Piers Brendon
Was His Pen Mightier Than His Sword?
The Literary Churchill: Author, Reader, Actor
By Jonathan Rose
Yale University Press 516pp £25
This is one of the most remarkable books ever written about Winston Churchill. It is clever, fluent and based on wide reading, in and out of the archives. It is original: no academic has studied the literary and theatrical Churchill in greater forensic detail than Jonathan Rose, who portrays him as ‘an artist who used politics as his creative medium, as other writers used paper’. The book is well balanced, neither iconoclastic nor hagiographical, and critical where necessary. It is sometimes funny and often provocative. It is full of shrewd insights into Churchill’s character and astute observations about his career, which it traces from start to finish. Yet Rose’s thesis is hopelessly misguided. It is brilliant but unsound. It is magnificent but it is not scholarship.
Rose starts from the unimpeachable premise that Churchill was in thrall to the words, spoken and written, with which he dramatised his life. There
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
The era of dollar dominance might be coming to an end. But if not the dollar, which currency will be the backbone of the global economic system?
@HowardJDavies weighs up the alternatives.
Howard Davies - Greenbacks Down, First Editions Up
Howard Davies: Greenbacks Down, First Editions Up - Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent...
literaryreview.co.uk
Johannes Gutenberg cut corners at every turn when putting together his bible. How, then, did his creation achieve such renown?
@JosephHone_ investigates.
Joseph Hone - Start the Presses!
Joseph Hone: Start the Presses! - Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books by Eric Marshall White
literaryreview.co.uk
Convinced of her own brilliance, Gertrude Stein wished to be ‘as popular as Gilbert and Sullivan’ and laboured tirelessly to ensure that her celebrity would outlive her.
@sophieolive examines the real Stein.
Sophie Oliver - The Once & Future Genius
Sophie Oliver: The Once & Future Genius - Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife by Francesca Wade
literaryreview.co.uk