The Churchill Myths

Steven Fielding , Bill Schwarz, Richard Toye

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Hardback

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English

Oxford University Press
13 August 2020

History; Social & cultural history; Political leaders & leadership

This is not a book about Winston Churchill. It is not principally about his politics, nor his rhetorical imagination, nor even about the man himself. Instead, it addresses the varied afterlives of the man and the persistent, deeply located compulsion to bring him back from the dead, capturing and explaining the significance of the various Churchill myths to Britain's history and current politics.

The authors look at Churchill's portrayal in social memory. They demonstrate the ways in which politicians have often used the idea of Churchill as a means of self-validation - using him to show themselves as tough and honest players. They show the man dramatized in film and television - an onscreen persona that is often the product of a gratuitous mixing of fact and fantasy, one deliberately shaped to meet the preferences of the presumed audience. They discuss his legacy in light of the Brexit debate - showing how public figures on both sides of the Leave/Remain debate were able to use elements of Churchill's words and character to argue for their own point-of-view.

By: Steven Fielding , Bill Schwarz, Richard Toye
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 221mm, Width: 147mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 406g
ISBN: 9780198851967
ISBN 10: 0198851960
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 13 August 2020
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Steven Fielding is Professor of Political History at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of a number of books, including A State of Play: British Politics on Screen, Stage and Page, from Anthony Trollope to The Thick of It (2014), and is currently writing The Labour Party: from Callaghan to Corbyn. Bill Schwarz is Professor of Modern Literature and History at Queen Mary University of London. He is completing a three-volume study for OUP, Memories of Empire, the first volume of which received the Longman/History Today prize in 2013, and has been an editor of History Workshop Journal since 1989. Richard Toye is Professor of Modern British History at the University of Exeter. His books include Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness (2007), Churchill's Empire: The World That Made Him and the World He Made (2010), and The Roar of the Lion: The Untold Story of Churchill's World War II (2013). Winston Churchill: A Life in the News is forthcoming from OUP in 2020.

Reviews for The Churchill Myths

A good and impressive book ... Its attempt at de-mythologizing [Churchill] allows us to raise new questions. * Christian Egander Skov, Altinget * Churchill remains a complex and fascinating figure. This fresh study of Churchill's position in political and popular culture since 1940 provides a substantial reassessment of Churchill and his legend. Written by major historians it is both scholarly and accessible to a wide readership. * Chris Wrigley, emeritus professor, University of Nottingham * The Churchill Myths is a brilliantly provocative take-down of the Churchill industry. Fielding, Schwarz, and Toye show how and why British history has so often been crystalized into the story of one man. By taking a hammer to the legend, not Britain's wartime prime minister himself, they allow us to do the near impossible and see Churchill afresh. * Richard Aldous, Bard College, Author of Reagan and Thatcher: The Difficult Relationship * A fascinating book. * David Aaronovitch, journalist and columnist for The Times *