About 2/3rds done… who knows if or when the remainder will be read??

Churchill’s Trial/ Larry P. Arnn

An engaging narrative, Churchill’s Trial illuminates the rare but necessary characteristics for true leaders and statesmen. Primary among these are courage, intelligence, a self-sacrificing love of country and, in Churchill’s case, a resolute belief in the primacy of individual freedom. And it is this last immutable characteristic that more than anything defined Winston Churchill. It was the impetus for his stance against the Nazis and Fascists in World War II and later against the Communists and Socialists. Well written and informative, “Churchill’s Trial” is an exposé of Churchill’s prescience regarding technology, war, and the double-edged sword of science in the human condition with utopia or societal ruin hanging in the balance.
Its greater value, however, lies in its inspiration to read Churchill in the original. To this end, Dr. Arnn includes three speeches in the appendices: “Fifty Years Hence” (1931); “What Good’s a Constitution” (1936); and “The Sinews of Peace” (1946). In “The Sinews of Peace” Churchill famously coins the term “Iron Curtain” and warns Western Democracies to maintain overwhelming military strength to curb Soviet expansionism so as not to repeat the errors of the past. Here Churchill reflects both his lament at having failed to prevent WWII, what he called “the unnecessary war,” and his pragmatic approach to fight wars quickly and economically. A good informative read. Four stars from this old curmudgeon. ( )

I have mixed feelings about this book, the subject of which is the series of trials faced by Winston Churchill, his country and the world, during his lifetime. Chief among these trials were war and the rise of socialism in countries that were previously free-enterprise capitalistic nations. The book details Churchill's beliefs, actions, reactions, writings, and speeches as he worked to alternately confront or embrace these trials. However, the book comes across as also about what the author believes about these issues. At times it reads as though the content is a 60/40 split between the author's beliefs and Churchill's. Still, the book does a good job of documenting the challenges faced by a great statesman who lived through: the Second World War, the rise of Hitler, Stalin, Russia, socialism within Britain, and rapid scientific advances in both peacetime luxuries and war-making power. ( )