# Churchill biographies: Jenkins or **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762 "2002-12-10T15:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KXL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@KXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KXL)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/1 "2002-12-10T15:00:26Z")
I know almost nothing about Winston Churchill, and I’m looking for a good one-volume biography. Tons of praise have been heaped on “Churchill” by Roy Jenkisn and “Churchill: A Study in Greatness” by Geoffrey Best. Anyone read both? Which is better? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/2 "2002-12-10T16:50:39Z")
I have nothing but praise for _The Last Lion_, by William Manchester (two volumes, covering birth-1932 and 1932-1940; a third volume was promised but has not yet reached print AFAIK). He in turn has a great deal of respect for the official biography by Martin Gilbert, which I enjoyed but which was not as captivating as the Manchester. I’ve seen good things about the Jenkins book but have not read it myself. But don’t miss reading his own writing: the six-volume _History of the Second World War_ and the _History of the English-Speaking Peoples_ (four volumes, with a one-volume abridgement) are both excellent – quirky in their emphases, but nearly always captivating reading. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/3 "2002-12-10T17:05:31Z")
If you want to get a quick start on Churchill, John Keegan’s [entry](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0670030791/qid=1039540058/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/103-7666568-3360631?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) in the excellent Penguin Lives series is extremely short but fun to read. It provides a good balanced, but generally laudatory, commentary on Churchill’s achievements. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/4 "2002-12-10T17:49:34Z")
Discussions of the relative merits of books, even non-fiction, usually do best in Cafe Society, so I’ll move this thread over that way. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/5 "2002-12-10T23:39:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > I have nothing but praise for _The Last Lion_, by William Manchester (two volumes, covering birth-1932 and 1932-1940; a third volume was promised but has not yet reached print AFAIK). I believe Manchester announced some time ago that he’d abandoned the project due to declining health. Note that Gilbert has both co-written (Randolph, the son, started it) the vast official life, which is one of the longest biographies in the language, and a more recent single-volume summary. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/6 "2002-12-11T00:19:45Z")
In addition to the excellent books mentioned above try out his own autobiography: My Early Life which covers his childhood and youth till about his mid-20’s. It’s beautifully written, has some exciting stories about Churchill’s adventures as a solider and provides a lot of insight into both the man and the Victorian aristocratic world from which he came. ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/7 "2002-12-11T02:09:52Z")
**bonzer** is correct, **Polycarp**. Earlier this year Manchester announced that after his stroke, he could no longer concentrate enough to write the third volume of _The Last Lion_. Which is quite regrettable, since the first two volumes were very enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchill-biographies-jenkins-or/141762/8 "2002-12-11T19:22:39Z")
Thanks for the bad news, **Bonzer** and **Narile**.