The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume II: Alone, 1932-1940: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume II: Alone, 1932-1940

By: William Manchester

Narrated by: Richard Brown

Length: 36 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

This second volume in William Manchester's three-volume biography of Winston Churchill challenges the assumption that Churchill's finest hour was as a wartime leader. During the years 1932-1940, he was tested as few men are. Pursued by creditors (at one point he had to put up his home for sale), he remained solvent only by writing an extraordinary number of books and magazine articles. He was disowned by his own party, and dismissed by the BBC, Fleet Street, and the social and political establishments as a warmonger, and twice nearly lost his seat in Parliament. Churchill stood almost alone against Nazi aggression and the pusillanimous British and French policy of appeasement.

Manchester tracks with new insights this complex, fascinating history, without ever losing sight of Churchill the man - a man whose vision was global and whose courage was boundless.

©1988 William Manchester (P)1990 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Manchester is not only a master of detail but also of 'the big picture'....I daresay most Americans reading The Last Lion will relish it immensely." ( National Review)
"[Manchester] can claim the considerable achievement of having assembled enough powerful evidence to support Isaiah Berlin's judgment of Churchill as the largest human being of our time." (Alistair Cooke)

An outstanding book. History lovers book.

This is my third time listening to this trilogy and I learn something every time. These are outstanding books.

My favorite of the series!

I have listened to this several times while working on my dissertation. I was surprised by how many listeners disliked the reader. Richard Brown has a crisp, cool, quintessentially British timbre for the narrative and a decent WSC accent whenever called for. His delivery of certain cynicisms by the author and Churchill quotations made me burst out laughing at times while still staying engaged in the somber tones in the book. The prose is excellent, and the build to WSC's rise to power is superb. I cannot recommend this one enough!

On his own, he warned the nation of Hitler!

I liked this book even more so than the first! This is the story of Winston Churchill outcast and on his own. Most people would quit politics and find something else to do, but not Churchill.
He certainly wasn't a perfect person. He was a notoriously bad boss, treated everyone that worked or him as servants but they still loved him. He was a chauvinist pig but he also was in awe of women. He was a man of his generation and did not trust blacks but did champion Jews. He had such a superior attitude that if he encountered a traffic jam, he would drive on the sidewalks to get past it.
With all that said, he was one of the only men to see the threat of Hitler and kept speaking his mind even when constantly booed and accused of warmongering. Knowing what we do now, the reader can't help but wonder what was His Majesty's government thinking with appeasement? Again and again they gave in to Hitler's demands and more countries disappeared into the German Reich. According to this book it was the fear of Communism and the fact that a lot of people in the British government liked what Hitler was doing in his country. Anti-Semitism was the norm in Europe and only after the war when they realized what Hitler had done with the Jewish people did they realize it could go to far.

This book takes Churchill to his being asked to form a government in 1940 by the King. It was a long listen but so interesting the time went by quickly. The narration by Richard Brown was well done and added to the book.

In England There Was Such a Man

This is William Manchester’s masterpiece. Like Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel, or Mozart composing the Requiem, the theme elevates and inspires the artist to express himself in ways only a great virtuoso possibly can. Manchester’s subject is Winston Churchill at the height of his powers, displaying, for good, his grand stand against the forces of evil. And he is standing alone, abandoned by his party as a gadfly excluded from the halls of power that might have forearmed the world against the evil Axis, Churchill is relegated to forewarning England of the impending doom even as his contemporaries are rushing headlong into the breach of disaster. This is the stuff of legend. This book shines with the indomitable spirit of the human will you wish every man possessed. But, gladly, one man did possess such a will at precisely the time in history when it was most sorely needed.

The narration by Richard Brown is adequate. Sadly, it is not up to the class of Frederick Davidson in the first volume in this series and so the change in narrator takes a little getting used to. But the book by Manchester is so grand that the narration is not a distraction. The book transcends the voice, making this volume the best of the three.

The Insider View of Winston pre-WWII

Would you consider the audio edition of The Last Lion to be better than the print version?

The audio version is good but sometimes hard to follow the different characters. Had to go back several times and re-listen to material to ensure I had understood the context correctly.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Winston was by far the most mesmerizing character as his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities set the stage for an interesting read and allow the reader into the mind of a brilliant man.

What three words best describe Richard Brown’s voice?

Richard Brown's voice is good but can be distracting at times when he mimics the voice of Winston Churchill.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were some real insights into the attitudes of the British population towards the potential of another war. This dynamic set the stage for some poor decision making by the Prime Minister and ultimately cost lives unnecessarily.

It was his destiny

I didn't realize how much Winston Churchill was despised before the start of the World War 2 but he was a man of destiny he was the right person at the right time to answer the needs of the Western world in combating the Nazi menace

Winston Churchill was one of few; a god among men

this book tells the story of his struggle like nothing else. It covers the time period leading up to and including the first part of "darkest hour," but in much more detail than can be described.

Must read for Churchill, WWII buffs.

This is part two of a three part biography. All three volumes are outstanding and should be read/listened to completely (although if your interest is primarily in WWII and not the man, you could skip the first volume.) It is the definitive biography of Churchill and brilliantly written. I have read, and listened to, all three volumes and recommend them without reservation.

Churchill’s Quites Read Distractingly

The reader is an excellent narrator and should have stuck to his regular voice when reading Churchill’s quotes. But instead he chose to read Churchill mechanically periodically emphasizing random words. It was distracting.

Excruciatingly drawn out to great effect

I’m new to this history, but of course I know who wins the war. So seeing all the details leading up to it makes you want to pull your hair out observing how much it took for the English to properly address the threat ahead of them. I spent the first book really disliking Churchill, and now I don’t know when I started rooting for him