Churchill: A Life

Following up his eight-volume official biography of Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), Gilbert offers this 1000-page summary that is basically a distillation of all he has written about his subject up to now. Related in strict chronological fashion, it is a full and rounded examination of Churchill's life, both in its personal and political aspects. Gilbert lays particular stress on the extraordinary vitality and boldness that characterized Churchill's overlapping careers as soldier, journalist, parliamentarian, cabinet minister (he held eight cabinet posts before his appointment as prime minister in 1940), statesman and historian. Gilbert describes the painful decade of Churchill's political exile (1929-1939) and shows how it strengthened him and prepared him for his role in the ``hour of supreme crisis'' as Britain's wartime leader. A lucid, comprehensive and authoritative life of the man considered by many to have been the outstanding public figure of the 20th century. Photos. (Nov.)