A TELEGRAPH BEST HISTORY BOOK OF 2023

‘A highly imaginative and thought-provoking way of exploring the personality of a man who, like him or loathe him, left an indelible mark on our age’ - ADAM ZAMOYSKI

Winston Churchill followed his own star. He had a desire to be ‘great’, to achieve historical immortality. And he accomplished this through actions and words: his deeds as a soldier and politician, enriched by his writings as a journalist and historian.

However, Churchill's path to greatness was also defined by the leaders he encountered along the way – friends and foes, within and without. Men of power such as Hitler and Mussolini, Roosevelt and Stalin, David Lloyd George, Neville Chamberlain, and Charles de Gaulle. And the haunting presence of his beloved father, who had seen nothing noteworthy in his troubled son. In these men, Churchill discerned greatness, or its lack, in ways that influenced his career.

This book includes some whom Churchill would not consider ‘great’, but who – in our time – offer alternative mirrors of what that word might mean. Mahatma Gandhi, who infuriated Churchill by harnessing the power of weakness. Clement Attlee, whose heretical vision of ‘Great Britain’ was socialist and post-colonial. And Attlee's beloved, who channeled her ‘pink’ sentiments to become the necessary partner and most devoted critic of Winston.

Mirrors of Greatness offers vivid new perspectives on the life and work of Churchill, showing how this unique man – with brilliant abilities and uneven flaws – learned from his ‘genius contemporaries’ and what they saw in him.

Pages: 464, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm