SOURCE: “Churchillian Volumes,” in The Nation, Vol. 219, September 21, 1974, pp. 250-52.

In the following review, Foreman reassesses Churchill's career in the context of two volumes of his collected works and speeches.

Churchill's luster has dimmed since his death nine years ago. Studies have altered the image of a steel-ribbed war-time savior, cigar protruding from a bulldog face below the uplifted V fingers. Biographers emphasize his dictatorial attitude, his impulsiveness and instability, his arrogant pursuit of glory and his florid style. The hero of 1940 is extinct in the Watergate era.

Churchill was born 100 years ago, and another century might elapse before an adequate historical perspective is gleaned from what actually is a vast spectrum of qualities. But his centenary offers an excuse for a renewed study of the man with a view toward a provisional verdict.

Plenty of material is at hand for the undertaking. Critical biographies by Robert Payne...