Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes

This critical biography of Winston Churchill is ＂a powerful corrective＂ as it shines a light on the real history and war crimes of ’Britain’s greatest leader’ (Independent).

The subject of numerous biographies and history books, Winston Churchill has been repeatedly voted as one of the greatest of Englishmen. The wartime leader has become a household god for many, preserving an antiquated vision of Britain still shared by all 3 parties. Yet, was he anything more than a plump carp happy to swim in the foulest of ponds to defend the Empire?

In this coruscating biography, Tariq Ali challenges Churchill’s vaulted record. Churchill himself never bothered to conceal his passionate defense of the British Empire or its attendant racism. On a more personal level, his complacent self-belief influenced his every step and frequently tripped him up. As the head of the British Navy during WWI, he was responsible for a series of calamitous errors that cost thousands of lives. His attempt to crush the Irish nationalists left wounds that have yet to heal. His attacks on striking workers in Glasgow and Tonypandy, his posturing when calling in the army to burn two anarchists in London’s East End, his vicious propaganda during the General Strike were not forgotten or forgiven.

During the war against Germany, the most revered period of his career, Churchill’s crimes abroad continued, including the brutal assault on the Greek Resistance, the Bengal Famine that cost over 3 million Indian lives, the all-out assault on civilians in Dresden and Hamburg, and the insistence on the use of nuclear weapons in Japan. Even as the Empire was starting to crumble, Churchill never questioned his imperial philosophy as he became one of the architects of the postwar world we live in today. His is a terrible record, amply documented in Tariq Ali’s indictment.

Tariq Ali has written more than two-dozen books on world history and politics--the most recent of which are The Extreme Centre, The Dilemmas of Lenin and The Forty-Year War in Afghanistan--as well as the novels of his Islam Quintet and scripts for the stage and screen. He is a long-standing member of the Editorial Committee of New Left Review and lives in London.