A tragedy of historiography is that William Manchester never completed his monumental biography of Winston Churchill, “The Last Lion,” leaving the reader just as Churchill was about to reach his finest hour as the wartime leader of Great Britain. “Winston’s War,” by military historian Max Hastings, fills this lacuna, painting a portrait of a man the author justifiably calls “the greatest Englishman and one of the greatest human beings of the 20th century, indeed of all time.”

Despite that assessment, this book is anything but hagiography. Hastings recognizes that “historians have a duty to identify blunders and shortcomings,” and Churchill had his share, if not more, all judiciously analyzed.

When Churchill became prime minister in 1940, he had no grasp of the approaching catastrophe. He assumed responsibility for the direction of the war, but his judgments often were based on the realities of an earlier day. He meddled in minutiae.

No matter. He was the right man at the right time.

Churchill saw himself as an actor in history, and played his part and delivered his lines to perfection, convincing his countrymen to share his vision of victory over evil. The reality after Dunkirk was that the British Army was disarmed. The rhetoric and bearing of one man mobilized the nation and secured the critical support of the United States.

Churchill comes alive in his words. “The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill,” edited by Richard M. Langworth, is a delight. Grouped into themes, these samples are a bowl of peanuts: try one and you want more!

• “I get my exercise serving as pall-bearer to my many friends who exercised all their lives.”

• “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more, you are disgustingly drunk,” a lady told Churchill as he was leaving the House of Commons. “My dear,” he responded, “you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”

• “What are you doing prime minster?” Churchill was asked. “Rehearsing my impromptu witticisms,” he responded.

A lovely man, a lovely book.



Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, author of many books, was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame in 2001. He is a partner with the Carella Byrne law firm in Roseland.





The Definitive Wit of Winston Churchill



Richard M. Langworth (editor) Public Affairs, 244 pp., $19.95

Reviewed by Arthur T. Vanderbilt II