"In England There Was Such a Man"

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

by William Manchester

Narrated by Richard Brown

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.