Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill

A Brief Account of a Long Life

Warrior and writer, genius and crank, rider in the British cavalry’s last charge and inventor of the tank, Winston Churchill is a towering figure of the last century. With penetrating insight, Rubin reveals the complexity of Churchill’s story with forty contrasting views of the man. In this short volume, Rubin captures Churchill’s virtues and flaws, his humor and his pomposity, his inspired words and his oddball notions.

Like no other portrait, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill is a dazzling display of details more improbable than fiction—and an investigation of the contradictions and complexities that haunt biography.

Book cover of Forty Ways to look at Winston Churchill by Gretchen Rubin
Photo of Winston Churchill statues

Interview with Gretchen

Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill is like a dozen biographies rolled into one. Rather than detail the facts of Churchill’s life, as most biographies do – which can make them so long and dense that a reader loses the big picture – Forty Ways answers essential questions (essential, to be sure, in my view). 

More about Churchill

Putting facts and quizzes in a particular context can shape our understanding of a person. Check out some of Gretchen’s research and further reading she recommends.

Photo of Winston Churchill

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