The college will publish a new book of articles about Winston Churchill this summer.
Drawn from the website of the Churchill Project, the collection, “Grand Alliance: Churchill Studies at Hillsdale College,” will include work from Churchill scholars such as Andrew Roberts and Ronald I. Cohen.
The editors of the volume are College President Larry Arnn and Richard M. Langworth, senior fellow of the Churchill Project.
“We view Churchill as one of, if not the most, preeminent statesmen of the 20th century,” said Colin Brown, a current Ph.D. candidate and research assistant to Arnn. “By looking at his record we can best understand what statesmanship in the modern world, and statesmanship in general, looks like.”
The book also will include previously unpublished material, Brown said.
The Churchill Project seeks “to propagate a right understanding of Churchill’s record,” according to its website. It has published Churchill’s official biography in eight volumes as well as 23 volumes of documents related to the British statesman.
To create the “Grand Alliance,” Hillsdale brought together Churchill scholars and completed studies to promote the mission of the project, Brown said.
The collection consists of 14 articles. The first two describe the completion of Churchill’s official biography and the acquisition of the most complete collection of Churchill’s contributions to books, periodicals, and other works.
Eight articles cover Churchill’s statesmanship and topics such as social reform, geopolitics, and the World Wars. The final four articles address contemporary controversies about Churchill. In addition to Roberts, contributors include Langworth, who wrote about accusations against Churchill’s legacy, and Zewditu Gebreyohannes and Zareer Masani.
As a Churchill fellow, Taryn Murphy ’21 worked on the “Grand Alliance” collection. She said she proofread a manuscript, listened to hundreds of recordings of radio broadcasts and speeches by the prime minister, and read and summarized Churchill essays.
“Throughout his life, Churchill switched political parties multiple times and advocated for policies some might categorize as left-leaning, such as expanding the welfare state,” Murphy said. “But what is most inspiring about Churchill is that he was never afraid to switch his position on a subject when genuinely convinced that he was wrong. Churchill sought truth always.”
