Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom

Former British prime minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was a rotund, boisterous, blue-blooded Conservative who led Britain to victory in World War II. George Orwell (1903–50) was a gaunt, taciturn leftist and commoner; a foot soldier who took a fascist bullet in the Spanish Civil War, and author of the classic novels Animal Farm and 1984. What links these contrasting biographies? Former military correspondent Ricks (Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq) presents Churchill and Orwell as champions of freedom—the right of the individual to be free of totalitarian control by the state, whether fascist or communist. Notwithstanding, Orwell sometimes rehashed anti-Semitic stereotypes, while Churchill was a die-hard imperialist; consistency was neither man's hobgoblin. For his part, Ricks skirts controversy. In one memorable passage, contemporary wit Evelyn Waugh called a benign tumor removed from Churchill's dissolute son, Randolph, "the only part of him not malignant." Superficial and piquant, this quote is typical of the narrative. Churchill and Orwell's stories are fascinating and segue wonderfully into their times—or indeed, any times: Orwell leaped to the top of the best seller lists in reaction to the 2016 election of President Donald Trump.