The imperial aspect of Churchill's career tends to be airbrushed out, while the battles against Nazism are heavily foregrounded. A charmer and a bully, Winston Churchill was driven by a belief that the English were a superior race, whose goals went beyond individual interests to offer an enduring good to the entire world. No better example exists than Churchill's resolve to stand alone against a more powerful Hitler in 1940 while the world's democracies fell to their knees. But, there is also the Churchill who frequently inveighed against human rights, nationalism, and constitutional progress-the imperialist who could celebrate racism and believed India was unsuited to democracy. Drawing on newly released documents and an uncanny ability to separate the facts from the overblown reputation (by mid-career Churchill had become a global brand), Richard Toye provides the first comprehensive analysis of Churchill's relationship with the empire. Instead of locating Churchill's position on a simple left/right spectrum, Toye demonstrates how the statesman evolved and challenges the reader to understand his need to reconcile the demands of conscience with those of political conformity.
"Indeed, it is not too much to say that the story of Churchill's life is the story of his view, vision, and valiant defense of the British Empire--the duties of empire and the maintenance of empire, the idea of empire and the ideals of empire. So it is surprising that, until Richard Toye took on the task, little has been written in book form about Churchill and the British Empire .... What is not generally or popularly recognized--but rectified by Toye--is that there were many Churchillian views on empire .... Toye argues convincingly that Churchill's views on empire were not a fixed thing--and were not designed simply to enhance Britain's role in the world .... The Empire faded as Churchill's life did. But there was triumph after all, perhaps even a bit of poetry. The glory of them both--Empire and Churchill--survives them both."
David M. Shribman, The Boston Globe
"Not a conventional biography, this is a probing and thoroughly enjoyable life focusing on the contradictions and dilemmas of Churchill's imperialism.... Even veterans of Churchilliana will find plenty of fresh material, recounted with wit and insight into a man whose values were shaped by an age that no longer existed."
