CHURCHILL DEFIANT Fighting On: 1945-1955

After WWII, Winston Churchill was greeted as the hero he was, but in the unique nature of parliamentary politics, he was ousted as prime minister when his party was thrashed in the first postwar election. He then was forced to reshape himself and his role on the world stage. That’s the focus of this biography of Churchill, which covers the 10 years from the war’s end to his retirement after a second turn as prime minister. The book is detailed, almost painfully so, at times covering his life not only day by day but hour by hour. It is a testament to Simon Prebble’s skills that the reading doesn’t bog down or become tedious. He gives the quotations from Churchill his own characterization, but most listeners won’t be well acquainted with his voice, so the change becomes little more than oral italics. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2010]