British Scholar: Best

Churchill: A Study in Greatness
Geoffrey Best (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 370 pages

Geoffrey Best wrote his biography of Churchill to fulfill a personal intellectual curiosity. Thank goodness he
did. This example of a biography on Churchill accomplishes something few of its predecessors can claim:
brevity. Best accomplishes the creation of a succinct and powerful biography of Churchill that seamlessly
incorporates the prose and speeches of this great man.

While Best utilizes a thorough grasp of Churchill’s life to leave no substantial details unturned, he properly
places heaviest emphasis on World War II. As expected, Churchill’s time as Prime Minister during the Battle
of Britain and the Blitz on British cities remains the focal point of “his finest hour.” Facing the Nazi menace
alone, Churchill’s optimistic and courageous tone to the British people retained the grandeur of a conquering
hero. Despite the dire circumstances Britain did fight on with one of the greatest inspirational heads of
government ever to grace the political scene leading the way. But Best refuses to romanticize the declining
role of Britain in the world, something that Churchill lamented. He understood that the entrance of the United
States into World War II meant the end of the British Empire and its place as a world power. While Britain
would never again experience the level of greatness it enjoyed during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, its stand for democracy in the face of unmitigated tyranny went hand in hand with its wartime
leader. In many ways Churchill remains, deservedly, the quintessential public guardian of liberty in the
world.

With a narrative style that makes this biography read more like a novel, Best captures the essence of a man
who always remained in motion. Best goes to great lengths to point out that, at the end of his long and
illustrious career, no one wanted to force Churchill to stand down from his parliamentary seat. Many,
including his wife Clementine, thought that removing this love for public service from his life would prove as
the beginning of the end. Seven months after standing down from his seat of Woodford Churchill, the great
bulldog of Britain, passed away with the words “I’m so bored with it all.” In the end, inaction did prove fatal for
Churchill. Best’s biography does a great service to this monumental man and conserves his legacy for a new
generation to admire.