Winston Churchill.

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by Iciclehead

Did Manchester ever finish the third volume? I have and have read the first two several times but never did find the third one.....

D.

Before he died, he instructed a colleague who he trusted to finish it. Not sure where things went from there. I certainly haven't seen a third volume on the shelves.

[Gretch]

I also read the first two volumes. I understood Manchester never finished the third. I would be delighted to be wrong.

[fred cook]

Churchill's book about the early years of WWII is also quite good. It presents much of the politics that went on in England at the time and mistakes/blunders made by his political peers. After WWI, Great Britian was supposed to destroy their heavy artillery and ammunition. Instead, Churchill arranged to have it hidden away, believing that it would be needed later!

[RKC]

The third volume is out. Manchester never finished it, but it was completed by his friend Paul Reid - the 3rd volume came out in October or November 2012.

Manchester wrote the first 100 pages or so (some of it was previously published in Finest Hour early this century). Those 100 pages are quite a bit better than the rest of the book, though it is still good. The intro is two part - the latter by Manchester. And again, it is stunning how much more engaging a writer he is than Reid. The second part of the intro is like changing gears - or even changing cars - from good prose to near poetry.

It's a tragedy almost on the level of Fitzgerald and The Last Tycoon that Manchester never finished it, but is worth the list price all the same: the first 100 pages aren't quite up to the first two volumes, but still very good. The rest is full of facts that most don't know.