Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

AND just as fascinating.  I was lucky enough to win an ARC of Hero of the Empire:  The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill from Doubleday Books before it was released; at the time, however, I had a 1-year-old, and my capacity for concentration on nonfiction was seriously impaired.  (She stopped sleeping through the night at 7 months or so because of all the ear infections.  She eventually got tubes, but it wasn’t a pretty time in our lives!)  I’m finally starting to catch up with my ARCs, however, and Hero of the Empire was an incredible read.  Thanks to 10th grade history and Mr. Bowes, I knew that the Boer War was ‘brutal and bloody’ and that the British Empire had a much harder time of it than it expected to, but Winston Churchill turned out to be even more fascinating of an individual than I’d realized.  His unapologetic ambition, his love of action, his single-minded pursuit of fame and glory to advance his political career, and his chutzpah make his story feel like a legend.  It begins with him escaping his South African prison without his intended companions–who happened to have the map, the compass, and the provisions.  Churchill had some money, 4 chocolate bars, and a crumbling biscuit in his pocket and 300 miles of enemy territory (in Africa!) to cross.  How he ended up in the prison in the first place, how he made it to safety, and what he did next all make for riveting reading; it’s also a testament to the courage of strangers and either unbelievable luck or divine intervention, depending on your point of view.  This is a well-written, well-researched, and well-told story that no history buff should miss.