An engaging and original account of 1921, a pivotal year for Winston Churchill that had a lasting impact on his political and personal legacy
After the tragic consequences of his involvement in the catastrophic Dardanelles Campaign of World War I, Churchill’s political career seemed over. He was widely regarded as little more than a bombastic and unpredictable buccaneer until, in 1921, an unexpected inheritance heralded a series of events that laid the foundations for his future success.
Renowned Churchill scholar David Stafford delves into the statesman’s life in 1921, the year in which his political career revived. From his political negotiations in the Anglo-Irish treaty that created the Irish Free State, to his tumultuous relationship with his “wild cousin” Clare Sheridan, sculptor of Lenin and subject of an MI5 investigation, this broad account explores the nuances of both Churchill’s private and public lives. This is an engaging portrait of this overlooked yet pivotal year in the great man’s life.
David Stafford is the former project director at the Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars at the University of Edinburgh and is now adjunct professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He is a renowned expert on Churchill, and his previous publications include Churchill and Secret Service, Roosevelt and Churchill, Endgame 1945, and an official history, Mission Accomplished: SOE and Italy 1943–1945.
Gerard Doyle, a seasoned audio narrator, he has been awarded dozens of AudioFile Earphones Awards, was named a Best Voice in Young Adult Fiction in 2008, and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He was born of Irish parents and raised and educated in England. In Great Britain he has enjoyed an extensive career in both television and repertory theater and toured nationally and internationally with the English Shakespeare Company. He has appeared in London’s West End in the gritty musical The Hired Man. In America he has appeared on Broadway in The Weir and on television in New York Undercover and Law & Order. He has taught drama at Ross School for the several years.