Churchill & Son
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The intimate, untold story of Winston Churchill's enduring yet volatile bond with his only son, Randolph
“Ireland draws unforgettable sketches of life in the Churchill circle, much like Erik Larson did in The Splendid and the Vile.”―Kirkus • “Fascinating… well-researched and well-written.”—Andrew Roberts • “Beautifully written… A triumph.”—Damien Lewis • “Fascinating, acute and touching.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore
We think we know Winston Churchill: the bulldog grimace, the ever-present cigar, the wit and wisdom that led Great Britain through the Second World War. Yet away from the House of Commons and the Cabinet War Rooms, Churchill was a loving family man who doted on his children, none more so than Randolph, his only boy and Winston's anointed heir to the Churchill legacy.
Randolph may have been born in his father's shadow, but his father, who had been neglected by his own parents, was determined to see him go far. For decades, throughout Winston's climb to greatness, father and son were inseparable—dining with Britain's elite, gossiping and swilling Champagne at high society parties, holidaying on the French Riviera, touring Prohibition-era America. Captivated by Winston's power, bravery, and charisma, Randolph worshipped his father, and Winston obsessed over his son's future. But their love was complex and combustible, complicated by money, class, and privilege, shaded with ambition, outsize expectations, resentments, and failures.
Deeply researched and magnificently written, Churchill & Son is a revealing and surprising portrait of one of history's most celebrated figures.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Ireland (The Traitors) delivers an immersive account of British prime minister Winston Churchill's tempestuous relationship with his only son, Randolph. In Ireland's view, Churchill's one-sided dynamic with his distant father caused him to overcompensate in indulging Randolph, who was "too often angry, too often drunk, too often gratuitously offensive, and too unwilling to engage in the sort of patient grind upon which careers were built in the twentieth century." Winston's devotion to his son produced great expectations (Randolph thought he would become prime minister at age 24, like Pitt the Younger), but also enabled Randolph's weaknesses, including profligate spending and drunken rages. In July 1945, father and son lost reelection bids (Winston for prime minister, Randolph for parliament), but only Winston was able to reclaim his seat. A final rapprochement between father and son came in the 1960s, when Winston allowed Randolph to become his biographer and the younger Churchill, suffering from severe pneumonia and a series of heart attacks (he died in 1968, only three years after Winston), found that "in the process of telling the story of his father's life, he belatedly gave meaning to his own." Consistently entertaining and insightful, this deep dive will reward even the most knowledgeable Churchill buff.
