Sonia Purnell has at long last given Clementine Churchill the biography she deserves. Sensitive yet clear-eyed; Clementine tells the fascinating story of a complex woman struggling to maintain her own identity while serving as the conscience and principal adviser to one of the most important figures in history. –Lynn Olson; bestselling author of Citizens of London Shortlisted for the 2016 Plutarch AwardA long over-due tribute to the extraordinary woman who was Winston Churchill’s closest confident; fiercest critic and shrewdest political advisor that captures the intimate dynamic of one of history’s most fateful marriages; as seen on The Crown. By Winston Churchill’s own admission; victory in the Second World War would have been “impossible without her.†Until now; however; the only existing biography of Churchill’s wife; Clementine; was written by her daughter. Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine her due with a deeply researched account that tells her life story; revealing how she was instrumental in softening FDR’s initial dislike of her husband and paving the way for Britain’s close relationship with America. It also provides a surprising account of her relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt and their differing approaches to the war effort.Born into impecunious aristocracy; the young Clementine was the target of cruel snobbery. Many wondered why Winston married her; but their marriage proved to be an exceptional partnership. Beautiful and intelligent; but driven by her own insecurities; she made his career her mission. Any real consideration of Winston Churchill is incomplete without an understanding of their relationship; and Clementine is both the first real biography of this remarkable woman and a fascinating look inside their private world.
#61040 in Books Penguin Books 2015-04-28 2015-04-28Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.40 x .80 x 5.50l; 1.00 #File Name: 0143127160288 pagesPenguin Books
Review
52 of 54 people found the following review helpful. The negative reviews of this book actually encouraged me to ...By Broward County BoyThe negative reviews of this book actually encouraged me to buy and to read through it. Afterwards I perused the reviews here on ; and my conclusion is that the controversy regarding this book is another episode in the ongoing reaction to new insights developed from recent advances in genetics;from supporters of established social science; linguistic; and historical paradigms. For example; I recall viewing on YouTube last year a presentation called "The Assault on Historical Linguistics" that criticized competing paradigms generated by discoveries in genetics and by the resulting haplogroup mapping of human expansion across the world. I have seen other examples of defensive reactions by proponents of paradigms social science and historical paradigms that were established with the evidence available by the 1970s; this had led to strong attacks trying to discredit new conceptual frameworks driven by new discoveries in genetics.Nicholas Wade in his book states that racism must be opposed on principle; and that politics should not drive science. Perhaps the members of the current academic establishment need to retire so that a newer generation can look a new evidence with new and less prejudiced eyes.153 of 164 people found the following review helpful. An important book that explodes a popular mythBy AnomalyA Troublesome Inheritance; by Nicholas Wade; should be read by anyone interested in race and recent human evolution. Wade deserves credit for challenging the popular dogma that biological differences between groups either don't exist or cannot explain the relative success of different groups at different tasks. Wade's work should be read alongside another recent book; The 10;000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution; by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending.Together these books represent a major turning point in the public debate about the speed with which relatively isolated groups can evolve: both books suggest that small genetic differences between members of different groups can have large impacts on their abilities and propensities; which in turn affect the outcomes of the societies in which they live. Ever since the 1950s; Wade argues; many academics have denied the biological reality of race; and some have suggested that merely believing in racial differences constitutes a kind of racism (p. 69). But the rejection of race as a useful concept is often more of a political pose than a serious scientific claim; and it became especially popular among academics after the Second World War; during which Nazi pseudo-scientists used claims of racial superiority to justify mass murder.As it turns out; Ashkenazi Jews - those from Russia; Poland; and Germany; who were nearly exterminated in the Holocaust - have been consistently found by intelligence researchers to have the highest IQ in the world. The authors of The 10;000 Year Explosion and A Troublesome Inheritance each spend an entire chapter detailing the remarkable achievements of Ashkenazi Jews; and hold them up as exhibit A in the argument that human evolution has been; in Wade's words; recent; copious; and regional. (Wade; chapter 8; Cochran and Harpending; chapter 7). The example of Ashkenazi evolution is supposed to show the absurdity of the view; held by authors like Jared Diamond and Stephen Jay Gould; that human evolution either stopped 100;000 years ago; or that natural selection has somehow continued to sculpt the bodies but not the brains of different groups of people.Wade uses "race" to refer to groups of people who have been separated long enough to have developed clusters of functionally significant genetic differences; and "ethnicity" to apply to groups within races who have small but significant genetic differences from other groups within a race. The concept of an ethnicity is made especially clear if we understand the coevolution of genes and culture. If within a culturally diverse but racially distinctive region like the Arabian Peninsula; nomadic Bedouins tend to marry Bedouins while city dwellers marry each other; Bedouins and city dwellers may begin to diverge into biologically and culturally different ethnicities as they face different selective pressures. For example; because Bedouins were nomads who increasingly depended on their camels for transportation and milk; those who produced the lactase enzyme (which facilitates milk digestion) into adulthood had a reproductive advantage over those who lacked this enzyme. As the allele for lactose tolerance spread through the population; reliance on camels became even more entrenched in Bedouin culture; and selective pressure increased for lactose tolerance. Despite being both Arab and Muslim; Bedouins have enough genetic and cultural differences to constitute a distinctive ethnic group throughout the Middle East. The important point is that cultural pressures can directly impact natural selection; and pre-existing traits create propensities that shape culture. Wade ultimately invokes gene-culture coevolution to explain; among other things; how Tibetans evolved a greater capacity to tolerate life in the mountains than Indians; how Europeans who have depended on agriculture for thousands of years can consume more carbohydrates without succumbing to diabetes than Native Americans; and how Ashkenazi Jews could have evolved higher intelligence than Sephardic Jews in as little as 1;000 years.In discussing how differences in gene-culture coevolution can explain the trajectory of different groups; Wade argues that as hunter-gatherers moved into settled communities; certain genetically-mediated traits changed; including a capacity to trust more people; and a greater willingness to defer to impersonal social norms and punish norm-violators. This seems plausible enough; and it may explain why it took so long for humans to move from small and mobile hunter-gatherer societies to large and settled agricultural societies. But it has a troubling implication. Wade thinks that some groups of people; including modern hunter-gatherers and their recent descendants; will have a hard time living in modern nation states - not merely because they are accustomed to a different way of life; but because they are genetically ill-suited to live under alternative institutions.It is hard to know what to make of claims like this; especially without more knowledge of how genes mediate social behaviors. Although Wade cites studies that suggest some groups have greater frequencies of alleles associated with violence (p. 56); and that hunter-gatherers who are more successful at violent warfare are often rewarded with more offspring (p. 131); he warns his readers that he is going well beyond what the available evidence demonstrates and offering conjectures about why some groups have prospered under modern social and political institutions; and others have not (p. 15).These claims raise compelling questions about the ethics of belief; as well as the justification of belief. For example; if some stereotypes turn out to have a biological basis; will this reduce our ability to treat each other fairly? It is not always unfair to use information about biological differences to make generalizations (for example; that men are more prone to violence than women; or that West Africans are more prone to sickle cell anemia than East Africans); but sometimes information - even if it is accurate - can be used by some people to unfairly dominate others. Wade's speculation would be innocuous if it wasn't likely to be read by people who will misinterpret it. Thoughtful readers should recognize that while some people will misuse this book to justify repugnant beliefs; its great virtue is that it forces us to face up to the uncomfortable likelihood that science will uncover differences between different groups of people that affect their life prospects.158 of 171 people found the following review helpful. A Scientifically Accurate Inheritance.By fenx1200I have been involved with genetics since 1983 and have been closely observing the recent revolution occurring in the technology that sequences genomes. The genetic information revealed in this book has been known for some time; but organizations like the American Anthropological Association proclaim that race is not real (biologically); and actively suppress this information from becoming public. This is a political strategy and not scientific reality. Any forensic anthropologist can identify the race of a skull found at the scene of a crime in a few minutes (Caucasian; Black; Asian/Native American) This is a routine function of crime scene analysis.President Obama and Bill Nye have also stated publicly and in print (Nye) that race is not real. These statements are misleading and serve no more than a political purpose. Millions of people from around the world have had have their genomes sequenced by such giants as 23andMe. The information that is being compiled and analyzed is releasing a startling amount of genetic information concerning human evolution. Did you know that Tibetans evolved a genetic variant in their genes that allow them to live at high altitudes? Since 1980; every finalist in the Olympic 100 meter dash has had West African ancestry... want to learn more? This book is must read for everyone who has an interest in the science of evolution. I give the author credit for bringing forth this book and I hope more similar books follow. Genetics will be the driving force of the 21st Century.
