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Winston Churchill

His Times, His Crimes

Author Tariq Ali
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$19.95 US
| $25.95 CAN
Verso Books | Verso
On sale May 23, 2023 | 448 Pages | 9781788735803
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This critical biography of Winston Churchill is “a powerful corrective” as it shines a light on the real history and war crimes of ‘Britain’s greatest leader’ (Independent).
 
The subject of numerous biographies and history books, Winston Churchill has been repeatedly voted as one of the greatest of Englishmen. The wartime leader has become a household god for many, preserving an antiquated vision of Britain still shared by all 3 parties. Yet, was he anything more than a plump carp happy to swim in the foulest of ponds to defend the Empire?
 
In this coruscating biography, Tariq Ali challenges Churchill's vaulted record. Churchill himself never bothered to conceal his passionate defense of the British Empire or its attendant racism. On a more personal level, his complacent self-belief influenced his every step and frequently tripped him up. As the head of the British Navy during WWI, he was responsible for a series of calamitous errors that cost thousands of lives. His attempt to crush the Irish nationalists left wounds that have yet to heal. His attacks on striking workers in Glasgow and Tonypandy, his posturing when calling in the army to burn two anarchists in London’s East End, his vicious propaganda during the General Strike were not forgotten or forgiven.

During the war against Germany, the most revered period of his career, Churchill’s crimes abroad continued, including the brutal assault on the Greek Resistance, the Bengal Famine that cost over 3 million Indian lives, the all-out assault on civilians in Dresden and Hamburg, and the insistence on the use of nuclear weapons in Japan. Even as the Empire was starting to crumble, Churchill never questioned his imperial philosophy as he became one of the architects of the postwar world we live in today. His is a terrible record, amply documented in Tariq Ali’s indictment.
"In Ali's telling, which draws on more honest existing historical scholarship than most popular biographies of Churchill, the two-times prime minister emerges not so much as deeply racist - some of his contemporaries remarked on it in shock - as profoundly authoritarian, with a soft spot for fascist strongmen, and a hostility to working-class assertion."
—Priyamvada Gopal, Prospect

"For Tariq Ali, Churchill debunking, like Churchill worship, is a political act."
—David Aaronovitch, The Times

"Ali portrays Churchill as cruel, incompetent and blinded by prejudice"
—Spectator

"A Marxist insult to history."
—Simon Heffer, The Telegraph

"A powerful corrective...shining a light on the nasty parts of the Churchill story that his supporters conveniently ignore. This book is an unreserved polemic against the man usually celebrated for standing up to Hitler"
—Martin Chilton, Independent

"An essential antidote to the Churchill myth...This book could not be more timely."
—Lindsey German, Counterfire

"A counter to popular mythology; an effort to peel back the curtain of propaganda and locate truth ... a worthy contribution in a crowded field"
—Labour Hub, Talal Hangari

"[Ali] seeks not so much to flush WC down the toilet of history, but to reassign him to his rightful place as one of history's most over-rated figures ... [a] highly readable book"
—Donald Sassoon, Political Quarterly

"The important thing about Ali's book, even after a thousand on the same subject, is that it is primarily interested in Churchill's years in service to British imperialism, and only secondarily interested in World War II, inverting the usual balance...a vital corrective."
—Alex Skopic, Current Affairs

"Ali's book is a helpful corrective to the cult of Churchill that has come to dominate British culture. His study makes one thing clear: there is ultimately no path to a socialist and internationalist future without challenging this legacy."
—Liam Kennedy, Jacobin

"Ali's examination remains an important corrective to the hagiographic praise that Churchill receives to this day."
—Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs

"Ali has produced a searing critique full of little known detail, of a long and powerful British life which did untold damage at home and abroad."
—Victoria Brittain, Review of African Political Economy<

Tariq Ali has written more than two-dozen books on world history and politics—the most recent of which are The Extreme Centre, The Dilemmas of Lenin and The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan—as well as the novels of his Islam Quintet and scripts for the stage and screen. He is a long-standing member of the Editorial Committee of New Left Review and lives in London.

Tariq Ali View titles by Tariq Ali

About

This critical biography of Winston Churchill is “a powerful corrective” as it shines a light on the real history and war crimes of ‘Britain’s greatest leader’ (Independent).
 
The subject of numerous biographies and history books, Winston Churchill has been repeatedly voted as one of the greatest of Englishmen. The wartime leader has become a household god for many, preserving an antiquated vision of Britain still shared by all 3 parties. Yet, was he anything more than a plump carp happy to swim in the foulest of ponds to defend the Empire?
 
In this coruscating biography, Tariq Ali challenges Churchill's vaulted record. Churchill himself never bothered to conceal his passionate defense of the British Empire or its attendant racism. On a more personal level, his complacent self-belief influenced his every step and frequently tripped him up. As the head of the British Navy during WWI, he was responsible for a series of calamitous errors that cost thousands of lives. His attempt to crush the Irish nationalists left wounds that have yet to heal. His attacks on striking workers in Glasgow and Tonypandy, his posturing when calling in the army to burn two anarchists in London’s East End, his vicious propaganda during the General Strike were not forgotten or forgiven.

During the war against Germany, the most revered period of his career, Churchill’s crimes abroad continued, including the brutal assault on the Greek Resistance, the Bengal Famine that cost over 3 million Indian lives, the all-out assault on civilians in Dresden and Hamburg, and the insistence on the use of nuclear weapons in Japan. Even as the Empire was starting to crumble, Churchill never questioned his imperial philosophy as he became one of the architects of the postwar world we live in today. His is a terrible record, amply documented in Tariq Ali’s indictment.

Reviews

"In Ali's telling, which draws on more honest existing historical scholarship than most popular biographies of Churchill, the two-times prime minister emerges not so much as deeply racist - some of his contemporaries remarked on it in shock - as profoundly authoritarian, with a soft spot for fascist strongmen, and a hostility to working-class assertion."
—Priyamvada Gopal, Prospect

"For Tariq Ali, Churchill debunking, like Churchill worship, is a political act."
—David Aaronovitch, The Times

"Ali portrays Churchill as cruel, incompetent and blinded by prejudice"
—Spectator

"A Marxist insult to history."
—Simon Heffer, The Telegraph

"A powerful corrective...shining a light on the nasty parts of the Churchill story that his supporters conveniently ignore. This book is an unreserved polemic against the man usually celebrated for standing up to Hitler"
—Martin Chilton, Independent

"An essential antidote to the Churchill myth...This book could not be more timely."
—Lindsey German, Counterfire

"A counter to popular mythology; an effort to peel back the curtain of propaganda and locate truth ... a worthy contribution in a crowded field"
—Labour Hub, Talal Hangari

"[Ali] seeks not so much to flush WC down the toilet of history, but to reassign him to his rightful place as one of history's most over-rated figures ... [a] highly readable book"
—Donald Sassoon, Political Quarterly

"The important thing about Ali's book, even after a thousand on the same subject, is that it is primarily interested in Churchill's years in service to British imperialism, and only secondarily interested in World War II, inverting the usual balance...a vital corrective."
—Alex Skopic, Current Affairs

"Ali's book is a helpful corrective to the cult of Churchill that has come to dominate British culture. His study makes one thing clear: there is ultimately no path to a socialist and internationalist future without challenging this legacy."
—Liam Kennedy, Jacobin

"Ali's examination remains an important corrective to the hagiographic praise that Churchill receives to this day."
—Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs

"Ali has produced a searing critique full of little known detail, of a long and powerful British life which did untold damage at home and abroad."
—Victoria Brittain, Review of African Political Economy<

Author

Tariq Ali has written more than two-dozen books on world history and politics—the most recent of which are The Extreme Centre, The Dilemmas of Lenin and The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan—as well as the novels of his Islam Quintet and scripts for the stage and screen. He is a long-standing member of the Editorial Committee of New Left Review and lives in London.

Tariq Ali View titles by Tariq Ali

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