Winston Churchill, Visions of Glory by William Manchester

William Manchester was a great biographer in the second half of the twentieth century. Writing about Kennedy, the American Century as a whole, and most notably what is considered the definitive biography of Winston Churchill.

Manchester died before he could publish the last of the planned trilogy but we are told that the final book, much delayed, put together by another author from Manchester's notes will be published next month. For many who have loved the first two books this is great news.

Knowing that all the book would be available to me I began my much delayed plan to learn more about this legendary public figure. Having read several books about Franklin Roosevelt I was quite familiar with Churchill as a historic figure but wanted to learn more.

I have to say that in reading the first book in the series which covers Churchill from birth to 1932 I was sorely disappointed. I have not seen a bad review for the Manchester series. People love it, they call it a masterwork, I call it clunky and poorly written.

Sometimes you only feel what you feel. I love biographies, my reading history makes that clear. Some obvious potential problems for me with this book stand out, namely that much of the first 58 years of his life were spent in the lower echelons of government and certainly a great deal of the book examines his military career. It is well established that I am not a great military historian, my interest is slim in the nuts and bolts of war, who moved troops here, whose great strategy won this battle, perhaps it was preordained I would thus not like this book.

The book does offer a wide ranging look at Churchill's youth. It is not pretty. Born the grandson of a Duke Churchill was brought up in a life of privilege. Still for all that he had just as important is what he did not have. He did not have a loving family. His greatest patron in his early life, the one person who truly loved him, was his nanny. His mother was an American. Extramarital affairs were not considered stigmatized by the upper classes at this time and Jennie Churchill made sure she took advantage of this. By almost any standard she was a promiscuous woman even though she slept with only the best of men. His father was incapable of loving his son, any chance he had of changing was taken away by his being struck syphilitic after a drunken encounter with a crone in his youth. Perhaps the most freeing event of his youth for Churchill was when his father passed on and he no longer had to fight for acceptance and approval that was not to come.

This was all interesting and I do not object to biographies that go into minutiae. Still comparing Manchester's writing of Churchill's youth with, for example, Robert Carp's writing on the youth of Lyndon Johnson the contrast is remarkable. Perhaps if nothing else it shows the absolute stunning ability of Caro more than it does that Manchester was not the best biography writer.

Or it could mean nothing more than that for whatever reason this book did not work for me. I will plan at some point to pick up book two. Perhaps at that time in his life the material will be more interesting and will overcome the writing style of which I just cannot speak well of.