This analytical and thorough work builds nicely on the current critical look at Churchill's achievements. Carlton reminds us that Churchill, at bottom, was just another politician. Certainly, he believed passionately that the Soviet empire was evil and tyrannical; yet, in his zeal to be remembered as a world statesman (rather than just one of the protagonists in World War II) he was willing to flip flop whenever it suited him. Carlton also, repeatedly, reminds us that Churchill probably thought the Russians to be more wicked than the Germans and that he advocated the preemptive postwar use of nuclear weapons before the Soviets had developed a nuclear arsenal. Churchill's duplicity, vanity and senility in his last years are also brilliantly illustrated in this book. This is not the Churchill that many of us were taught by our history masters. Thanks to David Carlton, we now have a readable account of the whole man and not just the man as he would have us remember him. A must read.

Great CVE book with the latest ideas of how to improve CVEs. I used this for my MA thesis.

Mr Churchill's Tank - The British Infantry Tank Mk IV by David Fletcher 210 pages, large format hardback, fully illustrated.

During the Second World War, the British Army operated three classes of tanks. The Light and medium-weight Cruiser classes generally corresponded in their intended roles with those of other nations. However, in the heavier class, Britain used the Infantry Tank. This was designed purely for support of infantry in the attack, and was designed to be move at the general pace of a foot soldier, while its armour was usually heavier so as to be able to withstand anti tank fire as it moved forward. While four types of this tank were produced, the third - the Valentine - was used at times in a cruiser role, but the last was definitely an Infantry Tank. The Churchill was born out of an planned design which would have acted in a similar manner to the first heavy tanks of the Great War. Times had changed however, and with them the need for the original design. Vauxhall Motors were asked to design and act as developer and technical experts on the new series, which first appeared at a time when Britain's tank recourses and general fortunes were at a low ebb. It was built without the usual cycle of building and testing prototypes, which meant that when first introduced into service it had many problems to be overcome. From then on, the tank's fortunes waxed and waned. It came close to being taken out of production more than once, only to be reprieved and improved before finally becoming a useful vehicle in the field in its intended role and some new ones. Its story is very complicated, and intertwined with that of British tank development at this period. While it has been written about before, some of what has appeared has missed some points or left details out. This makes the coverage here all the more valuable. David Fletcher is ideally placed, not only as one of Britain's leading authors on tank matters with a thirst for knowledge and an ability to pass that knowledge on in a very readable manner, but as Librarian and Curator at the Tank Museum he has ready access to a store of information on the Churchill and related matters. He follows the tank from its early beginnings, through development, user trials, problems in service and their resolution, improvements and modifications. Much light is shed on other matters such as development of tank armament, as well as the often conflicting demands and sometimes confusion and interference in design and production. Some interesting might-have-beens and even some areas not well documented are included. As tank development is always a continuing tale, he also describes the original "shelled area" tank which spawned Churchill and ends with Black Prince, a sort of Super Churchill, which appeared in time to be made unnecessary by the replacement of two streams of tanks by one, universal design. Not only is the story of the machines themselves told, but also its actions, from a less than auspicious debut at Dieppe through more successful use in Tunisia, then through North West Europe and Italy, on to its final deployment in Korea. Details, sadly still sketchy after many years and much change, of its use in Russia and peacetime service in Australia and Eire, are also included. Churchills were not only used as gun tanks. Many were converted or built as specialist armour, which wisely are not covered here apart from the unusual 3" Gun Carrier. This leaves the way open for a full and detailed study of them at a later date, allowing more detail to be included in areas not usually covered. Some unusual field modifications are however covered. Alongside a text which should be read closely as it contains a wealth of detail which could easily be missed, are a fine collection of photographs of the many versions produced, including views in the factory and of such things as the turret basket separate from the tank, and many photos of the tanks in action. Even more detail is shown using original stowage diagrams and extracts from various handbooks to show specific components. While most wartime British armour had a bad press, and the Churchill itself had some adverse comments, it generally came through with a good reputation. Its full story has had to wait a long time to be told, but now it has been brought into the light in good form in a book which deserves a worthy place among studies of major armoured vehicles.

I strongly recommend this text. It is detailed enough as a PRIMARY source for test or exam review; yet every topic well-explained to make neuroanatomy much more "manageable". Plus they get great pictures too!

Ever since Carlo D'Este's DECISION IN NORMANDY was published, the performance of the British Army in Europe in the Second World War has been a subject of much debate. The army has been accused of having poor morale, poor leadership, poor tactics, poor operational strategy, poor equipment, and just about anything derisive that could be written about an army. Some of these accusations are well supported by historical evidence, other accusations have little basis. David French's RAISING CHURCHILL'S ARMY presents an assessment of the British Army in the Second World War, that is strongly supported by historical evidence. He disproves many accusations against the army while concentrating on its principle failing, an inadequate indoctrination of combined arms tactics. Anyone interested in understanding (or attacking) the British performance in the Second World War should read this book.

Martin provides much need insight into this poorly understood theatre of World War II - the Balkans. Using recently declassified British intelligence documents and radio transmission transcripts from the field, Martin builds a strong case for the defense of General Draza Mihailovich, the Serbian guerilla leader who was abandoned by the British in favour of the Communist leader Tito. British field documents show that Serbian Chetnik forces carried out large scale attacks against German and Croat Nazi units up to 1944 - long after they stopped getting Allied aid. Importantly, they continued rescuing downed Allied airmen, culminating in the rescue in June, 1944 of more than 500 US and British airmen who were evacuated by US Airforce aircraft from Serbia in an operation codenamed "Halyard" - the largest rescue in US Airforce history. All round a tremendous contribution to WWII history. I might add, that just last year, more than 50 years after the fact, the official British archives have admitted that Communist moles working for SOE (Special Operations Executive) manipulated and falsified field transcripts from the Serb Chetniks thereby resulting in official British support switching to Tito. Martin's thesis has been proven correct. Nicholas Tintor Toronto

As Stafford says that Churchill appreciated the value of good intelligence and how it could influence the outcome of any struggle .But on the whole I must express my profound disagreement on some of the information contained in this book. The LUSITANIA episode: Fortuitously-Magdeburg incident 26th August 1914- the Room no.40 of the British Admiralty cracked German Navy's tactical codes .Bulk of naval traffic related to the movements of U-boats and German High Seas Fleet it was able to read .Churchill as the First Lord of Admiralty was privy to this fact .What now follows is difficult to digest for a rational mind .If one were to believe the author the movement of U-20(which sank the American ship)was detected and all ships in the immediate vicinity warned of its presence.Message received by LUSITANIA but ship's captain instead of changing course continued with the voyage thus courting disaster. In other words author has implied the American ship was commanded by a mad man who sent her to the watery grave, a chain of reasoning difficult to follow.It looks as though Stafford wanted to defend the British leader from accusations of his detractors who have claimed the latter staged the incident to bring America on a collision course with Germany. It is very hard to accept Churchill's innocence in certain matters because I know him as a shrewd practitioner of Realpolitik .Desmond Morton ( an influential figure in the Whitehall corridors of power and later SIS officer )connived with Churchill to forge Zinoviev's letter which damaged Labour Party's electoral prospects in the early 20's. Coming to the Second World War, soon after the captitulation of France there came invasion hysteria . Now it must be said when it came to invading Britain the Nazi dictator was strangely reluctant . Early July 1940 Hitler disclosed his intention of invading Soviet Union to Schmundt his chief-adjutant and Von Brauchitsch the Army Commander-in-Chief .Churchill via ULTRA decrypts knew that much of German troop deployments along Channel coast was sham. Yet he kept up the invasion bogey because this was bringing public support. Later in January 1941U.S.Presidential envoy Harry Hopkins visit to war-torn Britain was stage-managed to draw American support for Britains' war effort. Author has demolished claims that Churchill sacrificed Coventry (heavily bombed by Luftwaffe on 14 November 1940) for protecting ULTRA. The target was identified very late but the argument that it was not brought to PM's attention sounds skeptical. Instead Crete was sacrificed .However I am of the view that Britsh Commonwealth forces could have defended the island without blowing ULTRA.The battle for Crete hinged upon the possession of Maleme airfield . A spotter aircraft could have been sent to show it had detected the approach of German aerial armada carrying elite paratroops instead of denuding Maleme defences for masking ULTRA.The exercise is cleverly contrived attempt to cover up British Middle East Command's lack of resolve in defending Crete.I endorse Stafford's view that British leader was not knowing Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor.However it is difficult to accept the naivete of US political establishment in this matter . Suffice to say the US intelligence had broken codes used by Tokyo to exchange information with Consul -General Kita in Honolulu.String of messages showing Japan taking unusual interest in Pearl Harbor were intercepted . One such message intercepted divided the place into five areas asked for exact location of Pacific Fleet warships and carriers . Washington correctly guessed this could be a grid system for a bombing attack.Had Roosevelt and his men been shrewd ,vigilant, the ensuing tragedy could have been averted The author has misinterpreted the train of events that led to the German intervention in the Balkans April-May 1941. It was Mussolini who dragged Hitler into the Balkan mess .On 28 October 1940 Italian troopsinvaded Greece . Invaders were soon bogged down which gave British the pretext to land troops in that country .Besides RAF bombers started operating from bases in Crete.They had the range to strike Ploesti in Rumania from where Wehrmacht drew bulk of its oil..British deployment also menaced the southern flank of German armies slated to take part in Barbarossa :invasion of Soviet Union .Germany intervened to neutralise the flank threat . Churchill's role in fomenting guerilla warfare in Nazi-occupied Europe forms underlying theme of this book. British leader's brush with partisans in the far reaches of the Empire during heydays of his youth made him advocate this mode of fighting. It must be said , however , in the final analysis the role of the guerillas in the victory over Nazi Germany appears minimal.Owing to reasons of geography guerilla warfare never struck roots in Europe,much of the continent lay inert under the Nazi jackboot.Exceptions being Greece , Yugoslavia where mountainous terrain favoured large -scale guerilla operations .Finally a few things I like about this book: Churchill during prewar years exaggerated the capabilities of Luftwaffe,failed to appreciate the role tanks would play in the coming war ,underestimated the threat posed by Japan . Information such as that he bought Spain's neutrality in the war through bribes , came very close to compromising ULTRA during the speech marking German invasion of Soviet Union , approved a plan to assassinate Hitler , 'Operation Foxley', came close to carrying it out. Upon reading this book I gained the impression that Stafford has condoned the British leader's misdemeanours ,author no doubt is a Churchill apologist. To me Churchill was the most reactionary politician thrown up by the Western World. He stroved to ensure the Britains' domination of the post war world .He resisted Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy not because they were fascist regimes rather to their interference with Britains' imperial interests. Neverthless a remarkable man ,patriot who presided his country's fortune at a critical time of her existence .To his credit it must also be said Churchill realised, unlike other leaders of the Conservative party, the threat posed by Nazi Germany could only be contained by entering into a defence alliance with the Soviet union .In June1940 he took the decisive step in his career by deciding to continue the war against Germany.

"Churchill and Secret Service" documents the life long connection between him and secret intelligence. The author traces this back to Churchill's experience as a journalist in the Cuban revolt against Spain. His romantic nature, combined with the undisputed effectiveness of the guerillas, instilled in him a faith in guerilla warfare and its requirement of good intelligence. The book continues through Churchill's association with "room 40" during WWI, and his continued receipt of intelligence reports during the years "in the wilderness". Naturally the bulk of the work concerns itself with the Second World War, the creation of SOE and the secret armies. The author delves into the "special relationship" between the UK and US and reveals in detail the serious conflicts between SIS/SOE and the OSS-an area that often does not receive much attention by historians. Churchill's second term as prime minister,and subsequent retirement conclude the work. What it shows is that Churchill, probably more than any other political leader, understood the value and the dangers of secret intelligence, and knew how to employ it (most of the time). His experience provides excellent lessons to those who collect or use strategic/operational intelligence,"intelligence was not an end in itself and did not belong to those who produced it." Would that our current intelligence structure followed this advice...

This is an excellent work from an author that thoroughly researches every detail of the subject before it is put to print. As all of Staffords work, the factual basis is unquestionable. Anyone that reads this work will have a deep understanding of the time period and the personalities involved.

It is a wonderful idea to make available recordings of great speeches. I hope we have more of this in the future.
In the case of older speeches, the selection is very good, considering the restraints of time, and the readers are uniformly excellent.
As for the modern speeches, it is a marvel of technology that we can hear these speeches as delivered. It is incredible that we can hear the voice of William Jennings Bryan. I can listen to Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" a thousand times and never tire of it! How I wish I could listen to the voice of Patrick Henry! But this selection is too heavily weighted to the modern, and many of those do not deserve billing as the GREATEST speeches of ALL TIME. Also, some of the modern speeches which are included are abridged, e.g. Reagan is cut off in the middle of a sentence, while lengthy and undeserving speeches are played out in their entirety.
Also, with only a few exceptions, the selection is almost entirely American. It is hard to understand why Jimmy Carter's lengthy speech on energy policy is included, while Pericles' funeral oration is not; or why only a small portion of a single Winston Churchill speech is included; why while Bill Clinton's complete 1993 pulpit address, in excess of 20 minutes, is included.
It would be helpful if the complete list of speeches were available to online buyers, as it would be to shoppers in a brick and mortar store.

I have listened to this collection twice now, both times with pleasure. Hearing the acutal voices of Amelia Earhart, Rev. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Neil Armstrong made a deeper connection than simply reading their words. The collection showcases different subjects and many times contrasts opposing viewpoints of the ideas. This volume is a fantastic introduction to the moving ideals and sometimes sad truths that have influenced Western Civilization.

In the beginning of the war, Roosevelt sensed that Churchill even before he became Prime Minister would be important to the war effort. As time went on these men united by a fear of Hitler these men became friends as well as comrades in arms. This book explores there relationship though a rather unique perspective their intelligence departments. It explores how they got their intelligence and what they did with the knowledge that they gained from it. Despite their friendship the used it to advance the agenda of what they wanted for their own countries. At times their intelligence departments actually came into conflict as they both had different hopes and ambitions. As the war progressed these difference became more important.

I found the book very easy to read. Full of information that although I am a WW2 fanatic I have never seen before. I can recommend this book if you want to learn about the relationship of between these two men.

An enjoyable account of the circumstances that brought the two men together, and the relationship that they forged.

Often political friendships form out of necessity and mutual self interest. And that is obvious in this case.

But the fact that the two most remarkable and influential men (in a positive sense) were to forge such an important relationship makes for great reading.

Irvings original research and writing style combine to make Churchill's War a most enjoyable and thought-provoking read that I found to be intensely humerous and ironic at times. Irving practically chain-linked the words of Joe Kennedy, FDR, Herbert Hoover, Churchill, and a host of others to build paragraph after paragraph of free flowing, engrossing and controversial text. This was the first of Irving's work that I have read but certainly not my last. After reading some criticisms of this book I question whether the same book is being discussed and/or there is some animosity toward this author that is not related to the quality of his work.

As can be seen by reviews posted by the anonymous critic who seems to live in a different city each time he or she posts, this book, like many of Irving's, makes the Chosen tribe nervous. World War Two was the fratricidal conflict which secured the power of our current media-boss rulers. Irving once again shows us how, through the eyes of a substantially less-than-perfect world leader.

Ignore personal-attack propaganda and straw-men. Read Irving's book for a final look at WWII free of the propaganda our media bosses drench approved history with. I know Irving personally, and can assure you he is *not* a National Socialist.

I do share neil camberly's point of view...especialy about the anonymous critic rating 1 star only from many differentes cities... I am looking for volume II of that wonderfull book of David Irving...If anyone heard about a spare one left somewhere, I am willing to take it... Thanks to contact me in returning my mail. I would like to add that thanks to people like mister IRVING, maybe the future generations will have a chance to know the truth about the second world war and the real part that all the nations played and what were their national interests.