One of the most approachable and useful books on the period. Life in the two decades after the Great Exhibition.

Winston Churchill's inspiring leadership in the Second World War once put him above criticism. In recent years his record has come under attack. In Churchill: A Study in Greatness, one of Britain's most distinguished historians makes sense of this extraordinary man and his long, controversial, colourful, contradictory and heroic career. What was at the heart of him? Was he a romantic or a realist? How central was his part in Britain's survival and in the defeat of Hitler? Geoffrey Best brings out both his strengths and his weaknesses, looking past the many received versions of Churchill in a biography that balances the private and the public man and offers a fresh insight into his character. >

Originally published in 1976, this book explores the relationship between European society and the military institutions it fostered from 1815-1918. In the period from the fall of Napoleonic imperialism to the outbreak of the First World War armies and navies grew in complexity, cost and size. The first half of this book investigates these institutions from within, and looks at some of the factors which held them together in an increasingly difficult and hostile world, at their self-image, and at the pressures upon them from society at large. As the role of military institutions within society increased in importance, analysts began to look for the effects which this interpenetration had on society. Part 2 is concerned with the effects of this growing dominance of society by its defenders. By the end of period covered by this book, the age of total mobilisation for the war effort was upon us. In a sense this second part of the book reinforces the conclusions of the first, that military institutions are separate from the societies which surround them, and between the two a growing gap of misunderstanding and incomprehension yawned.

Originally published in 1976, this book explores the relationship between European society and the military institutions it fostered from 1815-1918. In the period from the fall of Napoleonic imperialism to the outbreak of the First World War armies and navies grew in complexity, cost and size. The first half of this book investigates these institutions from within, and looks at some of the factors which held them together in an increasingly difficult and hostile world, at their self-image, and at the pressures upon them from society at large. As the role of military institutions within society increased in importance, analysts began to look for the effects which this interpenetration had on society. Part 2 is concerned with the effects of this growing dominance of society by its defenders. By the end of period covered by this book, the age of total mobilisation for the war effort was upon us. In a sense this second part of the book reinforces the conclusions of the first, that military institutions are separate from the societies which surround them, and between the two a growing gap of misunderstanding and incomprehension yawned.

The histories of Queen Anne's Bounty, created in 1704, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, established in 1836, run so closely together, and their functions, until their amalgamation in 1948 as the Church Commissioners, were so similar, that it would be impossible to study them separately. In this account of their foundation and growth, which was originally published in 1964, Dr Best shows how much they had to do with the great changes in the administration and political relations of the Church of England, which transformed the Church from the virtually medieval institution it was in the early eighteenth century, to the recognizably modern one it had become by the end of the nineteenth. Although Dr Best's book is primarily a study of two ecclesiastical bodies and of the Church reform movement, it is also an important and unusual contribution to English social and political history.

This book contains essays within a common theme by a group of distinguished historians (some of them acknowledged world leaders in their fields) in honour of the just-retired Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, whose contribution to religion, education and history has been recognised by the award of a knighthood and, more recently, by the Order of Merit. Their common interest is the same one that has marked Professor Chadwick's life and work: the centrality of religious history to the history of Europe and, through that, to world history as a whole.

Geoffrey Best traces the recent history of efforts to limit the violence and ugliness of war. He shows how the Second World War provided the impetus for reconstruction of international law, and charts its relationship with war since then, critically surveying the whole range of contemporary armed conflicts from civil to high-tech international wars. This book offers an original and thought-provoking approach to contemporary history, law, politics and ethics, and is essential reading for anyone concerned with war.

`... ambitious, highly significant and courageous ... an important text.' Dermot Keogh, Irish Times

`magnificent exposition,' London Review of Books

`Dr Best has made an important contribution.' James J. Busuttil, International Relations

One of the glorious triumvirate of World War II and founder of the strong Anglo-American friendship that is still apparent today, Winston Churchill stands out in history as a man who led his country through one of its most difficult times, with all of the steadfastness of a fierce and loyal bulldog. Churchill was already recognized as the most diversely gifted man in British politics before, at the ripe old age of 66, he suddenly emerged as a figure of world importance. Becoming Prime Minister on the very day in 1940 that Hitler invaded France and the Low Countries, he braced the British people to continue fighting and even to counterattack the, up to that point, all-victorious Germans. A clever and confident statesman, with an obvious love for the people he served, for years Churchill's character went unchallenged and his inspiring leadership left him above criticism. Recently, however, his record has come under attack. In Churchill: A Study in Greatness, one of Britain's most distinguished historians makes sense of this extraordinary man, and his long, controversial, colorful, contradictory and heroic career.

Geoffrey Best illuminates both his strengths and his weaknesses, looking past the many received versions of Churchill, in a biography that balances the private and the public man and offers a clear insight into what made him truly great.