I have become afraid of Churchill biographies. In these
uncertain days well-to-do academics, elderly statesman, and
fresh-faced journalists write big books on Churchill. We read again
and again how Churchill was an anti-fascist Victorian who loved
grand pomp, hard work, and french fries.
How he was a happy man, though occasionally tormented by
depression. We read how he served in India, fought the Mahdi Army
in the Sudan, and saved Britain from the Nazis.
However, Amazon.com now counts over 27,666 books to do with
Winston Churchill. My friends, Churchill was great but enough is
enough.
Yes, I am afraid of Churchill biographies. Too often, after
seeing the newest Churchill book in Borders, I am reminded of a
comment I once heard at a dinner, uttered by a lady, who sitting
beside me, had been listening to a discussion on Churchill’s legacy
between two clever men. She interposed with this remark, spoken in
an important voice: “I think there can be no doubt that Churchill
was a remarkable man.”
She, too, is probably at work on a biography on Churchill. I am
full of fear.
And yet, I love reading about him. But the biographer has to be
someone who has led a truly adventurous and hardening life, only
then will the biography have zesty narration and surprising
perspectives on who Winston Churchill was. Among the “qualified”
biographers I put: Roy Jenkins, John Keegan, and Martin Gilbert.
Their biographies of the old “bull-dog” are first-rate. Indeed,
they are classics. Illustrative, complete and concise, they brim
with facts, succinctness and represent the best of
“Churchillmania.”
They show a Churchill genuinely absorbed in art and literature.
Who loved what was fine as well as what was different. And had,
too, a strong democratic and sporting side.
Churchill’s life is awe-inspiring. And it is fun to throw the
fist in the air, look whoever is the day’s enemy in the eye, and
say, “I won’t give in.”
He is part of our culture, but his accomplishments have been
repeated so many times, his face plastered on so many book-covers,
that it beggars disbelief. Churchill the Legend has morphed into
Churchill the Mundane Never-Ending Commercial.
Maybe the true reason behind all this is our rotten political
scene. We do not have politicians of comparable caliber, so we flee
to the bookstores, rushing to purchase anything that says, yes,
people this great do exist.
President George W. Bush does have Churchillian aspects.
Conviction notably, but even he admits that he does not possess
that most difficult of traits to master: oratory. And Winston
Churchill was, if anything, a great orator.
Still, this never-ending onslaught of Churchill, Churchill,
Churchill needs to stop. Desperation, boredom, I cannot put my
figure on it, but our obsession is not healthy. We need to rummage
around the centuries and find other great, almost contemporary,
people to deify. General Charles “Chinese” Gordon? Allen Dulles?
President Eisenhower? Maybe, dare I write, General MacArthur?
The pleasure-lovers, the idle, the rich gossiping do-nothings,
no doubt will continue working on more re-editions of “Winston
Churchill: A Life,” to my, and probably a great many other
people’s, terror. But there is hope: over time, chances can only go
up that there might emerge another.
Another Churchill, another tour de force-type politician, decent
and courageous enough, who can speak so brilliantly that finally,
finally, Churchillitis disappears from our collective bloodstream.
Not only will that be a good day but a highly unusual one.
