''Stimulating, erudite and above all entertaining...For any reader tired of the seemlingly endless round of Churchill-worship'' Robert Harris

A radical biography for a new generation

In A.J.P. Taylor''s words, Churchill was ''the saviour of his country'' when he became prime minister in 1940. Yet he was also a deeply flawed character.

Giving due credit to Churchill''s achievements but making no secret of his failures, Geoffrey Wheatcroft takes a radically different approach to other biographies. Going far beyond a reappraisal of a life and a career, he reveals the complex shadow Churchill has cast over post-war British history and contemporary politics.

Telling the story of Churchill''s extraordinary life and the equally fascinating one of his legacy, Churchill''s Shadow focuses on how we as a nation have been living in the grip of his self-written myth ever since his death.

''This is the indispensable biography of Churchill for the post-Brexit 2020s'' David Kynaston, author of On the Cusp: Days of ''62

''Wheatcroft is a skilled prosecutor with a rapier pen...this could be the best single-volume indictment of Churchill yet written'' New York Times

''A clear-eyed, incisive and superbly balanced account of Churchill, the man and the myth'' Robert Gildea, author of Empires of the Mind