His Father's Son: The Life of Randolph Churchill

Here is another sad tale of a large talent enormously overshadowed by a dynamic father. The great prime minister apparently expected more from Randolph (1911-1968) than his only son could deliver. Yet after a failed career in politics, Randolph went on to become a much-read, much-feared political journalist. At the end he was also the biographer of the first two volumes of what would be an eight-volume biography of his father (completed by Martin Gilbert). In the Churchill tradition, as Sir Winston had written a life of his own politician father, Lord Randolph Churchill, the contemporary Winston--a political journalist himself and a member of parliament--has written a substantial and admiring, though candid, biography of his father. Although Randolph, who died of alcoholism, was often ingenious, courageous, generous and prescient, he was also, from his schooldays, wayward and rebellious. Sparing little, his son has evoked a tempestuous, abusive personality, often unlikable but seldom dull. The father-son perspective adds a poignancy that would have been difficult for another biographer. Photos. (June)