Most avid readers of history know of Winston Churchill's mature works about the First and Second World Wars; and occasionally they know of his histories of the "English-speaking peoples" and of his biography of his illustrious ancestor the Duke of Marlborough. But it is much rarer to encounter someone who knows of, much less who has read, this volume of his collected dispatches as a correspondent to the Boer War. That's a pity, for these very early works, written around the turn of the century when Churchill was in his late twenties, provide an illuminating window into the developing character and literary style of one of this century's preeminent journalists, historians, and statesmen. But the stories are of interest not only because of their author. These collected dispatches serve as a primer on one of this century's first and least-well-known wars, one whose brutality and political intrigue foreshadowed the nation-draining slaughters to follow in this bloody century. The prose is a bit less polished and more stiffly Victorian than in his later works, but Mr. Churchill's sense of his destiny and his place in history, as well as his pugnacious self-confidence, shine through. Well worth a read for those who'd like a glimpse at the formative years of this great man. (by Michael Sebastian)

This book carries on the family tradition of sons writing about fathers. The author's grandfather, the famous Prime Minister, had much earlier written a biography of his father, also named Randolph, which was generally poorly reviewed at the time and essentially constituted a glorification of the subject. The current work, which purports to be objective, reveals a startingly adventurous life, lived always within the shadow of the famous father. I think that objectivity is achieved (the author's father could be difficult, to way the least but was also generous to a fault and loyal regardless of consequences). The reader will be surprised at the many intellectual and other accomplishments of the subject of this biohgraphy. Toward the end of his life, Randolph was commissioned to write the Great Biography (about his famous father), and the period when he completed the first two volumes of this undertaking (Martin Gilbert finished the task) is particularly interesting.! ! The author's earliest recollections come into play in the second half of the book, which include a large number of historically significant individuals (of course, his famous grandfather, but many other British political luminaries as well). Churchill buffs will very much enjoy this book.

Written when he was 23, Savrola was Churchill's only novel. It embodies his personal philosophy on life, which was to govern his later military and political career. For those who know of his later exploits, it provides an amazing foreshadowing of events in his own life. Though the plot is sometimes clumsy, there are flashes of poignancy in his prose that are deeply insightful for a man of his age.

It is well researched, however Read could have used more original source notes and some sections need improvement in source backup and detail. However the book is balanced, not a hagiography and makes a good addition to anyone's collection on Churchill.

This book concludes Churchill's four-volume history of England and to a lesser extent, the U.S. (and to a much lesser extent, Canada, South Africa and Australia).

Although generally good, at times Churchill's pro-English biases shine through. In a way, the whole set seems to be the story of a country growing up and the end is kind of a happy arrival in adulthood. It is interesting to read an "outsider's" view of American history, however.

I had been meaning to read this book for a number of years. It has sat in my book shelf collecting dust. The pity is that I did not read it sooner.

Churchill provides a lively and readable account of the great democracies of the 19 th Century. He starts with the years following the Napoleonic Wars and concludes with the Boer War. In between, he covers the American Civil War in some detail as well as progress in the other English speaking nations of Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. He also touches on other issues in Europe, particularly the rise of Germany under Bismarck.

I can thoroughly recommend this book to the reader of general history. It has whetted my appetite to go back and read the earlier volumes. If they should be half as good as this one, it will be a pleasant journey.

As histories of the U.S. goes, these selected excerpts from the mind-boggling works of the great, the heroic Winston Churchill, is rather skimming and selective (try Paul Johnson's masterpiece "A History of the American People".) What's good fun, however, is that it makes me remember afresh that history has always and will forever be interpretative!! I sometimes forget that fact as American media and academics so often shove "flavor of the month" history, in all its changist glory, down our throats. This early account of American history and current events as written in the early 1900s can be splendidly candid and even startling in its un-PCness. Discover how much and yet how little the American psyche has changed over the decades and exactly what people thought of America and Americans way back then.

A nice overview of American history written with wit and obvious pleasure in the subject. As a collection of essays it is not comprehensive and many details are left out, but the Civil War is dealt with in some depth. I especially enjoyed the 20th century essays from his visits to America and speeches to our Congress. If you're serious about studying American history this book should be supplemented with others (try "A History Of The American People" by Paul Johnson, also British, also very readable, but much more detailed), but this book is certainly a pleasant place to start.

The Great Republic is essentially Churchill's historical overview of America contained within his History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Normally acknowledged as one of the great political statesman of his, perhaps any, age, Churchill was also quite the historian. His complete works span over 50 volumes of material. These excerpts of his larger work provide us with a unique perspective on American history from an alternative vantage point, although not entirely foreign. Churchill was, in fact, intimately connected with Amercia. As the introduction provided by his grandson (appropriately named) Winston S. Churchill reveals, three of Churchill's ancestors were actually passengers on the Mayflower. He had even more recent connections through his mother who was an American. Churchill was a great admirer of what he affectionately called 'the Great Republic' (thus, the title), and so his endearment of our country is also the result of embracing his own heritage.

Only half of this edition is taken from Churchill's original history. Obviously, the work has a Euro-centrist perspective of America and its events. But this is part of its unique charm, added with the fact of the man who had written it is highly regarded world-wide. The span of history covered begins with the Europlean effort to find alternative routes to the East Indies, resulting in America's discovery. It ends at the beginning of the twentieth century having little to say of these times. Because American history was not the focus of the original work, much history must be expected by the reader to be left out. The themes discussed are almost entirely political, as one would expect. The central focus of our history it turns out is our Civil War. It seems that it is not only historians in America who have such a fascination with this epic. More emphasis is given this historic confrontation than that of our Revolutionary War (after all, what Englishman would glory in that story). Nevertheless, the greatness of Churchill as an historian is fully evident here.

The latter half is a collection of Churchill's writings and speeches regarding America covering a span of over 50 years. Here we find how America was viewed by the prominent politian. He is certainly credible enough to have formed an opinion of our American customs and habits considering his background and his numerous trips to the New World. The topics vary covering our eating habits and social customs to our landscapes to our common language and heritage to opinoins on Prohibition and War. These, or course, act as a history of America in the first half of this last century. On the whole, The Great Republic is an exceptional and brief read in American history.

The American Civil War should have been named Robert E. Lee's Civil War. 85% of the books attention is paid to Lee's character, Lee's battles, Lee's brilliance, Lee's nobility, Lee's wisdom. At the end of the War Churchill rightly criticizes Lee for his faulty generalship in sending thousands to die in frontal assaults when the war was clearly lost, but his fixation on Lee still borders on worship. There were other things going on in the War, like the War in the West, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta campaign, March to the Sea, etc., but Churchill concludes these events did not require any full discussion. Either Winston had a deadline to meet and was out of time or he displays a surprising lack of knowledge by leaving out at least half of the Civil War. But of course if you are a Lee fan, then you'll love this one.

Churchill's view of our War Between the States is in keepingwith the most prominent mythologized history of that conflict, onefeature of which is a perception of "near-divinity" inGen. Robert E. Lee. That perception was begun during the war andboosted to completion shortly afterwards by Gen. Jubal Early and hispowerful influence over the Southern Historical Society Papers (amajor source for most Civil War history). An excellent ifcontroversial review of these issues is found in "The Myth of theLost Cause" ed. by Gallagher and Nolan.

One can readilyunderstand the appeal of such a myth to Winston Churchill as he triedto come to terms with his own witnessing of the Fall of the BritishEmpire having just been totally dependent on American aid to survivethe war with Germany.

Joseph Campbell understood "myth"to be a psychosocial system (expressed through the arts) that allows aculture to get into accord with an awful fact that cannot be dealtwith as raw, factual history. It would seem that witnessing one'ssociety crumbling into oblivion calls for such a myth.

Churchill'swork is fascinating. His use of the English language is mostsuperb. This work will provide the reader (or listener) with somepowerful insights into the American Civl War, World War II, and theuse of myth to connect us with the awful human experience of havingthe very structure of one's World vanish forever.

Autobiography by Sir Winston's grandson, Winston S. Churchill. R. Langworth Editor FINEST HOUR Churchill Center www.winstonchurchill.org

This book is not written by Winston S. Churchill. An earlier reviewer has already made this comment. Amazon still shows the author incorrectly in the search listings. I just hope someone at Amazon will take the S. out of the name.

CONISTON is by the American novelist Winston Churchill, not by (Sir) Winston S. Churchill, who wrote only one book-length novel, SAVROLA. -Richard Langworth, Prop. Churchillbooks http://Churchillbooks.home.ml.org