Winston Churchill: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works by Christopher Catherwood provides a good brief introduction to its subject with 115 entries that range in length from one to four pages. The entries include prime ministers and British politicians (Lloyd-George, Chamberlain, Asquith), foreign leaders (Eisenhower, Roosevelt, Stalin), general and admirals (Brooke, Montgomery, Pound), friends and family, conferences (Tehran, Yalta), Churchill’s books (Marlborough: His Life and Times, My Early Life, Painting as a Pastime), ministerial offices held (Chancellor of the Exchequer, Minister of Defence), issues and controversies, and speeches. The entries are supported by a chronology, select bibliography, a short index, and photographs.
The usefulness of the volume is limited, however, by its including of some topics and events over others. As it has limited space and is intended as an introductory guide – rather than a comprehensive encyclopedia – it is easy to quibble about the selection of the entries, but the guide most certainly should have had an entry for Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome. Likewise, there are no entries for the Iron Curtain speech, Potsdam conference, nuclear weapons, or Harry Truman.
Published by Rowman & Littlefield, the guide is part of the Significant Figures in World History series. Dr. Catherwood is the author of Churchill’s Folly, Churchill and Tito, and Churchill: The Greatest Briton.