Richard Toye

The two most significant British political figures of the twentieth-century, Churchill and Lloyd George were political rivals but personal friends. Between them their ministerial careers spanned seventy years and two world wars. Althought they could not have been more different temperamentally, and often disagreed violently about politics, theirs was 'the longest political friendship in the life of Great Britain' and Churchill was the only person outside his family to call Lloyd George 'David'. Richard Toye's book is a dynamic account of their relationship. Drawing on diaries and letters, some never before published, (there are more than 1,000 pieces of correspondence between the two men), he explores their long-standing friendship and rivalry, the impact they had on each other's careers, and the fate of their respective reputations, arguing that Lloyd George's major achievements have been undeservedly overshadowed, in part as a consequence of Churchill's later mythmaking. It is a major work from a brilliant young historian.

I have not become the Kings First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. These notorious words, spoken by Churchill in 1942, encapsulate his image as an imperial die-hard, implacably opposed to colonial freedom a reputation that has prevailed, and which Churchill willingly embraced to further his policies. Yet, as a youthful minister at the Colonial Office before World War I, his political opponents had seen him as a Little Englander and a danger to the Empire. Placing Churchill in the context of his times and his contemporaries, Richard Toye evaluates his position on key Imperial questions and examines what was conventional about Churchills opinions and what was unique. Combining a lightness of touch and entertaining storytelling with expert and insightful analysis, the result is a vivid and dynamic account of a remarkable man and an extraordinary era.Wonderfully informativeDaily TelegraphExcellentSpectator Mature, intelligent, thoughtful, judicious Washington Times One of Britains smartest young historians Independent

Cómo Winston Churchill continúa siendo una figura conocida mundialmente en primer plano de la actualidad.¿Cómo abarcar en una biografía una personalidad y una actividad política tan complejas como las de Winston Churchill? Richard Toye, profesor de la Universidad de Exeter, ha tenido la idea de coordinar para ello a un equipo de especialistas que han investigado diversos aspectos de su vida, entre los cuales figuran historiadores de tanto relieve como Jeremy Black, Richard Overy o Chris Wrigley, para que cada uno se ocupe del periodo de la vida de Churchill, o del aspecto de su actividad politica, que mejor conozca. Tenemos asi una sucesion de capitulos que, comenzando con sus primeros pasos en la politica y con su discutida gestion al frente del Almirantazgo en la primera guerra mundial, van siguiendo su trayectoria hasta los años de la guerra fria; luego, otros capitulos estan dedicados a temas especificos como su relacion con el mundo islamico, con el imperio britanico, con las armas nucleares o, en un plano muy distinto, con las mujeres que marcaron su vida.