Mr. Churchill's Profession
The Statesman as Author and the Book That Defined the "Special Relationship"
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- $23.99
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
In 1953, Winston Churchill received the Nobel Prize-for Literature. In fact, Churchill was a professional writer before he was a politician, and published a stream of books and articles over the course of two intertwined careers. Now historian Peter Clarke traces the writing of the magisterial work that occupied Churchill for a quarter century, his four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples. As an author, Churchill faced woes familiar to many others-chronically short of funds, late on deadlines, scrambling to sell new projects or cajoling his publishers for more advance money, He signed a contract for the English-Speaking project in 1932, a time when his political career seemed over. The magnum opus was to be delivered in 1939-but in that year, history overtook history-writing. When the Nazis swept across Europe, Churchill was summoned from political exile to become Prime Minister. The English- Speaking Peoples would have to wait. The book would indeed be written and become a bestseller, after Churchill left public life. But even before he took office, the massive project was shaping his worldview, his speeches, and his leadership. In these pages, Peter Clarke follows Churchill's monumental quest to chronicle the English-Speaking Peoples-a quest that helped to define the enduring "special relationship" between Britain and America. In the process, Clarke gives us not just an untold chapter in literary history, but a fresh perspective on this iconic figure: a life of Churchill the author.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Clarke enhances his distinguished reputation as a scholar of modern Britain (The Last Days of the British Empire) with this original perspective on Winston Churchill. Clarke defines and interprets Churchill in the context of a writing career (paralleling his more familiar roles as statesman and politician) that brought him the Nobel Prize for literature in 1953. Capitalizing on his family connections, encouraged by his American mother, Churchill published two books by the time he was 25. His authorized collected works require 34 volumes. Memoirs, biography, history, and fiction Churchill essayed them all. Clarke considers Churchill's defining work not the more familiar History of the Second World War but his four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Begun in 1938 1939, polished and published n the 1950s, it was conceived and constructed in a political context, to demonstrate a "special relationship" between Britain and the U.S. Looking at the development of the idea of "the English-speaking peoples," Clarke also demonstrates that the manuscript expressed Churchill's need to emphasize the link between America and Britain as events advanced toward the outbreak of war. Winston Churchill was a man of action and of oratory; as Clarke underscores, he was also a formidable man of letters.
