Winston Churchill's Last Campaign
Britain and the Cold War 1951-1955
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:15th Feb '96
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Largely because of his famous `Iron Curtain' speech, Churchill is often remembered as a determined Cold Warrior. Yet, for all his fervent anti-communism, he saw the creation of the Western Alliance as a step not towards war, but towards negotiations with the USSR. John Young shows how, as Prime Minister in the 1950s, Churchill hoped for a summit meeting with Soviet leaders, an end to the Cold War, and an era of peaceful scientific advancement by humankind. The author exmaines the reasons why Churchill failed in this, his last great political campaign, reasons which included his own failing health, the scepticism of allies abroad. and the opposition of his ministers at home. Nonetheless, argues Professor Young, the outlook which Churchill developed in the first decade of the Cold War made him the father of the European détente. This is the first full critical analysis of the issue which dominated the last active years of one of the greatest statesmen of the twentieth century.
cragoeoung's book describes Churchill's own approach to this last political crisis more exhaustively and sympathetically than ever before... * Evening Standard *
A ... robust account of Churchill's peacetime performance. Young charts with great skill the course of Churchill's quest for a summit...He knits together the complex threads of foreign documents with the domestic record, to yield a first class account of a major episode in the early history of the Cold War. * Times Literary Supplement *
Professor Young does us all a service with his detailed yet easily read account of all that followed the Fulton speech and shows Churchill's intentions beyond doubt. Here is a factual history praising its subject, showing him to be no warmonger and yet acknowledging the problems of advancing age. This well written and well documented book gives us a critical, but fair view of the issues dominating the last years of one of our greatest statesmen and how he tried to deal with them. It deserves to be read widely and to be held for future reference. * Contemporary Review *
Young's book provides a subtle, well-written and cogently-argued reply to Charmley's thesis about the post-war Churchill. Winston Churchill's Last Campaign demonstrates with wealth of documented detail just how consistently Churchill pursued a single aim ... beyond the foreign policy issues that form the core of the book, Young shows with convincing clarity just how Churchill's decline affected Tory politics in his last administration. * John Ramsden, Queen Mary and Westfield College, EHR Feb. 97 *
ISBN: 9780198203674
Dimensions: 225mm x 146mm x 27mm
Weight: 606g
368 pages