Lessons abound in nearly every historical tale. Life stories, on the other hand, provide something more. Great biographies provide context, humanity, and believability to the tales of heroes.
The Last Lion series by William Manchester and Paul Reid have set the new gold standard for a biography. This series was pure magic. I loved it all. And, by exploring the humanity of a legendary warrior, Manchester and Reid made a legendary story seem organic and possible.
I learned about Victorian England and gained a view into the world that produced Winston Churchill - a man at odds with even his own time and space. That first volume explained so much about why particular qualities, faults, and various characteristics were so deeply rooted in the man. Yet, the series was clear in its contextual look at every way (negative as well as positive) that the Victorian Era sculpted his character.
And the roots of his character paint a varied picture of a complex man.
Winston Churchill was a very difficult man. He was often unkind, ungrateful, and downright mean to his help. He held too long to old ways and harbored at certain times outdated racial views even by the standards of his own time. He was an "Imperialist" to his detractors because he was an Imperialist in reality. The qualities that made him great when greatness was needed made him almost dangerous in times of tranquility.
But, a list of any labels deserving of scorn paints nothing complete. He was also kind, grateful, and generous. He loved animals. He cared deeply for the well-being of all people no matter religion, race or creed (yes, even outdated views bent to graciousness), and absolutely dripped with fortitude and courage. The beauty of a biography done well is that you can see that no person is what they may appear in a given time, place or quote. People evolve constantly in character and no one belief or preference defines an entire person.
History books tell tales of glory. Only a biography shows us the organic reality of history and the people who made it or starred therein. Winston Churchill became a person almost familiar to me through this series, and his story made all the comic-book-like tales of glory seem so real and possible.
As an example, few history books even address the issue of the propriety of bombing cities, but, in this series, I was given a look into the human story of such decisions. Was it brutal? Yes. Was the decision made with vengeance and malice? No. Was it an easy decision? No. Was the decision reached with pain and regret? Yes. The pain behind an order to bomb ruthlessly was so heavy, and Manchester showed the real conflict and humanity through the lens of very real danger and emergency. One part that sticks with me was when the authors described Churchill and his cabinet watching film of the aftermath of the Hamburg bombings. Churchill stopped the film, looked around the room, and asked "are we beasts?"
Superhero treatments in history books do not show the pain caused by such moments, or the agony of making decisions when survival is at stake. Manchester and Reid showed the humanity, and presented the full story of how one man became capable of shouldering it all. He cared about saving the Western world and the people of his nation, and about ending the war as fast as possible. Not all people will agree with his decisions, and disagreement is legitimate, but he made those decisions with valorous intent. Again, his fallible humanity made the story of World War II real.
No one is perfect, and we all succumb to the human condition in one way or another. Despite it all, it is nice to know that we can achieve greatness anyway.
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