"It is important that this part of Churchill's life should have found so keen a portraitist."** - ***Sir Martin Gilbert*
"...this is a most valuable, well-written and scholarly work...Churchillians will want to read and admire it." - Finest Hour, official publication of The International Churchill Society
"Winston Churchill Soldier, The Military Life of a Gentleman at War is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding Churchill and how his political career was underpinned, shaped and informed by his time in the army. I would recommend it as a key text, one that stands out in the field, with appeal to a wide general readership." - ** Allen Packwood, OBE ***Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, author of How Churchill Waged War and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Winston Churchill*
"To understand Winston Churchill, one has to appreciate his time serving with the army, where so many of his character traits were shaped. No book does this nearly as well as Doug Russell's volume, which gives an exhaustive overview of every aspect of Churchill's military career, with rare insights, copious never before revealed details and a narrative that is both totally engaging and academically profound." - Phil Reed, OBE, Curator Emeritus- Churchill War Rooms
"When Douglas Russell's Winston Churchill Soldier was published in 2005 it was a groundbreaking piece of scholarship, and it has stood the test of time. His expert examination of Churchill's military career, which had so many implications and reverberations decades later in the Second World War, still stands as required reading for anyone wanting to understand the career of one of the most consequential figures of the 20th century." - Andrew Roberts, Lord ** Roberts of Belgravia, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny**
As a young man Winston Churchill set out to become a hero, to make a name for himself in the public eye as a soldier and so make possible a life of politics and statesmanship. There were many chances to fail and many close calls in the face of sword, spear and bullet along the way. Yet Churchill survived and succeeded- an early measure of his courage and stubborn will that the world would come to know so well in the Second World War.
This is the first full-length, fully-researched biography of Churchill's colourful military career. Using an unrivalled range of sources, and with previously unpublished photographs, and detailed maps by Sir Marin Gilbert, it brings vividly to life Churchill's motives, abilities, experiences, successes and failures, and his unswerving sense of destiny as an officer in the British Army. The result is a story to echo the man himself- rich in action, courage, charismatic self-belief, patriotism and humour.
