Lincoln and Churchill

Statesmen at War

By: Lewis E. Lehrman

Narrated by: David Colacci

Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, as commanders in chief, led their nations to victory - Lincoln in the Civil War, Churchill in World War II. They became revered leaders - statesmen for all time. Yet these two world-famous war leaders have never been seriously compared at book length.

Acclaimed historian Lewis Lehrman, in his path-breaking comparison of both statesmen, finds that Lincoln and Churchill - with very different upbringings and contrasting personalities - led their war efforts, to some extent, in similar ways. As supreme war lords, they were guided not only by principles of honor, duty, freedom, but also by the practical wisdom to know when, where, and how to apply these principles. They made mistakes which Lehrman considers carefully. But the author emphasizes that, despite setbacks, they never gave up.

Even their writings and speeches were swords in battle. Gifted literary stylists, both men relied on the written and spoken word to steel their citizens throughout desperate and prolonged wars. Both statesmen unexpectedly left office near the end of their wars - Lincoln by the bullet, Churchill by the ballot.

©2018 Lewis E. Lehrman (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

"With penetrating insight, Lehrman unfolds the contrasts and similarities between these two leaders: their points of origin, their temperaments, the nature of their ambitions, their leadership styles. I savored every page of this magnificent work." (Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lincoln Prize-winning author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln)

Excellent

Excellent leadership principles when juxtaposing some of the greatest English speaking elected leaders. Highly recommend all leaders to listen.

Enlightening

Learned a lot about both leaders. Narration very good. Book was well composed and informative

Outstanding book

Where does Lincoln and Churchill rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the top of audiobooks I have listened to. Makes me want to own it in hardback.

What did you like best about this story?

Filled with great quotations from two of the most quoted statesmen in history.

Have you listened to any of David Colacci’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I was not aware that Lincoln chose not to attend his father's funeral. That is a sad statement about both men.

Any additional comments?

The book is so filled with inspiring and memorable quotations, if I had read it on paper half of many pages would have been highlighted. Had I paused listening to write them down, i might never have finished the book.

Well Researched Presentation

When I first saw this book I was worried as I had just been duped into buying another book called Orwell & Churchill. I don’t mean to bash another book in a review but if there are others like me who read that book they were likely disappointed as the author appeared to profit off the names without providing much in the way of discussing the relationship and comparison of the two men.

This book is very different!

The author spent considerable time discussing the men, their rise to power and greatness as well as their differences. He even discussed their interaction well Churchill‘s admiration of Lincoln as (Lincoln died before church I was born). The book thankfully was short on the authors personal politics a this is very different than Orwell and Churchill, where the author was obsessed with his own politics for half the book.

The key theme of this book was to two great leaders who were very different in personality and how they responded to the dire challenges they inherited. In that regard the author does a back-and-forth comparison allowing the reader to truly understand the differences and similarities of these great leaders.

A very worthy read!

One thing I did note was that the narrator was a bit slow for me in reading the manuscript. No problem just set it at 1.1 and you’ll be fine. This is not to knock the narrator whose voice inflections were very good.