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Churchill The Young Warrior: How He Helped Win the First World War Hardcover – Illustrated, 22 Aug. 2017

3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

This is the intriguing chronicle of Winston Churchill’s early years as a young soldier fighting in several different types of wars—on horseback in the cavalry at Khartoum, with saber and lance against the Dervishes at age twenty-two, in the South African war against the Boers, and finally in the First World War after he resigned as First Lord of the Admiralty, to volunteer to lead a Scottish brigade in the trenches of the Western Front, as Lieutenant-Colonel. The book also covers the failure, bloodshed, and disgrace of Gallipoli that was blamed on him, which could have led to his downfall, as well as the formative relationships he had with the two important women in his young life — his mother, Jennie, who was an eighteen-year-old woman when she married an English aristocrat, and Churchill’s young wife, Clementine. How did the events of his early life shape his subsequent life and career, making him the leader he would become? What is the mystery behind how World War I erupted, and what role did Churchill play to end it?

Most readers are aware of Churchill’s leadership in World War Two, but are unaware of his contributions and experiences in World War One. Through engaging narrative non-fiction, this book paints a startlingly different picture of Winston Churchill — not the portly, conservative politician who led the UK during World War II, but rather the capable young man in his 20s and 30s, who thought of himself as a soldier saving Britain from defeat. Gaining experience in battle and developing a killer instinct and a mature worldview would serve him well as the leader of the free world.
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Review

“In his extensively researched biography of the early years of Winston Churchill, author John Harte examines a whirlwind of political instability that swept through Europe. He presents little-known insight into Churchill’s role as both a government official and a front-line soldier during the First World War.” —Stephen L. Moore, author of As Good as Dead

“Equally informative and entertaining,
Churchill the Young Warrior covers the formative period of one of the most formidable and influential figures of the twentieth century. In stylish prose and with a perceptive eye for color, detail, and context, Mr. Harte follows Churchill the soldier, journalist, and politician, highlighting his adventures in India, the Sudan, and South Africa, his early years in Parliament, his service as First Lord of the British Admiralty (1911–15), and his subsequent posting to France as an officer of fusiliers. The author parallels Churchill’s public career and private life with a trenchant analysis of the political, military, diplomatic, economic, social, and cultural climate that simultaneously invigorated and roiled Europe during the three decades leading up to the Great War.” —Edward Longacre, author of General Ulysses S. Grant, the Soldier and the Man

“An entertaining new look at one of history’s most fascinating characters . . . Harte’s perspective on the great man adds considerably to the Churchill legend.” —Philip Kaplan, author of
Grey Wolves: The U-Boat War 1939–1945

About the Author

John Harte served in the RAF in the Second World War. He later became an investigative journalist on post-war Fascism. Before retiring from a business career to write books, he was a Managing Director of several companies. He is the author of How Churchill Saved Civilization (Skyhorse). He lives in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada).

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1510717021
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse Publishing; Illustrated edition (22 Aug. 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 364 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781510717022
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1510717022
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.79 x 22.86 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

About the author

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John Harte
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John Harte has led a varied and busy life in a number of different careers and countries, as a child prodigy who consumed over two thousand books in his father’s library from the age of eight, including English, French, and Russian classics. He was an artist attending weekly life classes at Kingston-on-Thames Art school at the age of thirteen, during his final year at St. Paul’s School in England. The aim of his art master was to compile a portfolio of his line drawings for a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art in Oxford. Those plans were unexpectedly challenged by the imminence of World War 2 and an expected invasion by German troops who had already overrun Europe. He accepted his first job offer to design and paint scenery for the theatre. It introduced him also to acting, at which he had been successful in school. After an audition at the Henley Playhouse, he was appointed as their leading man at the age of fourteen. He was hired by H. M. Tennant, soon after, to understudy John Gielgud in Love for Love at London’s Haymarket Theatre when he was only fifteen.

Harte subsequently played some two hundred leading roles all over Britain, several at the Moss and Stoll theatre circuit with seating capacities of 3,000, and in provincial weekly repertory companies, with special weeks in and around London’s smaller try-out theatres.

Four of his own plays were produced, including a dramatization of a P. G. Wodehouse comic short story which he called Don’t Lose Your Head, and his dramatization of D, H. Lawrence’s most controversial novel. He chose to call it Lady Chatterley, because it was about a woman who wanted to take charge of her mind and body in a society dominated by men. His was the only “official version” championed by the feminist Frieda Lawrence, and performed to packed houses for a run at the Arts Theatre in 1961. It was only prevented from being transferred to Wyndham’s Theatre, as planned and licensed by the Lord Chamberlain’s office, by the famous trial against Penguin Books for publishing an unexpurgated version of the novel. The failure of the prosecution at the Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey, changed Britain’s more formal and polite society into the so-called “permissive society.”

When theatres closed all over the British Isles with the establishment of television, Harte switched careers to business management, commencing as a management trainee in the paper industry in London. He soon became a company director. He made another successful career in the advertising industry overseas with J. Walter Thompson (WPI). And, by 1970, his varied skills and wealth of experience resulted in his appointment, first, as a director of the leading modern art gallery in Johannesburg, then as adviser to twenty-eight Presidents of companies acquired by the biggest textile conglomerate in South Africa. He became Managing Director of one of their upmarket companies in Durban. He was also Marketing Vice-President of GE when they were the leading global brand. About a decade or more later, after settling in Canada, he was elected Director General of the Canadian Institute of Marketing. Having now retired from a business career, he writes books on subjects he found challenging to master in his rich and varied career.

"The Greatest Spy" (published in 2022) is a glance back to a moment in postwar Britain when, as an undercover investigative journalist, he discovered a clandestine plot by Sir Oswald Mosley’s Fascist Party to take over Britain, and brought it to the attention of Parliament and the newspapers, which ended Mosley’s political career. He found spies almost everywhere since then – or they found him. Now he prefers to write about them in seclusion in the quiet government city of Ottawa in Canada, close to the border with New York.

Author's website: www.johnhartebooks.com

Recently published books: "The Race for the Atom Bomb" (June 2023): How Soviet Russia stole the plans of America's first atomic bomb from the Manhattan Project in New Mexico. Published by Pen and Sword in the UK. "The Passionate Spies" was published in the USA in 2022: How Gertrude Bell, St. John Philby, and Lawrence of Arabia ignited the Arab Revolt, and how Saudi Arabia was founded.

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3.8 out of 5 stars
25 global ratings

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Top reviews from other countries

  • Study JRS
    5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive… most impressive
    Reviewed in the United States on 24 November 2022
    Good gosh this is well-written and insightful to many things historical and anthropological to its subject matter.
  • Shivam
    5.0 out of 5 stars A good one though. Decent book, less facts which is a good thing.
    Reviewed in India on 3 December 2022
    I use it for enriching knowledge about Indian history.
  • Amazon Customer
    1.0 out of 5 stars Old book passed as New
    Reviewed in India on 13 March 2023
    It is an old, yellow paged book. Smells too. Passed off as a new product. Disgusting!!!
  • Kindle Customer
    3.0 out of 5 stars Great in some places
    Reviewed in the United States on 28 September 2017
    See my Goodreads review. Great in some places, poor in other places.
  • Chris Sterling
    2.0 out of 5 stars Offers nothing special . . .
    Reviewed in the United States on 22 February 2018
    The author is writing a multi-volume biography of Churchill's long life (1874-1965), of which two have appeared as this is written. While perfectly readable, there is nothing new or special here and there are oodles of other biography options in one volume that will provide as much information, often from authors with years of experience in the huge Churchill archive. So do look elsewhere.