“One young boy, asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, a fireman or pilot or such, answered: "Alive.”

 

Jen on the beach. Ellis Beach, Far North Queensland. April 2021.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson 

There has with no doubt been a great deal of work and fine scholarship put into this book, and to that, I will credit Larson. Yet too often, I find that anything that touches upon Churchill drifts too easily into the hagiographic, which I do not understand.

There is plenty here that showcases the flaws of the man and his temperament - consider the impetuous way with which he pursued the frankly ridiculous idea of air landmines (at who knows what opportunity costs) or the taste for luxury in a time of extreme deprivation. In total, are we really supposed to overlook these flaws because of... why exactly? That he was prone to cry?

I confess that I don't get it. I found the boorish tales of his family living it up while men were dying in huge numbers; the British public was going without, and the Empire's colonial subjects (of whom Churchill's views are decidedly suspect) were starving to death in the millions yet more evidence of his obnoxiousness.

I note that we didn't get to see whether the family were quite as concerned with the Bengali Famine - in which up to four million Bengalis starved to death as a direct result of a decision made by dear Winston - as they were with what dress, brooch or fob watch one was to wear at the next party.

Bitter, Moi? Indeed I am. If you're going to do warts and all, one shouldn't flinch. The drunkenness, arrogance, misogyny, racism, bullying, self-centredness and dictatorial manner are presented here more as amusing deviations from greatness, whereas they seem to be the measure of the man to my mind. A fondness for aggression and risk-taking is all very well when it is someone else doing the dying for you.

Forgive me; I'm just not that interested in the gifts that he gave to his wife or who his son (or his wife) happened to be fucking at this or that party at the time.

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