When Lions Roar: The Churchills and the Kennedys

Author: Maier, Thomas

Brand: CROWN

Color: Multicolor

Edition: Reprint

Binding: paperback

Number Of Pages: 784

Release Date: 27-10-2015

Part Number: 1 16-page black and white insert

Details: Product Description


The first comprehensive history of the deeply entwined personal and public lives of the Churchills and the Kennedys and what their “special relationship” meant for Great Britain and the United States
 

When Lions Roar begins in the mid-1930s at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's country estate, with new revelations surrounding a secret business deal orchestrated by Joseph P. Kennedy, the soon-to-be American ambassador to Great Britain and the father of future American president John F. Kennedy. From London to America, these two powerful families shared an ever-widening circle of friends, lovers, and political associates – soon shattered by World War II, spying, sexual infidelity, and the tragic deaths of JFK's sister Kathleen and his older brother Joe Jr.  By the 1960s and JFK's presidency, the Churchills and the Kennedys had overcome their bitter differences and helped to define the “greatness” in each other.
 
Acclaimed biographer Thomas Maier tells this dynastic saga through fathers and their sons – and the remarkable women in their lives – providing keen insight into the Churchill and Kennedy families and the profound forces of duty, loyalty, courage and ambition that shaped them. He explores the seismic impact of Winston Churchill on JFK and American policy, wrestling anew with the legacy of two titans of the twentieth century. Maier also delves deeply into the conflicted bond between Winston and his son, Randolph, and the contrasting example of patriarch Joe Kennedy, a failed politician who successfully channeled his personal ambitions to his children. By approaching these iconic figures from a new perspective, Maier not only illuminates the intricacies of this all-important cross-Atlantic allegiance but also enriches our understanding of the tumultuous time in which they lived and the world events they so greatly influenced.
 
With deeply human portraits of these flawed but larger-than-life figures,
When Lions Roar explores the “special relationship” between the Churchills and Kennedys, and between Great Britain and the United States, highlighting all of its emotional complexity and historic significance.


Review


“[Maier] delivers the goods. Weaving the life stories of nearly 30 Churchills and Kennedys into a seamless narrative, Maier smartly anchors his reportage on the clans’ larger-than-life cornerstones: Winston Churchill and Joseph Kennedy. The sheer accumulation of colorful anecdotes in
When Lions Roar makes for riveting reading from start to finish.” –
Washington Post

“A captivating chronicle of the surprisingly many ways that Winston Churchill and Joseph P. Kennedy (and their progeny) crossed paths (and swords) over the course of the 20th century...What Maier beautifully factors in is the effect of these struggles on the children.
When Lions Roar zeroes in on Kennedy's eldest two boys – the doomed, fair-haired Joe, Jr., who echoed all of his father's repugnant views, and the invalid Jack, who ultimately escaped them – pointedly contrasting Kennedy's loving, dutiful, dominated scions with Churchill and his only son, the gifted, yet agonizingly self-destructive Randolph... Laden with significant new research, the book offers up many intriguing tangential revelations about virtually everybody... Ultimately, however, he succeeds at what matters most: bringing to life Kennedy and Churchill's fatal differences and fascinating similarities.”
–USA Today
“What I like most in Maier's giant work is the spine of this saga, the all-important record of influence the great soldier-statesman-historian's life exerted on the future American president.”
–Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball 

“Thomas Maier tapped into the mother lode when he chose to wrap Winston Churchill and Joseph P. Kennedy, along with their families and extended circle of famous friends, into the same volume. The twisted and convulsive lives of their numerous progeny, most of them strong-willed and fiercely independent, make the fic

EAN: 9780307956804

Package Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches

Languages: English