Churchill: Walking with Destiny

“The price of greatness is responsibility” I got introduced to Andrew Roberts Visa Vi his biography on Napoleon. I think that Roberts has an incredible way of simultaneously drawing upon characteristics of figures that influence generations while portraying them in such a human way that it makes me feel like I know them.

There is no better title than “Walking with Destiny” for Churchill. At the age of 16, he said “I have dreams about the future. The world is mine for the taking. If only I am to be given the opportunity.” Destiny suits Churchill so well as he was at the crossroads of both incredible luck and drive. At a young age, he rewrote famous parliamentary speeches so that he would deliver them. These traits foreshadow what would become one of the greatest individualists of all time.

The book spends lots of time - 25 hours - before it covers Churchill becoming PM. At times it felt quite stale and drew out aspects of Churchill's life and at times felt slightly rushed. But it definitely grasps Churchills style incredibly well. I say he is one of the greatest individualists of all time because his conviction in his own beliefs costed him his career and many opportunities. Yet his foresight into the rise of Nazism and Hitler's looming threat to Europe was course right and his rejection of appeasement to pursue war highlights his almost romantic leadership rather than the cold, calculating rationalist leaders are often depicted as.

I think the book does a good job of covering both the good and bad with Churchill. How his unwavering self-belief leads him to defend Jewish people, workers' rights and Hitler yet also failed him in regard to things like women's sufferage, India and the gold standard. It is clear Roberts Is a fan of Churchill but I think he did a good job overall at giving critics a voice.

“One reaching open seas, we forget how we clung to the pilot during the storm”