For a number of days now I have been wrestling with how to best communicate the heart of these two fascinating books. I would write and erase, put it off and come back to it, write and erase. I never seemed to get a handle on what it was I wanted to say. The farther I got away from having read them the harder it was to put it all back together. What I have decided to do is just to focus on one question: what is it that qualifies Churchill for such a lofty honor as Man of the Century?

The answer lies not in the fact that he led a triumphal life but rather that at one particular pivot point in history he was there and did what was right. The fact is that, in an age of world war, revolutionary movements, and death and destruction on a colossal scale, Churchill got it right. He was right about communism and he was right about National Socialism. He was almost singularly alone in facing down Hitler in the early stages of WW II and he was nearly the only one who saw what Stalin was seeking to do in the aftermath of that war. Ironically, the greatest thing that can be said of Churchill is that when he stood alone in 1939 he found a way not to lose.

The death of Hitler and the total defeat of Germany in WW II have lessened our realization of just how close Europe was to falling under Hitler's command in 1939. Churchill's brave attack on appeasement and his insistence on preparing for war in the Thirties played a key role but it was his unique realization that Hitler was not just another German leader looking for respect and access to the World Stage that saved Europe from total self destruction. He was able to rally the British people behind him to valiantly fight and deny Hitler his victory. If not for Churchill it is easy to imagine the British government working out a deal with Hitler that gave him control of Europe. With such a deal Hitler's conquest of Russia become a real possibility (his conquest nearly succeeded as it was). When the rest of the world wakes up to the danger of a Europe controlled by Hitler it is too late. Hitler would be in a position to increase and consolidate his power and use it as leverage to dictate terms to the rest of the world. It is not a stretch of the imagination to see a long dark time for Europe.