“CHURCHILL & SON” IN CONVERSATION

Watch our in-store Zoom conversation with British journalist Josh Ireland on the subject of his new book: CHURCHILL & SON, all about Winston Churchill and his son Randolph.

 

British journalist Josh Ireland has written the first book of its kind, really, examining Winston Churchill’s parenting. What kind of a parent was Winston Churchill? The answer, like so much about Churchill, is complex, at times contradictory and, in its nuances, alternately inspiring and exasperating. The ramifications of Randolph Churchill’s upbringing, for both father and son, to say nothing of Randolph’s mother, Clementine, and sisters, Diana, Sarah and Mary, were profound and enduring. Deep devotion and love underscored all, but the pressures of being Winston Churchill’s son, in the end, were just too much to bear.

It is a fascinating angle into Winston Churchill’s life, and a deeply humanizing one. A father’s absolute and unquestioning love for his  son can sometimes be a mixed blessing, particularly when the son is the brilliant, but wildly erratic, Randolph, and the father is Winston Churchill.