On 6 June 1944, D Day, Allied troops landed in France, opening the way to eventual history. In this controversial reappraisal of the course of World War II, John Grigg suggests that the Allied invasion could have been launched succesfully in 1943. Beginning with America's entry into the war, Grigg explores policy and grand military strategy, especially the Churchill-Roosevelt relationship. Most crucially he explores the politics of the decision to delay invasion until 1944 and its terrible repercussions.
John Grigg's four volume life of Lloyd George is one of the great political biographies. This, the final volume, opens with Lloyd George's succession to the Premiership in December 1916, when Britain faced starvation and defeat through the German U-boat campaign, its allies France, Russia and Italy were tottering, the Liberal Party was bitterly divided and unrest in Ireland was growing. Worst of all, military chiefs regarded themselves as at least the equals of the government. To resolve these crises required ruthlessness, political genius and leadership of the highest order. In this thrilling book we see one of Britain's most resourceful Prime Ministers in brilliant action, steering his country to victory. It is a tragedy John Grigg didn't live to complete his magnum opus but what exists is a masterpiece. Faber Finds is reissuing the four volumes: The Young Lloyd George , Lloyd George: The People's Champion 1902-1911 , Lloyd George: From Peace to War 1912-1916 , Lloyd George: War Leader 1916-1918 . 'With the volume, Grigg crowns the edifice of one of the great biographies of our time.' Anthony Howard - Sunday Times 'A fitting climax to a path-breaking study.' John Campbell, Independent, Books of the Year 'Superb... the fullest account we shall ever have of Lloyd George's career as a wartime Prime Minister. It is a fascinating story and is told with panache, vigour, clarity and impartiality by a great biographer... brings out as never before the brilliance of Lloyd George's finest hour.' Robert Blake, Evening Standard 'A major publishing event... Grigg mingles factual precision, high-interest value and judgements which are mostly as wise as they are forthright.' Roy Jenkins, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year 'Gripping... essential... This wonderful biography, clear and authoritative, every page a lesson in how to write narrative history, well up to its preceding volumes, recreates both a time of acute national danger and an extraordinary man.' Max Egremont, Financial Times
The second volume of John Grigg's biography of Lloyd George describes the most exciting and fruitful phase of his life before the outbreak of the First World War. It was during these years that Lloyd George developed from being the liveliest of Opposition back-benchers to the most dynamic and controversial member of the great Liberal government. But as well as the central political dramas there are many other sub-plots, including his conflict with the suffragettes - and his difficulties with the other women in his life. It is an extraordinarily vivid portrait of the outstanding figure of the age.
John Grigg's four volume life of Lloyd George is one of the great political biographies. Volume 2, The People's Champion 1902-1911, in the author's own words 'carries the story on to the zenith of his whole career before the Great War. By the end of 1911 he had already achieved far more than be claimed for most politicians in a lifetime. . . . The period covered here is one of intense controversy and acrimony, in which Lloyd George's speeches attacking the Conservative Party and its lordly backers are among the finest examples of polemical oratory in the English language.' The central drama is the constitutional conflict surrounding Lloyd George's 1909 Budget, the People's Budget, which was such a powerful tool of social reform. There is much more besides, not least vivid portrayals of his relations with Asquith and Winston Churchill. The latter, again in John Grigg's own words 'was Lloyd George's closest colleague in two ways: they worked together on major reforming projects, and both were men of genius. .. .They also enjoyed each other's company and had a strong affinity of temperament. ' This volume won the Whitbread Prize. It is a tragedy John Grigg didn't live to complete his magnum opus but what exists is a masterpiece. Faber Finds is reissuing the four volumes: The Young Lloyd George, Lloyd George: The People's Champion 1902-1911, Lloyd George: From Peace to War 1912-1916, Lloyd George: War Leader 1916-1918. 'A delight to read and a contribution to our political history of the greatest importance. Above all, it does justice to David Lloyd George, the greatest British statesman of the twentieth century.' A. J. P. Taylor, Observer 'John Grigg is a biographer who loves his subject and captures him with artistry - a pleasure to read. He has given us the most intimate and subtly drawn portrait we have ever had of this remarkable man.' Paul Addison, New Statesman 'The book succeeds admirably. Its proportions are exactly right, and it is written with a dynamism worthy of its subject.' Stephen Koss, Times Literary Supplement 'A masterly biography ... .. it is unlikely that it will be superseded.' Robert Blake, Sunday Times
John Grigg's four volume life of Lloyd George is one of the great political biographies. This, the final volume, opens with Lloyd George's succession to the Premiership in December 1916, when Britain faced starvation and defeat through the German U-boat campaign, its allies France, Russia and Italy were tottering, the Liberal Party was bitterly divided and unrest in Ireland was growing. Worst of all, military chiefs regarded themselves as at least the equals of the government. To resolve these crises required ruthlessness, political genius and leadership of the highest order. In this thrilling book we see one of Britain's most resourceful Prime Ministers in brilliant action, steering his country to victory.It is a tragedy John Grigg didn't live to complete his magnum opus but what exists is a masterpiece. Faber Finds is reissuing the four volumes: The Young Lloyd George, Lloyd George: The People's Champion 1902-1911, Lloyd George: From Peace to War 1912-1916, Lloyd George: War Leader 1916-1918.'With the volume, Grigg crowns the edifice of one of the great biographies of our time.'Anthony Howard - Sunday Times'A fitting climax to a path-breaking study.'John Campbell, Independent, Books of the Year'Superb... the fullest account we shall ever have of Lloyd George's career as a wartime Prime Minister. It is a fascinating story and is told with panache, vigour, clarity and impartiality by a great biographer... brings out as never before the brilliance of Lloyd George's finest hour.'Robert Blake, Evening Standard'A major publishing event... Grigg mingles factual precision, high-interest value and judgements which are mostly as wise as they are forthright.'Roy Jenkins, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the Year'Gripping... essential... This wonderful biography, clear and authoritative, every page a lesson in how to write narrative history, well up to its preceding volumes, recreates both a time of acute national danger and an extraordinary man.'Max Egremont, Financial Times
Writing, publishing, and marketing five politically engaged novels that appeared between 1899 and 1908, Sutton E. Griggs (1872-1933) was among the most prolific African American authors at the turn of the twentieth century. In contrast to his Northern contemporaries Paul Laurence Dunbar and Charles Chesnutt, Griggs, as W. E. B. Du Bois remarked, "spoke primarily to the Negro race," using his own Nashville-based publishing company to produce four of his novels. Griggs pastored Baptist churches in three Southern states and played a leading role in the influential but understudied National Baptist Convention. Until recently, little was known about the personal and professional life of this religious and community leader. Thus, critics could only contextualize his literary texts to a limited degree and were forced to speculate about how he published them. This literary biography, the first written about the author, draws extensively on primary sources and late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, local and national, African American and white. A very different Sutton Griggs emerges from these materials—a dynamic figure who devoted himself to literature for a longer period and to a more profound extent than has ever been previously imagined but also someone who frequently found himself embroiled in controversy because of what he said in his writings and the means he used to publish them. The book challenges currently held notions about the audience for, and the content, production, and dissemination of politically engaged US black fiction, altering the perception of the African American literature and print culture of the period.
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