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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
slow-paced
It's an ambitious task to write a biographical history at all, much less a dual biography of historical giants such as Winston Churchill and George Orwell.
Luckily, this book was excellent and included a thoughtful afterword, bringing both Churchill and Orwell's long shadow into our present day.
And what's best about it? This book is NOT a hagiography of either man. There's plenty of talk of each of their faults - their prejudices, their addictions, the way they neglected their families, their stubbornness, etc. Human stories are complex, and to gloss over faults and focus only on the things they accomplished and are "known for" is disingenuous.
I have read other biographies of both men, focusing on certain periods of their life (Churchill: [b:Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill|25241653|Hero of the Empire The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill|Candice Millard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471286323s/25241653.jpg|44961146] and Orwell: [b:Finding George Orwell in Burma|79793|Finding George Orwell in Burma|Emma Larkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388778989s/79793.jpg|2280]) and enjoyed the larger approach and alternating chapter focuses.
Luckily, this book was excellent and included a thoughtful afterword, bringing both Churchill and Orwell's long shadow into our present day.
And what's best about it? This book is NOT a hagiography of either man. There's plenty of talk of each of their faults - their prejudices, their addictions, the way they neglected their families, their stubbornness, etc. Human stories are complex, and to gloss over faults and focus only on the things they accomplished and are "known for" is disingenuous.
I have read other biographies of both men, focusing on certain periods of their life (Churchill: [b:Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill|25241653|Hero of the Empire The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill|Candice Millard|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1471286323s/25241653.jpg|44961146] and Orwell: [b:Finding George Orwell in Burma|79793|Finding George Orwell in Burma|Emma Larkin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388778989s/79793.jpg|2280]) and enjoyed the larger approach and alternating chapter focuses.
"Their efforts helped establish the political, physical and intellectual conditions that made [our] world possible...Churchill helped give us the liberty we enjoy now. Orwell's writing about liberty affects how we think about it now." - Thomas Hicks.
This book jointly sketches the lives of both Churchill and Orwell and describes how both defined how we see freedom and liberty today.
An insightful book, full of interesting observations about both men. Highly recommended.
This book jointly sketches the lives of both Churchill and Orwell and describes how both defined how we see freedom and liberty today.
An insightful book, full of interesting observations about both men. Highly recommended.
Although I'm not sure that all of this book gels together thematically, it has a lot of heart and is very worth reading.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
3.5 stars, really. An interesting choice for a dual biography, as they are two fairly unconnected individuals, but Ricks chose to connect them thematically, and does so fairly convincingly. With the thesis that Churchill and Orwell were two of the most important advocates for freedom, particularly against the totalitarian regimes of the 1930s & 40s, the author concentrates most of the book on those times and those themes, and leaves most of the rest of their lives fairly uninterrogated.
And while he defends his thesis well, the book ended up feeling a bit shallow to me because of its brevity and because the rest of Orwell and Churchill's lives unrelated to said thesis were left fairly untouched upon.
And while he defends his thesis well, the book ended up feeling a bit shallow to me because of its brevity and because the rest of Orwell and Churchill's lives unrelated to said thesis were left fairly untouched upon.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced