MY EARLY LIFE

Sir Winston Churchill wrote this account of his early years in 1930, well before WWII. But there is no mistaking his facility with words, wry humor, deep insights into political and social realities, and sharp understanding of the historical forces at work as he was coming of age. Although a scion of privilege, Churchill made his own way in the world, and this autobiography shows how he did it. He was active in colonial India, the Sudan, and South Africa during the Boer War. Most telling are his views on the passing of war as a glorious enterprise to war as an exercise in mass tragedy. Reader Barnes sounds reasonably like Churchill, giving the presentation an air of verisimilitude. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 06]