The problem with Churchill, for two reasons, is his legend. The result is the best single-volume life imaginable of a man whose life it would seem technically impossible to get into a single volume. These include the private papers of Churchill’s children, verbatim reports of meetings of the War Cabinet, the diaries of Ivan Maisky, Stalin’s envoy to London, and the pooterish jottings of George VI. It invites the question: why another? Roberts’s answer comes in a thoughtful summing-up at the end of his book, where he indicates how many useful sources have become available only in recent years. It is brave of Andrew Roberts, before embarking on this 1,000-page biography of the man routinely described as the greatest ever Briton, to point out that there have already been 1,000 biographies of him. Simon Heffer reviews Churchill: Walking with Destiny by Andrew Roberts
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