Description

‘Stimulating, erudite and above all entertaining…For any reader tired of the seemlingly endless round of Churchill-worship’ Robert Harris

A radical biography for a new generation

In A.J.P. Taylor’s words, Churchill was ‘the saviour of his country’ when he became prime minister in 1940. Yet he was also a deeply flawed character.

Giving due credit to Churchill’s achievements but making no secret of his failures, Geoffrey Wheatcroft takes a radically different approach to other biographies. Going far beyond a reappraisal of a life and a career, he reveals the complex shadow Churchill has cast over post-war British history and contemporary politics.

Telling the story of Churchill’s extraordinary life and the equally fascinating one of his legacy, Churchill’s Shadow focuses on how we as a nation have been living in the grip of his self-written myth ever since his death.

‘This is the indispensable biography of Churchill for the post-Brexit 2020s’ David Kynaston, author of On the Cusp: Days of ’62

‘Wheatcroft is a skilled prosecutor with a rapier pen…this could be the best single-volume indictment of Churchill yet written’ New York Times

‘A clear-eyed, incisive and superbly balanced account of Churchill, the man and the myth’ Robert Gildea, author of Empires of the Mind

Publisher Review

Even readers sick of Churchill will find much to enjoy, partly because Wheatcroft is such a fluent and entertaining writer, but also because he has so many interesting and provocative things to say -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * Hagiographers beware; Wheatcroft has skewered the cult of Churchill hero worship. This book reminds us that while Churchill was Britain's saviour in 1940, his views on race and empire, and his military debacles from the Dardanelles to Dieppe, make it unwise to revere him like a saint -- Samir Puri, author of The Great Imperial Hangover A clear-eyed, incisive and superbly balanced account of Churchill, the man and the myth... Much to think about in the twenty-first century -- Robert Gildea, author of Empires of the Mind Stimulating, erudite and above all entertaining... For any reader tired of the seemingly endless round of Churchill-worship of the last few years, Geoffrey Wheatcroft provides a lively corrective -- Robert Harris Wheatcroft is a skilled prosecutor with a rapier pen ... [Churchill's Shadow] could be the best single-volume indictment of Churchill yet written * New York Times *