Churchill's Shadow

An Astonishing Life and a Dangerous Legacy

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.

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

About Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Geoffrey Wheatcroft is a journalist and author, who has been Literary Editor of the Spectator, 'Londoner's Diary' Editor of the Evening Standard and a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph. He contributes regularly to the Guardian, TLS, New York Times and the New York Review of Books, and his books include The Randlords, The Controversy of Zion, which won a American National Book Award, Le Tour, The Strange Death of Tory England and Yo, Blair! He and his wife Sally Muir, the painter and designer, have two adult children and two ageing whippets. They live in Bath.
Details
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • ISBN: 9781473566378
  • Length: 640 pages
  • Price: £8.99
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