Gilbert, Martin 1936–

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Gilbert, Martin 1936–

(Martin John Gilbert)

PERSONAL:

Born October 25, 1936, in London, England; son of Peter (a manufacturing jeweler) and Miriam Gilbert; married Helen Robinson (a potter), July 29, 1963 (marriage ended); married Susie Sacher (a historian), June 12, 1974; children: (first marriage) Natalie; (second marriage) two sons. Education: Magdalen College, Oxford, B.A. (first class honors), 1960; St. Anthony's College, Oxford, graduate research, 1960; Merton College, Oxford, M.A., 1964. Politics: "Skeptic."

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Office—Merton College, Oxford OX1 4JD, England.

CAREER:

Merton College, Oxford, England, fellow and member of governing body, 1962-94, honorary fellow, 1994—. Official biographer of the late Sir Winston Churchill, 1968-88; research assistant to Randolph S. Churchill on official life of Winston Churchill, 1962-67; visiting professor at University of South Carolina, Columbia, 1965, University of Tel Aviv, 1979-80, and University of Jerusalem, 1980; Hebrew University of Jerusalem, governor, 1980—; Hillsdale College, lecturer and fellow; U.N. Commission on Human Rights, 43rd Session, Geneva, Switzerland, nongovernmental representative, 1987; visiting lecturer at universities in the United States, South Africa, and the Soviet Union; consultant on modern history to newspapers and television; appearances on television, including A Painful Reminder: Evidence for All Mankind, 1985; (as presenter) The Complete Churchill (miniseries), 1991; (as host) Israel: Birth of a Nation, 1996; (as himself) The Churchills (miniseries), 1996; Obsessions: Radical Islam's War against the West, 2005; and (as himself) "The Life and Times of Winston Churchill," episode of War Stories with Oliver North, 2007. Military service: British Army, student at Joint Service School for Linguists, 1955-57.

MEMBER:

Royal Society of Literature (fellow), Athenaeum Club.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Academy Award for best documentary film, 1981, for Genocide; D.Litt., Westminster College, Fulton, MO, 1981; knighted, 1995.

WRITINGS:

(With Richard Gott) The Appeasers, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1963, 2nd edition, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1967.

The European Powers, 1900-1945, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1965, New American Library (New York, NY), 1966.

Recent History Atlas, 1870 to the Present Day, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1966, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1968, 3rd edition published as Recent History Atlas, 1860-1960, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1977.

The Roots of Appeasement, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1966, New American Library (New York, NY), 1967.

Winston Churchill (Clarendon biography for grades 6-9), Oxford University Press (London, England), 1966, Dial (New York, NY), 1967, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press (London, England), 1970.

British History Atlas, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1968, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1969, 3rd edition published as The Routledge Atlas of British History, Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

American History Atlas, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1968, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1969, revised edition, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1985, 4th edition published as The Routledge Atlas of American History, Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

Jewish History Atlas, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1969, 6th edition published as The Routledge Atlas of Jewish History, Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

Atlas of World War I, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1970, published as First World War Atlas, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1970, reprinted as First World War History Atlas, 1971.

The Second World War, Chatto & Windus (London, England), 1970.

Winston S. Churchill (official biography; also see below), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), Volume 3 (with Randolph S. Churchill): The Challenge of War, 1914-1916, 1971, Volume 4: The Stricken World, 1917-1922, 1974, Volume 5: The Prophet of Truth, 1923-1939, 1976, Volume 6: Finest Hour, 1939-1941, 1983, Volume 7: Road to Victory, 1941-1945, 1986, Volume 8: Never Despair, 1945-1965, 1988.

Russian History Atlas, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1972, published as Imperial Russian History Atlas, Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, England), 1978.

Sir Horace Rumbold: Portrait of a Diplomat, 1869-1941, Heinemann (London, England), 1973.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Its History in Maps, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1974, 4th edition, 1984, published as Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1975, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1993.

Churchill: A Photographic Portrait, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1974.

The Jews of Russia: Their History in Maps and Photographs, National Council for Soviet Jewry of the United Kingdom and Ireland, 1976.

The Jews of Arab Lands: Their History in Maps, World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries/Board of Deputies of British Jews, 1976.

Jerusalem History Atlas, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1977, published in England as Jerusalem Illustrated History Atlas, Board of Deputies of British Jews, 1979.

Exile and Return: The Struggle for a Jewish Homeland, Lippincott (Philadelphia, PA), 1978, published as Exile and Return: The Emergence of Jewish Statehood, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1978.

The Holocaust: A Record of the Destruction of Jewish Life in Europe during the Dark Years of Nazi Rule, Board of Directors of British Jews, 1978, Hill & Wang (New York, NY), 1979.

Final Journey: The Fate of the Jews in Nazi Europe, Allen & Unwin (London, England), 1978, Mayflower (New York, NY), 1979.

The Children's Illustrated Bible Atlas, W.H. Allen (London, England), 1979.

Soviet History Atlas, Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, England), 1979.

Churchill, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1980.

Auschwitz and the Allies, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1981.

Churchill's Political Philosophy, Oxford University Press (London, England), 1981.

The Macmillan Atlas of the Holocaust, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1982, published as Atlas of the Holocaust, M. Joseph (London, England), 1982.

Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1982.

The Jews of Hope, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1984, Viking (New York, NY), 1985.

Jerusalem: Rebirth of a City, Viking (New York, NY), 1985.

The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy, Collins (London, England), 1986.

The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1986.

Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time, Viking (New York, NY), 1986.

The Second World War: A Complete History, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1989.

Atlas of Russian History, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1993.

The Dent Atlas of American History, J.M. Dent (London, England), 1993.

The Dent Atlas of Jewish History, J.M. Dent (London, England), 1993.

Jerusalem: Past and Future, Institute of the World Jewish Congress (Jerusalem, Israel), 1994.

The First World War: A Complete History, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1994.

The Day the War Ended: May 18, 1945—Victory in Europe, H. Holt (New York, NY), 1995.

In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey, Wiley (New York, NY), 1996.

Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century, Wiley (New York, NY), 1996.

The Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 1997.

A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I: 1900-1933, Morrow (New York, NY), 1997.

Holocaust Journey: Traveling in Search of the Past, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Israel: A History, Morrow (New York, NY), 1998.

A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II: 1933-1951, Morrow (New York, NY), 1999.

A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III: 1951-1999, Morrow (New York, NY), 2000.

Never Again: A History of the Holocaust, Universe (New York, NY), 2000.

The Jews in the Twentieth Century, Schocken Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5000-year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith, Schocken Books (New York, NY), 2002.

The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Allen Packwood and Daun van Ee) Churchill and the Great Republic, Library of Congress (Washing-ton, DC), 2004.

Continue to Pester, Nag, and Bite: Churchill's War Leadership, Vintage Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2004, published as Winston Churchill's War Leadership, Vintage Books (New York, NY), 2004.

D-Day, J. Wiley & Sons (Hoboken, NJ), 2004.

Churchill and America, Free Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2006.

Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2007.

EDITOR

Britain and Germany Between the Wars, Longmans, Green (Harlow, England), 1964, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 1966.

Plough My Own Furrow: The Life of Lord Allen of Hurtwood, Longmans, Green (Harlow, England), 1965.

Sir James Robert Dunlop Smith, Servants of India: A Study of Imperial Rule From 1905 to 1910 (as told through Smith's correspondence and diaries), Longmans, Green (Harlow, England), 1966.

A Century of Conflict, 1850-1950: Essays for A.J.P. Taylor, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1966, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1967.

Churchill ("Great Lives" series), Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1967.

Lloyd George, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1968.

(With R.S. Churchill) Winston S. Churchill: Companion Volume 2 (companion volume to R.S. Churchill's Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman, 1901-1914, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1968), Part 1: 1901-1907, Part 2: 1907-1911, Part 3: 1911-1914, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1969.

Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, Grossman (New York, NY), 1969, published as Winston Churchill: A Collection of Contemporary Documents, J. Cape (London, England), 1969.

Winston S. Churchill (companion volumes of edited documents to accompany official biography), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), Companion Volume 3: 1914-1916, 1972; Companion Volume 4 Part 1: January 1917-June 1919, Part 2: July 1919-March 1921, Part 3: April 1921-November 1922, 1975; Companion Volume 5, Part 1: The Exchequer Years, 1922-1929, 1976, Part 2: The Wilderness Years, 1929-1935, Part 3: The Coming of War, 1936-1939, 1982.

(Author of introduction and notes) Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill and Emery Reeves: Correspondence, 1937-1964, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 1997.

Churchill at War: His "Finest Hour" in Photographs, 1940-1945, Carlton (London, England), 2003.

OTHER

(Compiler) The Coming of War, 1939, Jackdaw Publications (Amawalk, NY), 1973.

(With Marvin Hier) Genocide (film script), narrated by Elizabeth Taylor, Arnold Schwartzman/Simon Wiesenthal Center, 1981.

(Preface) Roman Halter, Roman's Journey: A Memoir of Survival, Arcade (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor of introduction and maps to Holocaust Memoir Digest: Survivors' Published Memoirs with Study Guide and Maps, Vallentine Mitchell (Portland, OR), 2004; contributor of articles and reviews to newspapers and periodicals, including History, Sunday Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Sunday Times, Evening Standard, Jewish Chronicle, Jerusalem Post, Spiegel, and Tworczosz.

SIDELIGHTS:

British author and historian Martin Gilbert has had a prolific literary career, writing more than seventy books since the 1960s. "If Martin Gilbert had written nothing but the authorized biography of Winston Churchill on which he has been toiling since 1968," wrote Joseph Lelyveld in the New York Times, "he would have to be regarded as one of the most prolific of British historians." Gilbert inherited the project from Winston's son Randolph, designated the official Churchill biographer by his father. He served as one of Randolph's chief researchers from 1963 until Randolph's death in 1968, when the biography's British publishers asked the then thirty-two-year-old historian to take over the project. Over the next twenty years, Gilbert completed eight volumes of biography containing some eight and a half million words, based on fifteen tons of Churchill material. The complete biography contains about fifteen thousand pages of text—an accomplishment that the 1986 Guinness Book of World Records ranked as the longest biography in publishing history.

One of the factors contributing to the length of the biography lies in Gilbert's extensive use of primary source material: original letters, memoranda, and other documents relating to Churchill's career, all arranged in chronological order. Several of the biography's volumes are accompanied by companion texts of these documents. Gilbert traces his tendency to focus on primary sources back to his association at Oxford University with the controversial modern historian Alan J.P. Taylor. He told Publishers Weekly interviewer Michele Field, "I suppose I belong to his ‘school.’ He set up a school without intending to: a school of skepticism. In my case it has been refined to a belief in the constant return to the primary material." He continued: "The rule is that you can debate the primary material but you don't enter into debate with the secondary material or with other historians. I think that's what Alan Taylor taught, and the glory is that it leads to a very different kind of history."

Reviewers differed in their opinions of the effectiveness of Gilbert's presentation. While appreciating the immense scale of Gilbert's task, several of them felt that, especially in the last volumes, the historian emphasized primary sources at the expense of historical interpretation. Michael Howard, writing in the Spectator about the eighth volume of the biography, Never Despair, 1945-1965, noted that Gilbert "lays out the raw materials from which the biographer must select so as to present a balanced, lively and insightful portrait of his subject: materials inert until they are brought to life by a critical and creative historical imagination." Howard felt that Gilbert needed to set Churchill's final years in the wider perspective of the postwar world.

Although Gilbert is best known for the Churchill biography, his interests have led him in many other directions as well. Of Jewish heritage himself—his grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe to Great Britain around the turn of the century—the historian has explored many different aspects of modern Jewish history, ranging from a look at nineteenth-century Jerusalem to an extensive history of the Holocaust to the plight of Jews unable to leave the Soviet Union: the "refuseniks." He has lived in Israel, corresponded extensively with Jews in the Soviet Union, written a biography of the Jewish Soviet activist Anatoly Shcharansky, and dedicated several volumes of the Churchill biography to Jewish friends denied permission to leave Russia.

In The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War, Gilbert uses many of the same procedures that he did in the Churchill biography, employing extensive primary sources and keeping his personal intervention to a minimum. The author, stated Elie Wiesel in a review for the Chicago Tribune Book World, "offers us a fascinating work that overwhelms us with its truth. Statistics, documents, memoirs, journals, reflections and analyses; he uses everything at his disposal to describe the inhuman power of evil, the humanity of the victims and the indifference of the spectators." In this book Gilbert tells "the story of what actually happened, rather than … why it happened or what might have happened instead," declared John Gross in the New York Times. "As far as possible," Gross continued, "he has attempted to let the victims speak for themselves, drawing on an enormous amount of documentary research (much of it into sources that have only become available in recent years), and talking to numerous survivors. He has also used his professional skills as a historian … to sort out and appraise his material, to strike a balance between different aspects of the story, and (not least) to weave the scattered and often fragmentary evidence into a seamless narrative." The result, claimed A.J. Sherman in the New York Times Book Review, is an "impressive achievement," which serves "to remind us of ordinary human beings living and suffering behind the mass anonymity of statistics."

Holocaust Journey: Traveling in Search of the Past marks something of a departure for Gilbert, not with regard to subject matter but in terms of methodology. In 1996, accompanied by a class of graduate students from University College, London, Gilbert led a tour through Germany and Eastern Europe that covered Nazi concentration camp sites and the Jewish ghettos of the World War II era. Among the stops on the tour were Auschwitz, Birkenau, Treblinka, Sobibor, and the Warsaw ghetto. Throughout the trip, Gilbert read aloud to the students from letters, memoirs, and documents that chronicled the events that took place at each site. Much of this firsthand source material is gathered in Holocaust Journey, accompanied by fifty-four black-and-white photographs of the sites visited and Gilbert's travel diary relating the events of the tour. A Publishers Weekly reviewer found this to be a "peculiar amalgamation," with a mix of routine travel information and a discussion of the sufferings of Europe's Jews "presumably intended to be a meaningful contrast, but the structure is neither interesting nor illuminating." The reviewer, however, did praise Gilbert's "excellent historical comments and the longer excerpts from many eyewitness writings." Frederic Krome of Library Journal had a more positive response to Holocaust Journey, observing that "the book provides a window into how more than a millennium of Jewish history came to an end and in many cases almost vanished."

In Israel: A History, which chronicles the first fifty years of the Jewish state from its birth in 1948, Gilbert returns to a more traditional approach. Although his emphasis here is on politics, diplomacy, and war, diverse social and cultural issues are also explored. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that by using extensive primary sources from prominent figures such as David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, and Abba Eban, as well as ordinary citizens, "the eminent British historian has produced a gripping epic." However, Scott H. Silverman of Library Journal found that "all this personal Testimony … gives the book a choppy feel; Gilbert depicts Israel … as an enterprise lurching from crisis to crisis." Writing in Booklist, Gilbert Taylor noted that Gilbert is a historian known "for documentary diligence more than compositional flair," and faulted Israel on several counts, including its "laconic prose" and its failure to bring to life the people who have played a significant part in the country's history. Nevertheless, Taylor concluded: "Constituting a baseline of information, Gilbert's accurate narrative provides a reliable primer for studying Israel's pains and triumphs."

In addition to his many studies of specific historical topics, Gilbert also undertook a multivolume history covering the entire twentieth century. The project includes A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I: 1900-1933, A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II: 1933-1951, and A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III: 1951-1999. With these works Gilbert again relies heavily on primary sources—newspaper articles, journals, diplomatic documents, and so forth; Gilbert also includes excerpts from novels and poems in the mix. The series is "impressive in its sheer ambition and historical detail," wrote Foreign Affairs contributor G. John Ikenberry. Indeed, each volume follows its particular time period in chronological order, with each year serving as its own chapter. The year is outlined by major events, people, and crises happening around the world.

Considering A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I, a Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that this wealth of firsthand material, "plus a strong narrative style, helps to elevate this title above the dry and dusty lengthy historical treatise." Lodging a less favorable response, Eric Hobsbawm of New Statesman noted that while certain historical studies, such as that of the Holocaust, are well-suited to Gilbert's "combination of tireless research, emotional involvement and solid narrative skills," the history of a century demands "overviews and explanations" that are absent. Still, many reviewers found Gilbert's series to be an important contribution to reference books on the subject. "The trilogy is full of clear analyses such as this, leading this reviewer to believe Gilbert's three volumes on the twentieth century should be required reading for everyone living in the twenty-first century," asserted Robert J. Guttman in a review for Europe.

In Gilbert's The Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors, the author again focuses on the Holocaust. This time, Gilbert combines interviews, letters, and other reminiscences to tell the story of 732 young men and women who survived the Holocaust. Passages include descriptions of life in prewar Poland and Hungary, the horrors of concentration camps and death marches, and the realities of life after liberation.

Many reviewers found Gilbert's portrayal of life for these young Holocaust survivors to be moving and tangible. "Gilbert has fashioned a remarkable testimonial, rich in vibrant reminiscences of Eastern European Jewish communities practicing a way of life forever destroyed," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. "These inspiring stories of survival and courage should appeal to general readers as well as scholars," observed John A. Drobnicki in a review for the Library Journal.

Gilbert again used personal correspondence and reminiscences to write Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5000-year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith. With this book Gilbert uses his own personal correspondence with Auntie Fori, an elderly woman in India who was his longtime friend. She once asked the author to explain to her the history of the Jewish people and culture, since she lived much of her life in India and never learned much about the Jewish story she herself was a part of. The author's letters tell Auntie Fori and other readers about the Creation myth, the Old Testament, the travels of the Jews from Spain to Mesopotamia, and even the ancient ties that still hold strong meanings for modern Jews. Many critics enjoyed Gilbert's more personal endeavor, finding it a sensitive and detailed overview. "For those, like Auntie Fori, hoping to understand the Jewish past and present, this book is a treasure," wrote Booklist contributor Jay Freeman.

Again using personal stories to create a framework for his book, Gilbert wrote The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. In this work Gilbert uses first-person accounts of Holocaust survivors who were rescued from death by non-Jewish benefactors. These dozens of individual stories include details of the rescues as well as the horrors rescuers sometimes encountered as a result of their bravery. Response to The Righteous was again positive. Readers found the stories Gilbert selected to tell much more of the Holocaust story than straightforward history books do. "Gilbert's country-by-country examination reveals as much about quiet dissent in Nazi-occupied Europe as it does about the human spirit," observed a Publishers Weekly contributor. Others found the book to be an important contribution to the literature surrounding the Holocaust. "This emotionally stirring book is an essential addition to Holocaust collections," asserted Jay Freeman in a review for Booklist.

Gilbert wrote another World War II-focused tome titled D-Day. This time, Gilbert focuses on the D-Day invasion, specifically the means of ensuring success during the initial landings. The author describes in detail the buildup of soldiers and materials by the Allies during their two years of preparation and the strategies employed to deceive the Germans about their plans. To augment his text, Gilbert includes more than two dozen maps related to the material.

Gilbert "provides a lucid overview," wrote Financial Times contributor Mark Archer. "Gilbert's sturdy presentation provides the big picture for readers new to D-Day on its sixtieth anniversary," observed Gilbert Taylor in a review for Booklist.

Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction is Gilbert's history of November 10, 1938, the "Night of Broken Glass." It was on this date that in Germany thousands of Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues were burned by the Nazis. Gilbert notes that some Germans attempted to help their Jewish neighbors, while others joined in the destruction. People were killed and property vandalized in retaliation for the assassination in Paris of a German diplomat by a member of a Polish Jewish family. Gilbert studies the years leading up to this event and draws on eyewitness accounts in documenting the responses of the Jews, German government, and the world in general following it. He writes of subsequent atrocities, including the camps and genocide. He also questions why the Jews were passive in their response and notes that while Western countries offered little help, China and India offered asylum to Germany's Jews.

A Publishers Weekly contributor called Kristallnacht "elegant." A Contemporary Review critic wrote: "This is a model example of a historian's taking a specific event, or interrelated series of events, to show the underlying forces at work."

The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War is an account of the five-month World War II battle that took more than a million primarily British and French Allied troops and German soldiers. The action took place in France along a thirty-mile front, and when it was over, only seven miles of French ground had been gained. Gilbert uses memoirs and journals to accurately describe this savage battle and how it was viewed strategically by both sides. Gilbert's "superbly written, absorbing recreations … makes the book a fitting commemoration of the tragedy," concluded a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

Gilbert has written a number of books that focus on the life and achievements of Winston Churchill, even beyond the complete approved biography that gained him the reputation as Churchill's official biographer. In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey approaches the writing of the biography from the author's point of view, and in it Gilbert reveals his own experience with the act of compiling the information necessary to complete his monumental task. In addition to poring over countless documents, Gilbert also interviewed numerous people, often traveling to meet with them, and thereby providing himself with enough variety in the means of his work to keep the project fresh and interesting. Gilbert Taylor, in a review for Booklist, found the work to be "an interesting bundle of anecdotes to supplement Gilbert's monument."

Winston Churchill's War Leadership, which was published in Canada as Continue to Pester, Nag, and Bite: Churchill's War Leadership, is a bound version of the paper that Gilbert presented upon being invited to speak on the subject of Churchill at the White House. In it, Gilbert remarks upon the quality of Churchill's leadership during World War II, and notes that it in many ways reflected the grand scale of the war itself, which called upon its participants to rise to the occasion of its size and scope. It would be unfair, according to Gilbert, to compare the actions and results of any other leader to that of Churchill, unless the war in which they were participating matched the vast scale of World War II.

In Churchill and America, Gilbert culls together the portions of his earlier findings on Churchill that relate specifically to America and gathers them into a single, cohesive volume. Gilbert explains that many Englishmen of the era had a somewhat romantic view of America and felt its rise toward an inevitable position as a superpower was a welcome event. Churchill shared this opinion and perhaps was even a bit more invested in the interests of the United States due to his own mixed heritage; his mother was American and came from a well-established family in New York. Over the course of his lifetime, starting well before he established any real power and prior to the World Wars, Churchill made a total of sixteen visits to America. He made the acquaintance of a number of influential individuals during these trips, and his earliest trips were made with an eye toward developing sources for future writing assignments. As Churchill's own political power grew, he developed certain expectations of the United States regarding its participation on the global stage, and was quick to criticize the country when he felt it fell short of either its own potential or his expectations, such as when the U.S. decided not to send a military force to put down the Bolshevik Revolution. Yet, even as he voiced his opinions, Churchill continued to cultivate the United States as a staunch ally, a relationship that stood him in good stead during World War II. Much of the politics that took place during the war was dictated by Churchill in conjunction with U.S. President Roosevelt. This relationship plays a focus point in Gilbert's work, and he has included excerpts from the correspondence between these two world leaders. David Pryce-Jones, in a review for National Review, noted Gilbert's lack of analysis as applied to the facts he relays, remarking: "Gilbert passes no judgment for or against what was done or left undone. Not a mere matter of complying with academic scruple, such abstention provokes the question, What is the point of writing history? Is it just to get the facts straight, or does the study of the past serve a higher purpose of distinguishing right decisions from wrong, and so help to avoid making the same mistake twice? Gilbert's readers will certainly be well informed, but they will be none the wiser for it." However, a contributor for Kirkus Reviews opined that "much of this will be a revelation even to those who know Churchill's work and career."

Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship considers Churchill's relationship to the Jewish people over the course of his career, one that allowed him not only steady interaction with Jewish leaders but also made him in part responsible for the Jewish community's welfare, both in Britain and ultimately in Israel. During his earliest days in politics, when Churchill was first a member of Parliament, a large portion of his constituency was made up of Jews. Later, when he became a cabinet minister, part of his duties involved working toward the development of the new nation for the Jews in Palestine. Ultimately, his work as prime minister during World War II and afterward required great sensitivity on his part regarding how to handle the mass exodus of Jews from Europe as they fled Hitler, and later the flood of refugees, many of whom were in need of public assistance in the wake of time spent in concentration camps. Gilbert chronicles these experiences in his book, relying heavily on letters, diaries, and other documents from the period. George Cohen, writing for Booklist, called the book "a perceptive and engrossing account, written by one of the foremost historians of our time."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Guinness Book of World Records, 1986 edition, Bantam (New York, NY), 1986.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1995, Gilbert Taylor, review of In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey, p. 34; September 15, 1997, Gilbert Taylor, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I: 1900-1933, p. 201; October 1, 1997, George Cohen, review of Holocaust Journey: Traveling in Search of the Past, p. 304; February 1, 1998, Gilbert Taylor, review of Israel: A History, p. 875; December 15, 1998, Gilbert Taylor, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II: 1933-1951, p. 706; October 1, 1999, Gilbert Taylor, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III: 1951-1999, p. 306; July, 2000, Gilbert Taylor, review of Never Again: A History of the Holocaust, p. 1994; October 1, 2001, George Cohen, review of The Jews in the Twentieth Century, p. 297; March 15, 2002, Jay Freeman, review of Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5000-year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith, p. 1207; January 1, 2003, Jay Freeman, review of The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust, p. 840; February 15, 2004, Gilbert Taylor, review of Churchill at War: His ‘Finest Hour’ in Photographs, 1940-1945, p. 1021; April 15, 2004, Gilbert Taylor, review of Winston Churchill's War Leadership, p. 1418; May 15, 2004, Gilbert Taylor, review of D-Day, p. 1594; May 1, 2006, George Cohen, review of Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction, p. 66; July 1, 2006, Jay Freeman, review of The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, p. 24; September 1, 2007, George Cohen, review of Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship, p. 25.

Chicago Tribune Book World, February 16, 1986, Elie Wiesel, review of The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War.

Contemporary Review, July, 1997, Muriel Julius, review of The Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors, p. 48; winter, 2006, Edward Bradbury, review of The Somme, p. 515, review of Kristallnacht, p. 529.

Economist, April 18, 1998, review of Israel, p. S3; December 4, 1999, "Twentieth Century History," p. 5.

English Historical Review, June, 2000, David Powell, review of Churchill: A Photographic Portrait, p. 769.

Europe, April, 1998, Robert J. Guttman, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I and an interview with Martin Gilbert, p. 21; December, 1999, Robert J. Guttman, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II, p. 47; September, 2000, Robert J. Guttman, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III, p. 48.

Financial Times, May 29, 2004, Mark Archer, review of D-Day, p. 28.

First Things, August-September, 2003, review of The Righteous, p. 57.

Foreign Affairs, July-August, 1998, L. Carl Brown, review of Israel, p. 90; May, 1999, G. John Ikenberry, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II, p. 133.

Historian, fall, 1999, Wendell Mauter, review of Holocaust Journey, p. 189.

Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2002, review of The Righteous, p. 1673; August 15, 2005, review of Churchill and America, p. 895; May 1, 2006, review of Kristallnacht, p. 447.

Library Journal, September 15, 1997, Robert Persing, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I, p. 86; October 15, 1997, Frederic Krome, review of Holocaust Journey, p. 73; March 15, 1997, John A. Drobnicki, review of The Boys, p. 73; March 15, 1998, Scott H. Silverman, review of Israel, p. 81; January, 1999, Robert Persing, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II, p. 122; October 1, 1999, Robert Persing, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III, p. 109; December, 2002, Frederic Krome, review of The Righteous, p. 148; July, 2004, Michael Rogers, review of The Second World War: A Complete History, p. 127; May 16, 2007, Joel W. Tscherne, review of Kristallnacht, p. 98.

Maclean's, February 24, 2003, review of The Righteous, p. 63.

Middle East, January, 2003, Fred Rhodes, review of The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, p. 64.

National Review, October 24, 2005, David Pryce-Jones, "Grand Alliance," p. 64.

New Leader, May 19, 1997, Lore Dickstein, review of The Boys, p. 11.

New Republic, February 16, 1987, Paul Kennedy, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 7, p. 38.

New Statesman, August 8, 1997, Eric Hobsbawm, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I, p. 48.

New York Review of Books, April 10, 1986, R.C. Smail, review of Jerusalem: Rebirth of a City, p. 42; September 25, 1986, Peter Reddaway, review of Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time, p. 13; May 7, 1987, Timothy Garton Ash, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 7, p. 22.

New York Times, August 20, 1985, John Gross, review of Jerusalem: Rebirth of a City, p. 25; February 4, 1986, John Gross, review of The Holocaust, p. 25; May 10, 1986, Michiko Kakutani, review of Shcharansky, p. 13; October 19, 1986, Joseph Lelyveld, "To a Prolific Historian, a Churchill Biography Is but a Chapter in His Work," p. 74; November 25, 1986, John Gross, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 7, p. 23.

New York Times Book Review, January 13, 1985, Philip Hallie, review of The Jews of Hope, p. 11; February 9, 1986, A.J. Sherman, review of The Holocaust, p. 7; May 25, 1986, David K. Shipler, review of Shcharansky, p. 8; December 14, 1986, Warren F. Kimball, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 7, p. 12; October 23, 1988, Kenneth S. Davis, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 8, p. 3.

Philadelphia Inquirer, July 12, 2006, John P. Rossi, review of The Somme.

Publishers Weekly, November 14, 1986, Michele Field, interview with Gilbert; February 3, 1997, review of The Boys, p. 90; October 27, 1997, review of Holocaust Journey, p. 65; October 27, 1997, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume I, p. 65; February 2, 1998, review of Israel, p. 71; December 14, 1998, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume II, p. 62; October 25, 1999, review of A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III, p. 57; January 20, 2003, review of The Righteous, p. 70; April 12, 2004, review of D-Day, p. 54; April 17, 2006, review of Kristallnacht, p. 180; May 22, 2006, review of The Somme, p. 45.

School Library Journal, October, 2006, Ellen Bell, review of Kristallnacht, p. 190.

Spectator, June 4, 1988, Michael Howard, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 8.

Time, October 31, 1988, Gerald Clarke, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 8, p. 87.

Times Literary Supplement, May 27, 1988, Norman Gash, review of Winston S. Churchill, Volume 8, p. 573; September 1, 1989, Michael Carver, review of The Second World War, p. 935.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), September 18, 1988, review of Churchill, p. 1.

Weekly Standard, Robert Messenger, review of The Somme.