Bücher von Richard Toye

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive account of Churchill's lifelong involvement with the empire, from the early stages of his childhood that shaped his imperialist outlook to his emergence as a self-made hero. Instead of locating him on a left/right spectrum, Toye presents Churchill as a human being, a man whose imperialist outlook brought both acclaim and dread. Churchill was a powerful leader who believed in the strength of his race, but not necessarily the human race-he stood alone against Hitler, but he was also an imperialist who equated Gandhi with Hitler, celebrated racism, and believed India would always remain unsuited to democracy. "Toye traces Churchill's shifts and velleities with impressive skill and erudition, using a vast range of contemporary newspapers to particularly good effect" (Literary Review). Toye, named Young Academic Author of the Year by Times Higher Education magazine in 2007, has synthesized the details of Churchill's life to produce "a thought-provoking, sensitive account of the nerve and muscle of empire" (Daily Express).

'I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.' These notorious words, spoken by Churchill in 1942, encapsulate his image as an imperial die-hard, implacably opposed to colonial freedom - a reputation that has prevailed, and which Churchill willingly embraced to further his policies. Yet, as a youthful minister at the Colonial Office before World War I, his political opponents had seen him as a Little Englander and a danger to the Empire. Placing Churchill in the context of his times and his contemporaries, Richard Toye evaluates his position on key Imperial questions and examines what was conventional about Churchill's opinions and what was unique. Combining a lightness of touch and entertaining storytelling with expert and insightful analysis, the result is a vivid and dynamic account of a remarkable man and an extraordinary era. 'Wonderfully informative' Daily Telegraph 'Excellent' Spectator 'Mature, intelligent, thoughtful, judicious' Washington Times 'One of Britain's smartest young historians' Independent

The two most significant British political figures of the twentieth-century, Churchill and Lloyd George were political rivals but personal friends. Between them their ministerial careers spanned seventy years and two world wars. Althought they could not have been more different temperamentally, and often disagreed violently about politics, theirs was 'the longest political friendship in the life of Great Britain' and Churchill was the only person outside his family to call Lloyd George 'David'. Richard Toye's book is a dynamic account of their relationship. Drawing on diaries and letters, some never before published, (there are more than 1,000 pieces of correspondence between the two men), he explores their long-standing friendship and rivalry, the impact they had on each other's careers, and the fate of their respective reputations, arguing that Lloyd George's major achievements have been undeservedly overshadowed, in part as a consequence of Churchill's later mythmaking. It is a major work from a brilliant young historian.