Hero of the Empire is the story of a young Winston Churchill and how he became Sir Winston Churchill. Son of Lord Randolph Churchill, Winston fought on many battlefields and worked in remote British colonies. But the hardships did not deter this young man and he returned again and again.
Candice Millard’s first book, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, was a New York Times bestseller and was named one of the best books of the year by various news publications. Millard’s second book, Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine & the Murder of a President, rose to number five on The New York Times bestseller list.
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill
Author: Candice Millard
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (September 20, 2016)
ISBN: 0385535732, 978-0385535731
Hero of the Empire Summary
There is a lot written about Winston Churchill the Prime Minister and leader who saved the world from Nazi domination. Hero of the Empire is about Winston Churchill, the young and ambitious soldier in the British Empire’s army.
Winston Churchill has always aimed for greatness. From the day he joined the Pashtun war in British India, he had been telling his colleagues about how he aims to become a politician and the country’s Prime Minister one day. But his exploits in India and Sudan didn’t get him the attention that he waned, despite his heroic acts.
Then in 1899, while on his way to cover the Boer war as a journalist in South Africa, their convoy was ambushed and all captured – except Winston Churchill. The brave young man survived on just four bars of chocolate and found his way back to safety and England. But this experience didn’t dissuade him. He enlisted in the army and came back to the Boer war to rescue his captured mates.
Hero of the Empire tells you this story in great detail and with letters that he wrote during various wars to his mother. The book also give you the account of his meetings with leaders like Mohandas Gandhi and literary great like Rudyard Kipling.
The book is a truly fresh look at life of young Winston Churchill, narrated in a fast paced and interesting prose.
Hero of the Empire Audience Reviews
The book has almost perfect ratings with nearly seventy percent giving it a near perfect score. Most of the reviewers have been familiar with Candice Millard’s style and like the gripping tone of the book that narrates the Boer war in detail. Reviewers attest that the book is a great read for someone who hasn’t read a lot about Churchill before and also for those who have read other book on Churchill. For them the book is an opportunity to read more about his role in the Boer war.
Hero of the Empire Critics Reviews
Critics too have appreciated Millard’s take on this slice of Winston Churchill’s life.
“Millard’s book tells of just one episode in his life. Churchill himself has recounted it, and so have other participants, but it makes a gripping story, and this version casts an interestingly oblique light on Churchill’s personality, and on a traumatic war.”
~ Lucy Hughes Hallett, The Guardian
Ms Millard’s acount of Churchill is Cinaematic and dramatic. The narrative gets too detailed at times, but the rest of the book is as engaging as a popcorn thriller, says Jennifer Senior, New Yort Times