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Finest Years
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
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Finest Years
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Summary
Preeminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before. Winston Churchill was the greatest war leader Britain ever had. In 1940, the nation rallied behind him in an extraordinary fashion. But thereafter, argues Max Hastings, there was a deep divide between what Churchill wanted from the British people and their army, and what they were capable of delivering.
Himself a hero, he expected others to show themselves heroes also, and was often disappointed. It is little understood how low his popularity fell in 1942, amid an unbroken succession of battlefield defeats. Some of his closest colleagues joined a clamour for him to abandon his role directing the war machine.
Hastings paints a wonderfully vivid image of the Prime Minister in triumph and tragedy. He describes the ‘second Dunkirk’, in 1940, when Churchill’s impulsiveness threatened to lose Britain almost as many troops in north-west France as had been saved from the beaches; his wooing of the Americans, and struggles with the Russians. British wartime unity was increasingly tarnished by workers’ unrest, with many strikes in mines and key industries.
By looking at Churchill from the outside in, through the eyes of British soldiers, civilians and newspapers - and also those of Russians and Americans - Hastings provides new perspectives on the greatest Englishman. He condemns as folly Churchill’s attempt to promote mass uprisings in occupied Europe, and details ‘Unthinkable’ - his amazing 1945 plan for an Allied offensive against the Russians to liberate Poland. Here is an intimate and affectionate portrait of Churchill as Britain’s saviour, but also an unsparing examination of the wartime nation which he led and the performance of its armed forces.
Max Hastings studied at Charterhouse and Oxford and became a foreign correspondent, reporting from more than 60 countries and 11 wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard. He has won many awards for his journalism. Among his best-selling books, Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize. After 10 years as editor and then editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard, in 1996. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was knighted in 2002.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- T. J. Gluckman
- 07-01-23
Max Hastings' magnum opus?
I haven't read / heard all of Max Hastings' books by any means but v likely this must one of his very best:
a) the subject is one of permanent relevance to British ppl given Churchill's mega-iconic status;
b) therefore MH poured all of his considerable energies into this book (publ. 2009), and only came to it after writing eight other books solely about WW2, and others where in which it had been thematised;
c) he has the advantage over other historians of knowing many of the WW2 participants he wrote about;
d) as a result of c), his book has the quality of 'felt thought' (T S Eliot);
e) unlike the much vaunted work of Prof. Ian Kershaw, MH uses a wide range of contemporary sources;
f) it is extremely differentiated e.g. re UK generals, and fair in its assessments;
Well I could extend the list but those points together make this a formidable work
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- meanie
- 06-01-24
great listen.
A really good , interesting book. possibly a little long for some though if one has an interest in WW2 well worth a listen. I thoroughly enjoyed.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Garsham Robertson
- 28-08-22
Truly excellent
Fantastic book. I'm not a fan of Max Hastings but this is excellent and very well narrated
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Phil A.
- 28-06-20
Completely compelling.
A true tour de force by Hastings. Many hours of engaging narrative about probably the greatest Briton of all time simply flew by. Outstanding narration too.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Terry clark
- 01-06-22
long, but great.
This is a long listen, but it's worth it in my opinion. Full of little insights that I haven't heard or read before.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Kindle Customer 007
- 02-05-22
A great English man.
He was delivered to this Country for one purpose, he did not fail us.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- M. R. Kemp
- 15-12-21
Another view of the complicated Great Man
This is a brilliant depiction of the flawed but great Winston Churchill. A complex and flawed man, yet one of the greatest people ever to have lived, thrust into the right place at the right time.
It is balanced yet biased and should be read as such. But it’s brilliant and enthralling and worth enjoying.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Alan Smart
- 24-08-20
Splendid read
Exposes most of Churchill's faults, yet totally ignores the Bengal famine. Oddly positive conclusion, as the narrative exposes so much ineptitude and vanity.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- E P
- 13-07-20
Churchill the flawed hero
Hastings Churchill is a flawed hero, but an hero nonetheless. Here we share his mistakes as well as his victories. Among the details of this absorbing book is the best and most concise explanation on why Churchill lost the 1945 General Election
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- J
- 13-11-14
Superbly written and delivered
If you could sum up Finest Years in three words, what would they be?
Thorough, compelling, entertaining
Who was your favorite character and why?
Churchill, with his big heart and indefatigable energy, dominates this book. A flawed leader, maybe, but a giant among his peers. He never went to University and took three attempts to pass the Sandhurst entrance examination and yet he put his well educated colleagues in the shade when it came to vision and strategy. What if Churchill had died during his reckless Boer War escapades or his experimental flights in pre WW1 planes? This book reminds us of the debt we owe to WSC.
Have you listened to any of Barnaby Edwards’s other performances? How does this one compare?
This is my first Barnaby Edwards performance and the narration is absolutely superb. His impersonations of the various characters are perfect and, for a moment, you think you are listening to Churchill himself.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
In a world gone mad with hatred, oppression and disregard for human life, Churchill stood out as a man of compassion. His heart for his enemies was remarkable.
Any additional comments?
This book is superbly written and expertly narrated. Production of the narration is as good as I've heard and Barnaby Edwards' theatrical ability makes the book a compelling read. Profoundly disappointed to have finished it - must look now for another Hastings / Edwards combination.
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12 people found this helpful