Churchill Defiant: Fighting On 1945-1955

Winston Churchill rages against time and his own mortality, in conflict with friend and foe alike, in this tumultuous political drama of his last ten years of public life. Here is Churchill at his most outrageous, maddening and devious – but also at his most human, courageous, and defiant.

At the end of July 1945, Churchill was a defeated man – hurled from power by the British people after a war in which he had saved his country.

‘Churchill Defiant’ is the story of how, when it seemed impossible, Churchill fought his way back over the next six years to the centre of great events. In 1951, at last Prime Minister once more, he was ready to begin his dash to win ‘the last prize I seek’: the lasting peace that had eluded the world after Hitler’s defeat.

But Churchill’s battles were just beginning. He would have to wage war with both his closest colleagues and his most indispensable allies, the Americans, to get to where none of them wanted him to go: the negotiating table with the Soviets.

Barbara Leaming has written a gripping, fast-paced narrative of bare knuckle politics, of life and death decisions, of old grudges, and fresh blame. It is a compelling, vivid, and often deeply poignant portrait of the great man at a time when almost no one wanted him to remain on the public stage and when he was willing to do absolutely anything to stay there.

pp. 400 #1218