Attlee and Churchill bookcover

Attlee and Churchill

Allies in War, Adversaries in Peace
Add to Wishlist
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world

Description

Throughout history there has never been a connection like that between Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill, leaders of their respective parties for a total of 35 years. Brought together in the epoch-making circumstances of World War II, they forged a partnership that transcended party lines, before going on to face each other in two of Britain's most important and influential general elections. Based on extensive research and archival material, this book provides a host of new insights. From the bizarre coincidence that they shared a governess, to their explosive wartime clashes over domestic policy and reconstruction; and from Britain's post-war nuclear weapons program, which Attlee kept hidden from Churchill and his own Labor Party, to the private correspondence between the two men in later life, which demonstrates their friendliness despite all the political antagonism, Leo McKinstry tells the intertwined story of these two political titans. This gripping narrative provides a fresh perspective on two of the most compelling leaders of the mid-20th century while also bringing to life this vibrant, traumatic and inspiring era of modern British history.

Product Details

PublisherAtlantic Books (UK)
Publish DateFebruary 01, 2021
Pages752
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9781848876613
Dimensions5.1 X 7.8 X 2.3 inches | 1.4 pounds
BISAC Categories: Biography & Memoir, History

About the Author

Leo McKinstry is a World War II historian and author of Operation Sea Lion. She writes regularly for the Daily Mail, Sunday Telegraph and Spectator.

Reviews

Superb... A timely parable about the necessity for cooperation, concession and compromise in politics., Daily Mail, 'Book of the Week'

Dual biographies are a tricky endeavour. McKinstry rises to the challenge brilliantly. His account is elegantly structured, his prose is lucid, he explains complex events with clarity, his anecdotes are telling and often funny, his judgments are assured and he brings to gripping life the characters of the leading men and the rest of the cast. -- Andrew Rawnsley, Observer

In this superb dual biography Leo McKinstry brilliantly describes both men, what they did and how they reacted to each other... Most of us know quite a lot about Churchill. Attlee, calm, soft-spoken, an MC-winner in World War I, self-effacing, remains for many a forgotten man. Until now... A masterpiece., Frederick Forsyth

Until now, arguably the most significant political relationship of the twentieth century has awaited its definitive study. Leo McKinstry, through exhaustive research and detailed analysis, has provided an intensely scholarly and beautifully written account of it that is unlikely to be surpassed., Simon Heffer, author of The Age of Decadence

Leo McKinstry's fine book on the relationship between Churchill and the Labour leader Clement Attlee is a subtle and nuanced work full of illuminating insights.... First-class, Literary Review

Attlee and Churchill really does get to the heart of a complicated but fascinating relationship., Scotsman

Leo McKinstry is a first-class historian who has produced a scholarly and very well-written account of the fascinating relationship between arguably the two most significant premiers of the twentieth century. His recognition of the mutual respect - indeed admiration - that lay at its core is highly insightful. Never in our world of fractious, contempt-driven politics has a book like this been needed more., Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

A masterful account of the collaboration, rivalry and conflict between two remarkably different leaders who shaped Britain's fate in the second half of the twentieth century., Tom Bower, author of Dangerous Hero

A superb account of two utterly different men whose lives entwined to preserve freedom., Joshua Levine, author of Dunkirk

By turns fascinating and illuminating, this is a gripping exploration of the intertwined lives of these two great men - so fundamentally different and yet as McKinstry demonstrates, perhaps in some ways not quite so far apart as all that... In the course of following Attlee and Churchill's parallel progressions from youth to maturity, from bloodied battlefields to the corridors of Number 10, McKinstry affords us beguiling new angles and new insights - with vivid, powerful stories, admirable balance and flashes of terrific humour., Sinclair McKay, author of The Secret Life of Bletchley Park

Earn by promoting books

Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.sign up to affiliate program link
Become an affiliate