Winston's War: Churchill, 1940-1945

Churchill got many little things wrong, but he was right, crucially so, on major points of Allied strategy. When the Americans joined the war, they were hot to invade France. Churchill dissuaded Roosevelt from mounting what, in 1942 or 1943, would have been a suicide mission, and redirected Allied attention to North Africa and Italy. The Mediterranean campaign bore mixed results, but Churchill's instincts were correct. There is a poignant ambiguity about Hastings's title; after 1943, the conflict was anything but Winston's war. For a time, Churchill alone had embodied the West's hopes; but as the war turned in the Allies' favor, he was shunted aside. Roosevelt ignored his advice, and, to Churchill's horror, signed off on Stalin's subjugation of Eastern Europe. In these last years, we see a much diminished war leader. Churchill deserves our admiration; first, however, as Hastings wisely insists, "history must take Churchill as a whole. --