Like a book-length Paul Harvey radio segment, Candice Millard’s new book provides some interesting and enlightening background on a well-known historical figure. Here, that’s Winston Churchill, the corpulent, heavy-drinking Prime Minister who inspired England to withstand the bombings and defeat Hitler. That admittedly simplistic overview aside, most of us probably aren’t familiar with Churchill’s life before WWII. Something had to propel him into the upper levels of the British government, and it turns out that it was his remarkable service in the Boer War.
As the son of a high-level government official, Churchill felt destined for greatness and was desperate to prove his worth. At only 24 he had already seen action on multiple continents, but had yet to earn the plaudits and commendations his political plans would require. Rushed into a Parliamentary campaign too soon, he experienced an embarrassing setback, and when war broke out in South Africa he was all too eager to charge into battle.
Taking a job as a war correspondent, Churchill set sail on the same ship as the recently named commander of the British forces, Redvers Buller. Arriving in the middle of a war that was proving far more difficult than the empire had expected, Churchill soon found himself in danger. Casting aside any pretense of journalistic objectivity, Churchill entered the fray and acted quite courageously, though he wound up being taken as a prisoner of war.
The story of Churchill’s captivity, escape, and struggle are fascinating precisely because they are so little know (at least in America) today. Every chance occurrence, every dire moment, every last-minute escape is weighted with the reader’s knowledge of what was to become of Winston Churchill, and what he would do for the world.
Readers of Millard’s other works, Destiny of the Republic, about the assassination of James Garfield, and The River of Doubt, about Teddy Roosevelt’s post-presidency Amazon expedition, will recognize her command of the facts and the clarity of her prose. Though this story is slighter than the others she has tackled, Millard brings the fullness of her talents into this fascinating period of the life of Winston Churchill.