prompting me to wonder where Johnson himself found the time among his other responsibilities), Johnson's prose was sharp, concise and clear. I felt that in the latter chapters, where he recapitulates his analysis of Churchill's successes, he slipped into a more jokey approach (that inescapable patina of buffoonery, again) which simply didn't strike the right note. A fine work overall, with just a few avoidable weaknesses.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A surprise Christmas gift; arrived via next day air with no hint of who it came from. At any rate, this is the third Churchill biography I’ve read (The Last Lion by William Manchester and Winston Churchill by John Keegan are the other two. Oh, and a couple of Ballentines but they don’t count).
    Author Boris Johnson is a Conservative Lord Mayor of London and treats his subject with less hagiography than Manchester or Keegan – but while coming to the conclusion that Winston Churchill is the greatest man who ever lived. The non-adulatory part is insightful and interesting; Johnson makes a good case that Churchill was a poor public speaker, which seems counterintuitive given the various famous quotes, and especially since Johnson compares Churchill unfavorably to Hitler. However, Johnson notes that Churchill was a great writer, and that his most famous speeches were all delivered from typewritten notes that were often the product of hours of rewriting and editing. Johnson notes that the most famous “off the cuff” Churchill quips (“But tomorrow I shall be sober” to Bessie Braddock and “If I were you’re husband I’d drink it” to Nancy Astor) cannot be verified. But he notes in turn that Churchill was one of the most prolific writers in the English language, producing more words than Shakespeare and Dickens combined – and they’re all pretty good, and he has a Noble Prize for them.
    Similarly Johnson isn’t afraid to note that Churchill made some dramatic mistakes – Antwerp and Gallipoli in WWI, supporting the White Russians against the Reds and the Greeks against Turkey, maintaining a gold standard, and misjudging the mood of the Indians about Gandhi and the English about Edward VIII. However he more than made up for it by his successes. In particular Johnson argues that his greatest achievement was refusing to negotiate with Hitler. Johnson argues that the mood in England was very strong for a peace deal; Mussolini had offered to broker one and the rumored terms were Cyprus and Malta to Italy. I’m not sure if the groundswell for negotiations actually was that strong, and it’s probably impossible to tell now but if Johnson is right Churchill kept Europe from being overrun by Nazis and/or Soviets which does have to count as – well, as his finest hour.
    Johnson also notes that it was a near thing that Churchill was around at all. He had been shot at in four continents (in Cuba while covering the Spanish-American war as a newspaper correspondent; in Asia with the Malakand Field Force; in Africa at Omdurman and in the Boer War; and in Flanders with his regiment after resigning over Gallipoli). He’d also survived a pretty severe plane crash while taking pilot training in WWI and a bad traffic accident in New York between the wars. A few stray bullets straying a little more, a little less airspeed or a little further off the curb and history might have been a lot different. Churchill wasn’t afraid to shoot back though; there was a Internet meme on “Which President killed a man?” going around a while back but Churchill certainly accounted for more people face to face – Afridis and Dervishes - than any other prime minister and probably than any other national leader since the Middle Ages.
    Johnson’s style is breezy; his work is certainly less thorough than Manchester and less scholarly than Keegan but he gets his points across (possibly because his background is journalism rather than history). His claim for “the greatest man in history” is based on the observation that the British Empire was the greatest empire in history and Churchill was the greatest man it ever produced. I don’t know I can really argue with that; the other candidates are people like Mao, Stalin, Hitler and Napoleon. I think at least I can agree that Churchill was probably the greatest decent man in history.
    Referenced with page numbers instead of end- or footnotes, making it harder to check details but perhaps more readable. Extensive bibliography; photographs of the actors and the action. A quick read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Written and read by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, this book is an in-depth study of what made Winston Churchill great. Until his death, in 1965, Winston Churchill was a man larger than life. There were those that supported him and those that maligned him, but today, he is renowned and revered for his analysis of world conditions and for his predictions of what was to come from events and decisions made in his time that would eventually affect the future of the entire world. Boris Johnson is a great admirer of Churchill and he has spent countless hours researching this magnificent man. Churchill often exaggerated the facts and insisted that he was right. He preferred to speak in simple language to the people, so they would understand his message. Johnson captures Hitler and Churchill to a “t”, and, as the author states, “Hitler made you think he could do anything, but Churchill made you think you could do anything!” Churchill’s speeches were magnificent even if he was not the greatest orator. He didn’t mince words, and he made his feelings widely known with masterful speeches. The book is an absolutely brilliant rendering of the man who quite possibly saved Europe from German rule, according to the author who believes that Churchill’s decisions made it possible to have a world without Hitler. If, like his enemies, he had wanted to pursue a policy of appeasement, Europe would have fallen under that madman’s control. According to Johnson, Churchill’s foresight and courage inspired the Allies to victory. Although he could be crude, rude and brash, he had heart. He implemented social programs and work programs to help the poor. He was a Tory than a Liberal than a Tory again. He was married to the same woman for over 60 years and their love never faltered, although there are rumors of infidelity that were never proven. He was a drinker, but held his liquor well. He was a man with a great sense of humor; the witticisms mentioned will have the reader laughing out loud, although the author disclaims some that are attributed to him incorrectly.Churchill was a man unconcerned with his appearance, often covered with cigar ash, a man with his own fashion sense which did not move with fashion trends, a man who spoke his mind and accumulated many enemies along the way, a man who believed he could move mountains and was more often right than wrong and eventually was deservedly well-regarded by many, although he was never without rivals. Unfortunately, when WWII ended, he received little credit, rather, he was booted out and replaced, but he remained humble in his defeats and never truly gave up trying to reenter the fray. His influence on the geopolitical stage is still felt today. He was prescient in his analysis of many situations and was a staunch supporter of maintaining strong ties with America and remaining an enemy of Communism. Churchill’s fingerprints are all over the last century and their effects are felt in this one. His speeches maintain relevancy even today.The book is read so beautifully by the author who paints a portrait of an outstanding man willing to buck the standards of the day and march to the beat of his own drummer for the safety and security of England. His colorful presentation of this remarkable man, complete with the real and the fabled stores about him, is mesmerizing. His writing style enhances Churchill as a human being, one who demanded for himself and others, steadfastness and strength in the face of adversity. His portrayal of Churchill and Clementine’s relationship is both romantic and touching. He draws a picture of a couple that shared a deep love and devotion for many years.The book is written almost as an ongoing conversation with the reader. The descriptive vocabulary assumes far more than a grade school education. It is written with a sophisticated knowledge of the English language, on a level not often seen today in books for the general public. He does not pander to the reader with slang or crude expressions. If foul language is used it is pertinent or it is a quote. He recites some parts of Churchill’s speeches and his presentation of the man tends to the lyrical and is often humorous. I can’t make enough positive remarks about this book, its content, its prose and its reader.