September 2023
Catholic League: https://www.catholicleague.org/new-info-shows-rome-saved-jews-from-nazis/, “New Info Shows Rome Saved Jews from Nazis,” by Bill Donohue, posted 8 September 2023:
“Sir Martin Gilbert, perhaps the foremost historian of the Holocaust, noted that Catholics were among the very first victims of the Nazis and that the Church responded by taking a tough stance against Hitler. The role of Pope Pius XII, he said, can best be assessed by what he did when the Gestapo entered Rome in 1943 to round up Jews. Gilbert wrote that ‘on his direct authority, [the Catholic Church] immediately dispersed as many Jews as they could.’
“Gilbert and I corresponded on this issue, and in 2001 he shared with me something I have never published before now.
“After the New York Times praised Pius XII in 1942, the Reich Central Security Office was furious. ‘In a manner never known before,’ the Nazis said, ‘the Pope has repudiated the National Socialist New European Order… Here he is virtually accusing the German people of injustice towards the Jews and makes himself the mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals.’”
August 2023
Lootpress, https://www.lootpress.com/books-the-ultimate-brain-food/, “Books: The Ultimate Brain Food”
by Paster Bo Wagner, posted 14 August 2023:
“Several times through the years, I have been asked, ‘What books do you recommend that I read?’ And the question is one that makes me happy since it means that someone already understands how important it is to read. … As a history buff, I absolutely adore … The First World War by Sir Martin Gilbert ….”
July 2023
Patricia Finnegan Obituary, https://obits.syracuse.com/us/obituaries/syracuse/name/patricia-finnegan-obituary?id=52198313, posted 6 June 2023:
“Pat also was a friend and frequent correspondent of Sir Martin Gilbert ….”
For more on their friendship and correspondence: https://www.martingilbert.com/blatt/book-quiz-winner-patricia-finnegan/
Read: In Search of Churchill
June 2023
The Jewish Chronicle, https://www.thejc.com/news/news/trudy-gold-we-all-put-our-souls-into-teaching-about-the-shoah-properly-1LAdf4ldXiBaE7LvAlzsiH, “Trudy Gold: We all put our souls into teaching about the Shoah properly,” by Tanya Gold, posted 14 April 2023:
On helping Soviet Jews: “In 1986 Martin Gilbert came to see us,” she says. “He asked us to teach refuseniks in Russia.” They went once a year, carrying books and cameras. “Anything they could sell. In class in England, people would fall asleep after an hour. Here, you would teach for three hours. They said, ‘Go back to England, be Jewish for us’.”
Note: In her teaching and lecturing, Trudy always mentions Martin and his work and what she learned from and because of him.
The Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-743155, “Yemin Moshe was never enough to fill the hopes of our people – opinion” by Eli Kavon, posted 16 May 2023:
“Historian Sir Martin Gilbert in Jerusalem, Rebirth of a City (1985) includes many wonderful photographs of what would be the capital of Israel, including the ‘New City’ built up by Jewish immigrants outside the walls, built on the order of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (construction was completed in 1541).
“Gilbert writes: ‘In 1838, Jerusalem was desolate and forsaken, a remote provincial town of the Ottoman Empire, which pilgrims visited at their peril. By 1898, it had been transformed into a modern city in which six European powers – Russia, France, Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy – had each established their political presence.”
Jewish Policy Center, https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2023/04/04/book-review-bits/, “Book Review Bits” by Shoshana Bryen, Spring 2023, “Israel’s 75th is a good time to review our book reviews and make one essential addition to your library”:
“The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israel Conflict by Martin Gilbert. Maps. Brilliant, necessary, non-political, thought provoking and ‘aha!’ moment-provoking maps. Don’t have another argument about Israel with anyone without bringing your atlas. You will win every time.”
“… the Escape Artist deserves a place on every bookshelf. Companion volumes could include Auschwitz and the Allies by Martin Gilbert, who consulted with the escape artist.”April 10 marks 79 years since Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler made their escape.Read: Auschwitz and the Allies
“Jews from the Lvov Ghetto also received word around February 2 about Stalingrad. For the group of about twenty hiding in Lvov’s sewers, such as Leopold Socha, Stefan Wrobleski, and Halina Wind, this was truly a reason to celebrate. Wrobleski and Socha distributed vodka and toasted the surrender of the German 6th Army. According to Martin Gilbert, of the 21 Jews hidden in the sewers, 10 would hold out and be liberated by the Soviets a year later.”Note: It was the Poles Socha and Wrobleski who ensured the survival of the Jews hiding in the sewer by providing them with food and water (and in this case vodka!). Socha and Wrobleski were later honoured by Yad Vashem.
The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/12/16/holocaust-nazis-poland-movie-museum/, “Rare home movies show rural Jewish life before the Holocaust” by Michael E Ruane, posted 16 December 2022:
“In Belzec, people were murdered in gas chambers with carbon monoxide from a diesel engine, author Martin Gilbert wrote in his 1985 history of the Holocaust in Europe. Of the roughly 600,000 people eventually sent to Belzec, only two are believed to have survived, Gilbert wrote.”
The New Statesman, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/11/vladimir-putin-interest-ending-war-in-ukraine, “Why Vladimir Putin has no interest in ending the war” by Lawrence Freedman, posted 4 November 2022:
“Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.”
Winston Churchill, 1954
“As is often the case with familiar quotations, this is not quite what Churchill actually said. His official biographer Martin Gilbert reports that the original was “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war”, which is not quite as punchy. The sentiment remains the same, however, talking is to be preferred to fighting. But the context is also important because Churchill was explaining why summit diplomacy was vital to prevent another great power war.”
Read: Churchill, A Life
The New Statesman, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/11/vladimir-putin-interest-ending-war-in-ukraine, “Why Vladimir Putin has no interest in ending the war” by Lawrence Freedman, posted 4 November 2022:
“Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.”
Winston Churchill, 1954
“As is often the case with familiar quotations, this is not quite what Churchill actually said. His official biographer Martin Gilbert reports that the original was “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war”, which is not quite as punchy. The sentiment remains the same, however, talking is to be preferred to fighting. But the context is also important because Churchill was explaining why summit diplomacy was vital to prevent another great power war.”
Read: Churchill, A Life
Civil Service World, https://www.civilserviceworld.com/in-depth/article/the-further-back-you-look-how-historians-can-help-government, “The farther back you look, the farther forward you can see”: how historians can help government,” by Andrew Southam, posted 27 July 2022:
“Another historian, Sir Martin Gilbert, was called on to explain a later darker episode as one of five Chilcott inquiry experts probing the UK’s involvement in the Iraq War. Gilbert, the eminent biographer of Churchill, was knighted for his 80 historical works and his Middle East advice to John Major.”
by John Deane, posted 9 August 2022:“Few people can be said to have had such an enormous influence on their nations’ history or standing in the 20th century as Michael Collins did for Ireland and Winston Churchill for Great Britain. … Along the way I read biographies of Winston Churchill by Martin Gilbert ….”
The Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-712277, “Yosef Trumpeldor is Zionist legend – opinion”, by Eli Kavon, posted 16 July 2022:
“Sir Martin Gilbert, in his 1998 history of Israel, describes the lionization of Trumpeldor in the Yishuv: ‘The death of Trumpeldor was to have a substantial impact on the Zionist movement. He was only forty when he was killed. Songs, poems, and short stories were written about him. Children were named after him. His correspondence, diary, and personal memoirs, which were published two years after his death, became a basic text for Zionist youth. Both socialist and right-wing Zionists were to find inspiration in his life story. A youth movement, Brit Trumpeldor (Betar), founded in the Latvian city of Riga three years after Trumpeldor’s death, became the standard bearer of militaristic and nationalistic ideology.’”
The Jewish Chronicle, https://www.thejc.com/life-and-culture/all/the-man-who-escaped-from-auschwitz-so-he-could-warn-jews-of-what-awaited-them-there-60fIlbKGv7jyaDAMBAcUcU, “The man who escaped from Auschwitz so he could warn Jews of what awaited them there,” by Jenni Frazer, posted 9 June 2022:
In a letter to a TV producer of Auschwitz and the Allies, based on Martin Gilbert’s book, Rudi Vrba wrote: “I’m not the cliched Holocaust survivor.” Freedland’s book triumphantly proves that to be true.”
Straight, https://www.straight.com/arts/vancouver-author-alan-twigg-writes-a-collage-of-bc-perspectives-on-holocaust, “Vancouver author Alan Twigg writes a collage of B.C. perspectives on the Holocaust” by Charlie Smith, posted 1 April 2022:
“The first book that he highlights by a B.C. author is I Escaped From Auschwitz by Rudolf Vrba, who died in 2006 after a long career as a medical researcher and pharmacology professor at UBC. Twigg declared that it’s ‘absolutely appalling and weird’ that Vrba – described as the greatest whistleblower of the 20th century by Holocaust historian Martin Gilbert – is barely known in Vancouver, where he lived for 31 years.”
“The Story of Churchill’s Greatest Speech You Don’t Know but Should,”
by Lee Habeeb, posted 21 December 2021:“It would take the New World, the United States, to come to the rescue of the Old,” the late Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert told an audience at Hillsdale College in 2006.
“And emerge as the defenders of freedom.”
“The Story of Churchill’s Greatest Speech You Don’t Know but Should” by Lee Habeeb, posted 21 December 2021, Newsweek:
“On January 14, 1942, after nearly a month away from home, Churchill left for war-torn London. ‘His visit to the United States has marked a turning point of the war,’ a London Times editorial said upon Churchill’s return.”
‘It would take the New World, the United States, to come to the rescue of the Old,’ the late Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert told an audience at Hillsdale College in 2006. ‘And emerge as the defenders of freedom.’
“Few could better understand Gilbert’s words—spoken a half-century after the prime minister’s 1941 Christmastime speech to Congress—than Churchill himself.”
Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-695898, “Between the British Empire and the Third Reich – opinion” by Eli Kavon, posted 8 February 2022:
“Sir Martin Gilbert writes in his 1998 history of Israel, “The Mandate authorities boarded the ship and took the ‘illegals’ to the Sarafand detention camp, on the Tel Aviv to Jerusalem road.”
The Herald, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19840180.obituary-freda-wineman-holocaust-survivor-four-nazi-concentration-camps/, “Obituary: Freda Wineman, Holocaust survivor of four Nazi concentration camps,” posted 11 January 2022:
“Wineman told the historian Martin Gilbert: ‘Dr Mengele said, “She is going with the baby to a place where there are special creches to look after them,”’”
“Despite the widespread libel in Germany that German Jewry stabbed their country in the back in World War I, 12,000 Jews died in action fighting for the kaiser. Sir Martin Gilbert wrote: ‘When the war ended in November 1918, Jewish soldiers, sailors and airmen had filled the Rolls of Honor, the field hospitals, and the military cemeteries, side by side with their compatriots under a dozen national flags.’”
Jewish News, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/we-cannot-bring-the-dead-to-life-but-we-can-keep-their-memory-alive/, “We cannot bring the dead to life, but we can keep their memory alive,” by Nicky Liss, posted 13 October 2021:
At the memorial service for Sir Martin Gilbert in November 2015, the late former Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, z’l told the following anecdote: “It must have been 15 years ago, just before the Holocaust Exhibition was opened in the Imperial War Museum. The organisers of that wonderful exhibition had decided in their thoughtfulness and kindness to invite the Holocaust survivors to a dinner just a couple of weeks before the Exhibition was opened, so that they could see it first. … That night Sir Martin and myself were the speakers. … we didn’t know who would care for our memories when we are no longer here. But now that the Exhibition is there, we feel safe, that burden has been lifted from us.”
Rabbi Nicky Liss has been the rabbinic advisor to the Imperial War Museum’s new Holocaust exhibition.
“I remember one fine night when he came to my house to dine. With me, that evening was my dear friend Martin Gilbert, the authorized biographer of Winston Churchill. I thought they would hit it off, and I was not disappointed. Don and Martin, of course, had many mutual friends. They also had many common interests. Martin knew everything about Winston and pretty much everything about world politics.”
Sir Martin’s archives contain five boxfiles of materials on the play Perdition.
“Refuseniks of the past teach us to hold onto hope persevere –
opinion” by Charles Savenor, posted 9 January 2021:
“Yearning to emigrate from the Soviet Union, however, was tantamount to social suicide. Historian Sir Martin Gilbert explains in The Jews of Hope, ‘To express a desire to leave meant risk being fired from your job, ostracised from society, facing problems in school.’ In 1986, only 1,000 Jews were allowed to emigrate, leaving behind tens of thousands of ‘refuseniks’ whose applications had been denied and lives upended.”
by Naama Barak, posted 8 June 2021:“Speaking of history class, this detailed research by prominent British historian Martin Gilbert is a must-read classic.”Read more: Israel, A History
“The value of living within a democratic framework was driven home to me during my undergraduate years in the 1980s studying law at the University of Melbourne. I was alive to the plight of Jews applying to leave Russia to take up their right of return to Israel or enter another country with which they had a connection. I read Martin Gilbert’s 1987 biography of Natan Sharansky, the famous ‘refusenik’ who finally made it to Israel, and who much later became a member of their Parliament. In that same year I joined a letter-writing campaign to a man called Arkady Lipkin who had applied to leave Russia to join family in Australia. Having applied to leave, the Russian government then dismissed him from his job and otherwise discriminated against him.”
by Eve Glover, posted 1 April 2021:“The script is based on material written by the late Sir Martin Gilbert, a Jewish British historian and author. Narrated by Michael Douglas, In Search of Peace documents the tumultuous history of Israel from when it was established as a Jewish state in 1948 through the Six Day War of 1967.”
Read more: Israel, A History
The Cable, https://www.thecable.ng/let-the-conference-be-now, “Let the conference be now” by Eric Teniola, Lagos, Nigeria, posted 7 April 2021:
“In light of the present day events in this country, there is an urgent need to convey a National Conference, so that we can sit down and talk about the future of our country. I remember a famous quote by Sir Winston Churchill’s biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, who quoted the former British Prime Minister as saying ‘jaw jaw is better than war war.’ We must not allow this country to disintegrate on our heads. There is need to talk.”
by Richard J Evans, posted 20 January 2021:“Anti-Semitism was widespread in the higher ranks of the British civil service, a disturbing fact brought to public attention by the historian Martin Gilbert’s Auschwitz and the Allies (1981), which found that the civil service played a significant part in dissuading the Allies from taking action against the Auschwitz-Birkenau death campwhen it was well within the range of
British bombers.”
Read: Auschwitz and the Allies
International Churchill Society Conference:
Churchill and the Making of the Middle East
8 April 2021
https://winstonchurchill.org/churchill-and-the-making-of-the-middle-east/
DailyMail.com, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9274397/New-book-reveals-wartime-PM-Sir-Winston-Churchills-various-illnesses-injuries.html, “Mr Churchill, the doctor will see you now, new book reveals wartime PM’s medical records ….” by Harry Howard, posted 18 February 2021:“Winston Churchill’s Illnesses 1886-1965 by Allister Vale and John Scadding, sets out chapter by chapter each of the injuries, afflictions and accidents which befell Sir Winston. … His official biographer Martin Gilbert says Churchill discharged himself from medical care, against expert advice.”
(For a talk by both authors, see the link below.)
Read: Churchill, A Life
By Professor Dovid Katz, posted 28 January 2019:The Defending History community, which has been following the amazing inspirational work of dear RACHEL KOSTANIAN for three decades now, will be celebrating Rachel’s 91st birthday, God willing, next Sunday, January 31st 2021.For a quarter century Rachel led Lithuania’s only genuine, historically dignified Holocaust museum/exhibit (“The Green House” at Pamenkalnio 12, part of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum), insisting on the accurate history in the face of vast political pressures and personal campaigns against her. All the while, she showed her museum and the streets of Old Town Vilna to thousands of people a year, from local schoolchildren and adults to visitors from every part of the world.Rachel is the author of “Spiritual Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto” (with an introduction by Sir Martin Gilbert), and of numerous publications issued by the Green House during her tenure, including a massive catalogue volume that is itself one of the best guides to Lithuanian Holocaust history.For more on Rachel Kostanian, please visit https://defendinghistory.com/category/rachel-kostanian?order=ascAnd also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjwaxOwVZuo&t=6s
Jewish News, https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/chief-rabbi-gordon-brown-and-rob-rinder-speak-at-inquiry-for-shoah-memorial/, video, Gordon Brown speaks at the inquiry for a National UK Holocaust Memorial, posted 10 November 2020:
“No one should ever forget the horrors of the Holocaust. No young person should grow up into adulthood unaware of the evil that men can inflict on their fellow men. And no one should ever be allowed to claim they do not know where hatred leads. For these three reasons – never to forget, always to remember and forever to learn from the past – we need a national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre. … I hope too we can tell the story of those who worked so hard so that the truth could be documented: like Martin Gilbert who from a room at the top of his London house painstakingly assembled and catalogued and then reported the stories of the Holocaust so that we could never forget.”
Read More: The Atlas of the Holocaust
NOVEMBER 2020
The Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/opinion/should-jews-celebrate-balfour-day-647597, “Should Jews celebrate Balfour Day?” by Eli Kavon, posted 1 November 2020:
“While news of the Balfour Declaration electrified the Jewish world, the joy would soon be tempered by political reality. The Ottoman Empire collapsed and was soon replaced by the British Mandate. There can be no doubt that the power of the British Empire played a major role in England’s promises to the Jews. Historian Sir Martin Gilbert states in his 1998 history of Israel that Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion ‘sounded a cautionary note’ to the news of the declaration.”
OCTOBER 2020
The Baltimore Sun, https://www.baltimoresun.com/obituaries/bs-md-ob-herbert-friedman-20201010-s44g7krgybczrokxxpnqewyo7m-story.html, “Herbert Friedman, who escaped the Holocaust and later became a successful pharmacist, dies,” posted 12 October 2020:
“My mother then asked me to run down the street (we lived on the fourth floor) to intercept my brother and tell him not to come home but to stay with a friend,” the elder Mr. Friedman told author Martin Gilbert for his book, “Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction.”
SEPTEMBER 2020
Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2019/06/17/best-history-books-of-all-time/#7f09179340 “Best History Books of All Times: 12 Essential Reads on Western Civilization”, Churchill: A Life and The Second World War by Martin Gilbert (19981, 1989) by Gene Marks, posted 17 June 2019:
The Second World War, “… cannot be read without Gilbert’s masterpiece on Winston Churchill as a companion. Both histories will remind you of the reasons why countries should never go to war and the importance of great leadership for when they do.”
AUGUST 2020
Bethesda Magazine, https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/opinion/opinion-in-defense-of-keeping-churchills-name-on-school/, “Opinion: In defense of keeping Churchill’s name on school,” by Edward G Marks, posted 1 August 2020:
“According to Churchill, A Life by Martin Gilbert, Churchill was an early advocate of prison reform and workers’ social security.”
The Conservative Woman, https://conservativewoman.co.uk/churchills-principles-in-his-own-words/, “Churchill’s principles, in his own words”
by Ann Farmer, posted 11 August 2020:
“In the course of researching Churchill’s attitudes to race
(including anti-Semitism) and eugenics several years ago, I spoke to Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer, who gave me a lot of help and encouragement. I told Sir Martin that I was afraid that at some point in the future Churchill would be discarded as a national hero (this was long before this year’s statue-toppling mania).”
JULY 2020
“The Jewish Story Explained” based on Sir Martin’s book Letters to Auntie Fori, the Story of the Jewish People, the latest videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN6VVEUlyeE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6xD35Wjqgw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBdWaMBYZJM&list=PL-DNOnmKkUaYVJIFmU_RBihx8wezolzqL&index=3
Read: Letters to Auntie Fori
The Jewish Press, https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-621/2020/07/29/, “Singing for Churchill’s Soul” letter to the editor, by Cantor Joseph Malovany, posted 29 July 2020 about his time in South Africa in 1965:
“… I was to chant Kel Male Rachamim in memory of Sir Winston. I asked the chief rabbi, “How do I sing a Jewish memorial prayer for a non-Jew?” He dismissed my concern and said I should say ‘et nishmat Sir Winston Churchill’ when I got to the appropriate place. I listened to him and as I said ‘et nishmat Sir Winston Churchill,’ a chill ran through my body and I raised my voice as loud as I could. I also emphasized the words wishing that his soul rest in Gan Eden. I shall never forget that moment, a tribute to a great non-Jewish Zionist.
“Years later, my wife and I entertained Churchill’s biographer, the late Sir Martin Gilbert and his wife Lady Esther at our home for a Shabbat meal. You can imagine whom we discussed at length….”
Read: Churchill A Life
JUNE 2020
The Article, https://www.thearticle.com/how-churchill-might-have-won-the-war-in-1940, “How Churchill might have won the war in 1940,” by Daniel Johnson, posted 9 June 2020:
“Volunteers did not take long to clean off the graffiti daubed by Black Lives Matter protestors on the plinth of Winston Churchill’s statue in Parliament Square. Public art has always been vandalised by iconoclasts; if effigies of heroes and villains did not arouse strong feelings, who would bother to erect them?
“More serious than the damage to Ivor Roberts-Jones’s bronze is the question of Churchill’s reputation, which is yet again under the spotlight. In a career lasting some seventy years, the ‘Greatest Briton’ (as many see him) inevitably did many things that were controversial at the time or have become so since. The Bengal famine, which now looms so large on the charge sheet of his detractors, went unmentioned in the thousand pages of the 1991 Churchill, A Life by his official biographer Martin Gilbert. Similarly, the bombing of Dresden is now used by some critics to depict him as a war criminal. What can be said with confidence is that while Churchill’s judgement was often erratic, his motives were almost invariably above reproach. His failures were as spectacular as his successes, but even in defeat his audacity commands respect. His enemies denounced him as a warmonger, but his aim was always to shorten the war. Churchill loved life too much to be careless with the lives of others.”
For more on the Bengal Famine and Churchill, please see https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-142/leading-churchill-myths-1/:
“Gideon Polya dismisses all who disagree with him, including Sir Martin Gilbert, as Zionist propagandists. Since it’s always a good idea to question the accused, we asked Sir Martin. ‘Churchill was not responsible for the Bengal Famine,’ he replied. ‘I have been searching for evidence for years: none has turned up. The 1944 Document volume of the official biography will resolve this issue finally.’”
For more on the bombing of Dresden, please see “Book Excerpt” on:
https://www.martingilbert.com/book/routledge-atlas-of-the-second-world-war-second-edition/
MAY 2020
Evening Standard, https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/let-s-unite-to-celebrate-ve-day-then-prepare-for-the-challenge-to-come-a4434921.html, “Let’s unite to celebrate VE Day – then prepare for the challenge to come” by Matthew D’Ancona, posted 7 May 2020:
“As Martin Gilbert records in his masterly account The Day the War Ended, the street festivities were only part of the story of VE Day: those who had been wounded, bereaved, or traumatised by the war found that celebration was tempered by grief, pan and an awareness of the trials that lay ahead. As Silivia Szulman, a Jewish refugee on London, recalled to Gilbert: ‘Of course, we were glad the war had ended, but like the relief after surviving a hurricane or earthquake, our sense of deliverance was tempered by apprehension of how much devastation we would find.'”
Mercatornet, https://mercatornet.com/lost-lives-or-livelihoods/62961/, “Lost lives or livelihoods?” by John Robertson, posted 19 May 2020:
“Very rarely are the lives at risk from a government policy choice equivalent to the allegation that Churchill decided to let the German air force bomb Coventry in 1940 rather than reveal British knowledge of enemy communication does. (Churchill’s biographer Sir Martin Gilbert has explained why this is a myth.)”
https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/myths/coventry-what-really-happened/
Accuweather, https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/why-weather-forecasts-stopped-the-75th-anniversary-of-v-e-day/735425, “Why weather forecasts stopped: The 75th anniversary of V-E Day” by John Roach, posted 8 May 2020:
“For nearly six years the British people had been denied the traditional daily weather forecast in an attempt to prevent the Germans from gaining any useful information with regard to their own bombing and naval plans,” according to the book The Day the War Ended by Martin Gilbert.”
Encore Mi, https://www.encoremichigan.com/2020/05/michigan-irish-reps-crowded-hour-ve-day-75th-anniversary-play-moves-from-stage-to-audio-play-may-8/, “Michigan Irish Rep’s ‘Crowded Hour’ VE Day 75th Anniversary play moves from stage to audio-play May 8″, by David Kiley, posted 5 Mary 2020:
“‘To my knowledge, these events and these characterizations and this story has never been put to stage or screen,’ says Kiley. The story and dialogue is all based on actual reporting. ‘Dialogue and the news reports that are embedded in the play are based on my father’s letters, his reporting, actual broadcast reports, reporting in the Stars and Stripes and the scholarship of Sir Martin Gilbert in his seminal work: The Day the War Ended: May 8, 1945.'”
APRIL 2020
Inside Sources, https://www.insidesources.com/through-new-book-we-meet-lincoln-again-differently/ “Through New Book We Meet Lincoln Again – Differently” by Llewellyn King, posted 6 March 2020:
“Often when there is an intimidating mountain of books,
one needs something else: another book.
One such book was Martin Gilbert’s In Search of Churchill:
A Historian’s Journey, published in 1994.
“Gilbert, author of Churchill’s eight-volume, official biography, must have felt that a smaller book was needed as a guide. Or, more likely, he realized that big works on his subject abounded, so he wrote an informal book about how he wrote the official biography. It is a quick guide to the man Churchill, his habits and eccentricities.”
March 2020
Inside Sources, https://www.insidesources.com/through-new-book-we-meet-lincoln-again-differently/ “Through New Book We Meet Lincoln Again – Differently” by Llewellyn King, posted 6 March 2020:
“Often when there is an intimidating mountain of books,
one needs something else: another book.
One such book was Martin Gilbert’s In Search of Churchill:
A Historian’s Journey, published in 1994.
“Gilbert, author of Churchill’s eight-volume, official biography, must have felt that a smaller book was needed as a guide. Or, more likely, he realized that big works on his subject abounded, so he wrote an informal book about how he wrote the official biography. It is a quick guide to the man Churchill, his habits and eccentricities.”
In Search of Churchill
February 2020
Church Militant, https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/opening-of-pius-xii-archives-will-demolish-myth-of-hitlers-pope
“Recounting his 2003 interview with the late Sir Martin Gilbert, Doino reveals to Church Militant that the pre-eminent Jewish historian and expert in the Holocaust had confirmed to him that the Catholic Church under PiusXII did, in fact, save hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust.”
January 2020
The Asahi Shimbun, Asia & Japan Watch, http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13096250, “Britain’s EU exit defies Churchill’s grand vision for a united Europe” by Ryosuke Ishibashi, posted 3 Febuary 2020:
“‘The structure of the United States of Europe will be such as to make the material strength of a single State less important,’ Churchill said in a the speech, as quoted in Churchill: The Power of Words, a collection of the political giant’s writings and speeches compiled by Martin Gilbert. ‘Small nations will count as much as large ones and gain their honor by a contribution to the common cause,’ Churchill predicted.”
The Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Who-recalls-the-four-heroic-Auschwitz-escapees-614746, “Who recalls the four heroic Auschwitz escapees?” by Joel C Rosenberg, posted 20 January 2020:
“Sir Martin Gilbert, the British historian, has noted that their ‘Auschwitz Protocol’ was responsible for ‘the largest single greatest rescue of Jews in the Second World War’.”
History News Network, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, The George Washington University, http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/174139, The Film 1917 and the Allegory of the Wooden-Headed, by James Ottavio Castagnera, posted 26 January 2020:
“The eminent English historian Martin Gilbert sums it up for us in his The First World War: A Complete History. ‘The destructiveness of the First World War, in terms of the number of soldiers killed, exceeded that of all other wars known to history.'”
Jewish News, https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-postcard-from-poland/, “The postcard from Poland” by James Sorene, posted 27 January 2020:
“When I was 18, I was studying in Israel at the end of my gap year and decided to read Martin Gilbert’s remarkable history of the Holocaust. For two days solid I read that book, frequently close to tears. But when I read on page 531 the two lines recording that the Jews of Jasionowka were rounded up and deported to Treblinka, it broke me. I stepped out into the Jerusalem sunshine, cried hard, and resolved to find how my great-grandfather’s family died.”
December 2019
Chattanooga Times Free Press, https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/life/entertainment/story/2019/dec/07/and-earth-peace-good-will-toward-men/509916/, “Pastor Po: ‘And on earth peace, good will toward men’” by Pastor Bo Wagner, posted 7 December 2019:
“What say we look to the actual history of WWI, minus Snoopy and the Red Baron? One of my favorite history books out of my extensive collection is The First World War, A Complete History, by Martin Gilbert. In it he describes a most unusual Christmas on the front lines in 1914.
‘“That Christmas, a spontaneous outburst of pacific feeling took place in war zones, as troops of every European army celebrated their Saviour’s birth. Fro nearly five months the war had been fought with mounting severity. Suddenly, as darkness fell on Christmas Eve, there was, in sections of the front line, a moment of peaceable behavior.”’
History News Network, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, The George Washington University, http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/173728, “Neville Chamberlain, Sir Horace Wilson, & Britain’s Plight of Appeasement” by Adrian Phillips, posted 1 December 2019:
“Martin Gilbert, one of Chamberlain’s most trenchant critics, made a start on uncovering Wilson’s full role in 1982 with an article in History Today, but few have followed him.”
The Algemeiner, https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/12/03/rewriting-the-history-of-israels-1948-war/, “Rewriting the History of Israel’s 1948 War” by Moshe Phillips, posted 3 December 2019:
“Arab Legion troops attacked Kfar Etzion – and according to the late historian Sir Martin Gilbert, the Legionnaires slaughtered the Jewish defenders who surrendered.”
Jewish Press, https://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/jewish-columns/chodesh-tov/the-quest-to-find-the-schindler-of-kristallnacht/2019/12/05/, “The Quest to Find the Schindler of Kristallnacht” by Rabbi Hanoch Teller, posted 5 December 2019:
“Kristallnacht, the anniversary of which we marked just a few weeks ago, was, as Sir Martin Gilbert labeled it, the prelude to the Holocaust.”
The Collegian, Hillsdale College, http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2019/12/conservatives-reject-nick-fuentes/, “Conservatives: Reject Nick Fuentes” by Alex Nester, posted 5 December 2019:
“The late historian Sir Martin Gilbert, however, wrote that the Nazis killed 6 million European Jews – and that they would have killed more but for their defeat by the Allies in World War II.”
Catholic Citizens of Illinois, https://catholiccitizens.org/views/90269/pius-xii-francis-and-the-media/, “Pius XII, Francis, and the Media” by William Kilpatrick, posted 14 December 2019:
“Eugenio Pacelli despised Hitler, denounced Nazi ideology on numerous occasions, and – according to historian Martin Gilbert – was responsible for saving the lives of thousands of Jews. During the German occupation of Rome, hundreds of Jews were housed within the Vatican, 3,000 found sanctuary in Castel Gandolfo, and at Pius’s request, Roman convents and monasteries hid 5,000 Jews.”
November 2019
The Times, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/magazine/culture/sunday-times-best-political-books-2019-cs3rhmm8v, “The Sunday Times best political books of 2019” by Roland White, posted 24 November 2019:
“Rejoice! Rejoice! With this final, third volume of his magnificent account of Margaret Thatcher’s life and work, Charles Moore politely takes his place in the front rank of political biographers alongside John Grigg (a slew of volumes on Lloyd George) and Martin Gilbert (who wrote about Churchill on an industrial scale).”
KTSA Radio, https://www.ktsa.com/from-our-veterans-day-show-best-books-about-americas-wars/, “From Our Veterans’ Day Show: Best Books About America’s Wars, by Jack Riccardi, posted 13 November 2019:“The First World War” by Martin Gilbert
Jewish Link, https://jewishlinknj.com/features/34359-the-jewish-contribution-to-the-allied-cause-during-world-wars-i-and-ii, “The Jewish Contribution to the Allied Cause During World Wars I and II” by Alex Grobman, posted 14 November 2019:
“Historian Martin Gilbert noted that, after arriving in London in October 1916, Aaronsohn met with Sir Mark Sykes, a Conservative Member of Parliament, to explain the pre-war accomplishments of the Jews in Palestine. Consequently, and in large part because of these conversations, the British government sent a note to the Italian government, with whom they were in discussions, asking them to grant the British railway rights in the impending Baghdad-Haifa railway, and to ‘generally respect the civic and colonizing rights of the Jews in Palestine.’”
October 2019
Heritage Florida Jewish News, https://www.heritagefl.com/story/2019/10/11/features/rj-palacio-tells-us-why-her-new-book-is-a-holocaust-story/12206.html, “R.J. Palacio tells us why her new book is a Holocaust story,” by R. J. Palacio, posted 11 October 2019:
“I remember reading Martin Gilbert’s book The Righteous, which were stories about the gentiles who actually tried to shield Jews and rescue Jews, and sometimes Romani, from persecution. I’ve always been very moved by the call to goodness, and the strength it took for people to do the right thing.”
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, https://www.camera.org/article/israels-other-founding-fathers-and-a-vanquished-world/, “Israel’s Other Founding Fathers and a Vanquished World” by Sean Durns, posted 15 October 2019:
“As the late Martin Gilbert recounted in his 2010 book, In Ishmael’s House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands, their property was usually seized or destroyed. They faced torture, years of imprisonment, and murder. An entire civilization, rich in culture and history, was forcibly and violently uprooted.”
Cleveland Jewish News, https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/local_news/fidf-ohio-chapter-s-annual-dinner-draws-record-crowd/article_a5232bb2-da2a-11e9-b182-f79fdf25268b.html, “FIDF Ohio Chapter’s annual dinner draws record crowd” by Jane Kaufman, posted 19 September 2019:
“Rabbi Doron Perez spoke about the suffering of the Jewish people and the role of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces in safeguarding Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. … He quoted historian Martin Gilbert, who recounted the suffering of Jews throughout history.”
September 2019
The Yorkshire Post, https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/battle-of-arnhem-75-what-went-wrong-with-operation-market-garden-1-9999389, “Battle of Arnhem 75: What went wrong with Operation Market Garden,” by Greg Wright, posted 18 September 2019:
“Bad planning and fierce German resistance meant that only a small number of airborne troops reached their planned destinations, such as Arnhem bridge. ‘After an eight day battle, in which on the fifth day, a brigade of Polish parachute troops managed to link up with the original force, the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem was retaken by the Germans,’ wrote Martin Gilbert, in his definitive history of the Second World War. ‘In all, more than 6,000 of the original force of 35,000 men were taken prisoner; just over 2,000 succeeded in recrossing the Rhine to safety.’”
Arutz Sheva, Israel International News, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24352, “The Jewish contribution to the Allied Cause: World War I and WW II” by Dr Alex Grobman, posted 25 August 2019:
“After arriving in London in October 1916, historian Martin Gilbert noted that Aaronsohn met with Sir Mark Sykes, a Conservative Member of Parliament, to explain the pre-war accomplishments of the Jews in Palestine. Consequently, and in large part because of these conversations, the British government sent a note to the Italian government, with whom they were in discussions, asking them to grant the British railway rights in the impending Baghdad-Haifa railway, and to ‘generally respect the civic and colonizing rights of the Jews in Palestine.’
“During his second premiership (1951-1955), Gilbert added, Winston Churchill praised the Jewish contribution in both World Wars, especially Chaim Weizmann’s development of a new way to manufacture acetone, used in explosives vital to winning the war, and Albert Einstein’s generation of the physics of the atomic bomb with which ‘we were able to put the seal’ on World War II.”
Evening Standard, https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/letters/the-reader-hypocrisy-is-rife-in-the-amazonian-fire-fiasco-a4228841.html, “Brexit rebels must follow Churchill”, by Alistair Lexden, posted 4 September 2019:
“The Chamberlain government did not try to deselect Churchill in the Thirties [‘“Off with their heads” is a hollow political threat’, September 2]. The moves to oust him were made by critics in his Epping constituency. His official biographer, Martin Gilbert, writes: ‘All the local constituency officers denounced Churchill’s opposition to Chamberlain.’ However, the great man won them round saying: ‘What is the use of sending members to Parliament to say things merely to give satisfaction to the government whips?’ That is what all MPs threatened with deselection today must tell their constituency associations.”
August 2019
Short List, Dubai, https://www.shortlistdubai.com/article/21289-22-biographies-every-man-should-read, “22 biographies every man should read” by Michael Hogan, posted 7 August 2019:
Churchill, A Life by Martin Gilbert
“One of the greatest Britons has one of the greatest biographies. Army officer, Nobel Prize-winning writer, artist and prime minister in two separate stints, Sir Winnie was a titan who bestrode British public life for 60 years. As official biographer, Oxford history don Gilbert wrote an eight-book epic, which he boiled down into this single-volume version. Politician Michael Foot said of Gilbert’s work: ‘Whoever made Martin Gilbert Churchill’s biographer deserves a vote of thanks from the nation.’
Key details: The way Churchill drove off the black dog of depression and many other, more literal enemies in wartime, powered by nothing but cigars, whisky and sheer force of personality.”
Churchill, A Life
The Ecologist, https://theecologist.org/2019/aug/02/andrew-mackillop-and-glory-years, “Andrew MacKillop and the ‘glory years’” by Ian MacKillop, posted 2 August 2019:
1944, “At the time, Douglas was working at the British Embassy (he gets a mention in Martin Gilbert’s Auschwitz and the Allies); at the cessation of hostilities, the family returned to London, finally settling in Dorset.”
The Times, Saturday Review, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/michael-gove-by-owen-bennett-review-the-mischievous-charm-of-mr-gove-8zvclldn5, “Michael Gove by Owen Bennett review – the mischievous charm of Mr Gove” by Philip Collins, posted 2 August 2019:
“If you like this sort of book it’s rather good. It has a clear narrative arc and is much more readable than most, although there is still too much of that ‘over pizza margarita and a bottle of merlot, the plotters plotted …’ type of stuff. It’s hard to imagine Martin Gilbert writing: ‘Feasting on pheasant and over-boiled potatoes, Churchill demanded he get Alanbrooke on the phone.’ But if you want to feel you were there and you find this sort of thing atmospheric, there is plenty here.”
Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/International/Campaign-launches-to-save-Lawrence-of-Arabias-childhood-home-in-Oxford-598168, “Campaign Launched to Save Lawrence of Arabia’s Childhood Home in Oxford,” by Benjamin Weinthal, posted 9 August 2019:
“Winston Churchill’s biographer Sir Martin Gilbert chronicled what he termed Lawrence’s ‘little known romance with Zionism,’ including Lawrence’s comment priot to WWI on Jews in then-Palestine: ‘The sooner the Jews farm it the better: their colonies are bright spots in a desert.’”
JUNE 2019
The Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/01/historian-andrew-roberts75-years-d-day-still-astounded-sheer/ “75 years after D-Day we’re still astounded by the sheer scale of Operation Overlord” by Andrew Roberts, posted 1 June 2019:
“Nor was the outcome of D-Day by any means a foregone conclusion, despite the Allied preponderance in men and material. ‘If the Germans decided to bring their maximum forces to the beachheads,’ estimated the historian Sir Martin Gilbert, ‘the Allied armies could have been defeated on the shore.’”
Honest Reporting, https://honestreporting.com/roots-of-zionism-theodor-herzl-israel-history-balfour-declaration/, “The Roots of Zionism” by “Honest Reporting Staff”, posted 4 June 2019:
“On the ground there were pioneers from Eastern Europe, mainly from Russia, making their way to Ottoman Palestine to eke out a living and build Jewish settlements from the 1880s. Martin Gilbert charts their progress in his book Israel, A History.”
The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/05/max-arthur-obituary, “Max Arthur obituary” by Ruth Cowen, posted 5 June 2019:
“Optimistic, exuberant and immensely charismatic, Max had a large circle of friends and was particularly close to Sir Martin Gilbert, another highly successful historian who was, for different reasons, also an establishment outsider.”
Read More: https://www.martingilbert.com/blatt/max-arthur-obe-25-february-1939-2-may-2019/
Thrive Global, https://thriveglobal.com/stories/c-suite-moms-its-easier-to-leave-home-and-make-trade-offs-when-i-am-building-something-important-for-our-society-with-anna-robinson-and-jessica-abo/, “C-Suite Moms: ‘It’s easier to leave home and make trade-offs when I am building something important for society.’ with Anna Robinson and Jessica Abo, by Jessica Abo, posted 17 June 2019:
“I am obsessed with three people – Winston Churchill, Elton John, and Jane Goodall. … I’ve read several Churchill books – most recently The Power of Words edited by Martin Gilbert. Churchill’s dedication to making the best of himself, so he could fulfil his potential for society, and do important things with his life – has served as a big inspiration to me. I talk about that with my children all the time – that there are important things we can do – and the privilege we have brings responsibility to do those things with our life.”
Power Line, https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/06/vdh-recommends.php, “VDH Recommends” by Scott Johnson, posted 18 June 2019:
“In his terrific essay ‘Why study war,’ Victor Davis Hanson observes: … inside accounts of the political will necessary to continue wars amid domestic depression and bad news from the front. So does Martin Gilbert’s Winston S Churchill: Finest Hour, 1939-1941.”
The Federalist, https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/20/best-conservative-films-watch-summer/, “Here Are The Best Conservative Films To Watch This Summer,” by Joshua Lawson, posted 20 June 2019:
On Darkest Hour: “Gary Oldman’s transformative performance as the greatest Briton won him the Best Actor Oscar and anchors the film. For further reading on Churchill, one of conservatism’s greatest champions, there are more than 1,000 biographies to choose from. The works of Larry Arnn, Martin Gilbert, and Andrew Roberts stand above the rest.”
Shine, Shanghai Daily, https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/1906247224/, “Book features city’s links with Jews” by Yang Jian, posted 24 June 2019:
“Readers are also recommended to read a history of Jews and their faith written by British historian Martin Gilbert.”
The New York Times, Book Review, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/27/books/review/by-the-book-greg-iles.html, “By the Book: Greg Iles,” by Greg Iles, posted 27 June 2019:
“If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?
“Martin Gilbert’s The Holocaust. It’s a history that can be read by anyone, and I would hope that the indelible descriptions combined with detailed documentation might – just might – make him register the suffering of others and the weight of history in a visceral way.”
May 2019
Honest Reporting, https://honestreporting.com/recommended-reading-top-10-israel-history-books/, “Recommended Reading: Top 10 Israel History Books” by Simon Plosker, posted 29 April 2019:
Israel, A History, Martin Gilbert
“Fleeing persecution in Europe, thousands of Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine after World War II. Renowned historian Martin Gilbert crafts a riveting account of Israel’s turbulent history, from the birth of the Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl to the unexpected declaration of its statehood in 1948, and through the many wars, conflicts, treaties, negotiations, and events that have shaped its past six decades – including the Six Day War, the Intifada, Suez, and the Yom Kippur War. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand source materials, eyewitness accounts, and his own personal and intimate knowledge of the country, Gilbert weaves a complex narrative that is both gripping and informative, and probes both the ideals and realities of modern statehood.”
Financial Times, https://www.ft.com/content/40781cfe-6a72-11e9-9ff9-8c855179f1c4, “Look back in anguish: Did botched British diplomacy help create Nazi Germany?” by Jo Johnson, posted 8 May 2019:
“During nearly 80 years of historiographical conflict, numerous revisionist scholars, from AJP Taylor to Martin Gilbert, have risked committing cultural heresy by offering a more understanding assessment of Britain’s strategy — arguing that its political elite in the 1930s enjoyed little in the way of political, financial, military, diplomatic or social freedom to construct a more robust foreign policy.”
Read More: Roots of Appeasement
Aish, https://www.aish.com/ci/s/Rashida-Tlaibs-Four-Lies-about-Palestinians-and-the-Holocaust.html, “Rashida Tlaib’s Four Lies about Palestinians and the Holocaust” by Rabbi Shraga Simmons, posted 14 May 2019:
“British historian Martin Gilbert estimates that tens of thousands of Arabs immigrated to Palestine in the 1920s and ’30s, attracted by the economic opportunities that Jews – fuelled by Western capital and technology – made possible.”
Laredo Morning Times, https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Herman-Wouk-103-Pulitzer-Prize-winning-master-13853885.php, “Herman Wouk, 103: Pulitzer Prize-winning master of sweeping historical fiction” by Becky Krystal, posted 17 May 2019:
“Wouk once joked in a speech that historical fiction is ‘at best a bastard form and highly suspect.’ While his dedication to the genre earned him the respect of such scholars as historian David McCullough and Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert, Wouk said he recognized that his most important job was as a storyteller.”
Sir Martin was privileged to be the Herman Wouk Chair in Modern Jewish Studies at the University of California, San Diego for two months in 2002.
April 2019
Hillsdale Collegian,http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2019/03/college-receives-gilbert-archives-holocaust-research-material/“College receives Gilbert archives, Holocaust research material” by Victoria Marshall, posted 28 March 2019:
“Hillsdale College recently acquired the entire working library and archives of the late Gilbert, the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill from 1968 yo 2012, who died in 2015.”
Read More: Churchill (Multi-volume) Biography Page
The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/05/appeasing-hitler-chamberlain-churchill-road-to-war-tim-bouverie-review, “Appeasing Hitler by Tim Bouverie – review, the road to war” by Susan Pedersen, posted 5 April 2019:
“Is it that the groaning shelves of books on appeasement in our libraries and bookshops are, because they make some analytical points, not “narrative”? Or is it that AJP Taylor, Donald Cameron Watt, David Reynolds, Richard Overy, RAC Parker, Martin Gilbert and all the other historians who have tilled this furrow (all cited by Tim Bouverie), not to mention Winston Churchill himself, are somehow not ‘major’?”
Hermann Herald, https://hermannherald.com/even-astronauts-fear-the-left/33964/, “Even Astronauts Fear the Left,” by Michael Massai, posted 21 April 2019:
“As regards the Bengal famine, Churchill’s official biographer, the late Sir Martin Gilbert, whom I personally knew to be among the most honest writers I ever met, said:’Churchill was not responsible for the Bengal Famine.I have been searching for evidence for years:none has turned up.The 1944 Document volume of the official biography (Hillsdale College Press) will resolve this issue finally.’”
Read More: Churchill (Multi-volume) Biography Page
Honest Reporting, https://honestreporting.com/recommended-reading-top-10-israel-history-books/, “Recommended Reading: Top 10 Israel History Books”, by Simon Plosker, posted 29 April 2019:
On Israel, A History:
“Fleeing persecution in Europe, thousands of Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine after World War II. Renowned historian Martin Gilbert crafts a riveting account of Israel’s turbulent history, from the birth of the Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl to the unexpected declaration of its statehood in 1948, and through the many wars, conflicts, treaties, negotiations, and events that have shaped its past six decades—including the Six Day War, the Intifada, Suez, and the Yom Kippur War. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand source materials, eyewitness accounts, and his own personal and intimate knowledge of the country, Gilbert weaves a complex narrative that’s both gripping and informative, and probes both the ideals and realities of modern statehood.”
Read More: Israel, A History
March 2019
Breaking Israel News, https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/123697/vatican-second-world-war-era-archives/, “Vatican to Open Second World War-Era Archives, Allow Investigation into Pius XII” by David Brummer, posted 4 March 2019:
“Many Jews have criticized him for not speaking out forcefully enough against the Nazi atrocities. However, a more nuanced view has taken shape over the last two decades or so, with the late British Jewish historian Sir Martin Gilbert being one of the proponents of the argument that he did much behind the scenes to try and hide Jews in Church properties in Rome and Italy.”
Read: The Righteous
Winston Churchill. Org, https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/churchill-bulletin/bulletin-128-mar-2019/jonathan-sandys-rip/?mc_cid=462a8d858c&mc_eid=8e17177c1f “Jonathan Sandys RIP, Great-Grandson of Churchill Inspired Many” by Duncan Sandys, posted 6 March 2019:
“Despite all the words written about Churchill, in discussion with Wallace and encouraged by Martin Gilbert, Jonathan felt he had found something that had not been studied:Churchill’s religious beliefs and practices.”
Read: Churchill, A Life
Middle East Forum, https://www.meforum.org/57936/ishmael-father-arabs, “Ishmael is Not the Father of the Arabs” by Mark Durie, posted 6 March 2019:
“Authors and teachers often treat the word Ishmael as a kind of code for Islam or Muslims.Examples of book titles which reflect this are … Martin Gilbert’s In Ishmael’s House, a history of the Jews under Islam ….”
Read: In Ishmael’s House
Alton Telegraph, thetelegraph.com, Alton, Illinois, “After 100 years, Mussolini’s fascist party is a reminder of the fragility of freedom”, posted 12 March 2019:
“As outlined by historian Martin Gilbert, the Italian and German experiments with fascism offer urgent lessons for our own day.”
Read: Second World War
Arutz Sheva, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23572, “The myth of the non-Jewish Abraham” by Gerald A Honigman, posted 12 March 2019:
“A reading of Middle Eastern Jewish scholars such as Norman Stillman, Sir Martin Gilbert, Albert Memmi, and Bat Ye’or is a must on this subject ….”
Read: In Ishmael’s House
The Algemeiner, https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/03/19/israels-other-founding-fathers-and-a-vanquished-world/, “Israel’s Other Founding Fathers and a Vanquished World” by Sean Durns, posted 19 March 2019:
“In the years after 1948, more than 850,000 Jews were ejected from Middle Eastern lands – lands that their communities had often lived in for centuries, in some cases millennia. As the late Martin Gilbert recounted in his 2010 book, In Ishmael’s House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands, their property was usually seized or destroyed.They faced torture, years of imprisonment, and murder.And entire civilization, rich in culture and history, was forcibly and violently uprooted.”
Read: In Ishmael’s House
February 2019
The Jewish Chronicle, https://www.thejc.com/community/community-news/city-of-london-service-is-a-tearful-reminder-of-iraqi-massacre-1.480491, “City of London service is a tearful reminder of Iraqi massacre” by Simon Rocker, posted 22 February 2019:
“Some were young students who, according to historian Martin Gilbert’s account, were still in their teens, despite Iraqi law not permitting the death sentence for those under 20.”
READ: In Ishmael’s House
Newstalk ZB, Auckland, New Zealand, https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/opinion/leighton-smith-rising-anti-semitism-must-be-stamped-out/, “Rising anti-Semitism must be stamped out” by Leighton Smith, posted 2 February 2019:
“… ‘It was called Kristallnacht: the night of broken glass. It was the prelude to the Holocaust and a warning of what happens when a society falls victim to its baser instinct’ (adapted from Kristallnacht, Sir Martin Gilbert, Hodder 2005).”
READ: Kristallnacht
Arts & Collections, https://www.artsandcollections.com/the-folio-society-looks-to-sci-fi-themes-with-illustrated-classic-books/, “The Folio Society looks to sci-fi themes with luxuriously illustrated classic books” by Chris Jenkins, posted 5 February 2019:
“Founded in 1947, The Folio Society’s stated goal is to ‘create beautiful and authoritative editions of great literary works for readers’. Its catalogue includes non-fiction from Charles Darwin to Martin Gilbert to Mary Beard, while the fiction list includes the likes of Truman Capote, Frank Herbert and Kenneth Grahame.”
READ: Churchill, A Life
Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/articles/hitlers-pawn-review-who-was-herschel-grynszpan-11549639436, “Hitler’s Pawn Review: Who Was Herschel Grynszpan? By Ian Brunskill, posted 8 February 2019:
“The demonstrations – more accurately described (by the historian Martin Gilbert) as ‘a coordinated, comprehensive rampage’ ….”
READ: Kristallnacht
The Conservative Woman, https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/why-the-left-smear-our-greatest-briton/, “Why the Left smear our greatest Briton” by Paul T Horgan, posted 15 February 2019:
“Churchill’s official biography runs to eight volumes and was completed in 1988. There are numerous companion volumes of his official papers. The late Sir Martin Gilbert, who wrote six of the eight volumes, dedicated his life to preserving Churchill’s place in history, warts and all.”
READ: Churchill, A Life
Lead Like Churchill, http://leadlikechurchill.org/category/death/?fbclid=IwAR26PNuJbGxOMKzocMqa8zRtyygVR3S6dikSxxruVLNEle02AM9ziJSGLFY, “Sir Martin Gilbert: One of the Greatest Historians of Our Time” by Jonathan Sandys, posted 4 February 2015.
Editor’s Note: This obituary, written directly after Martin’s death, has only recently come to my attention. Jonathan Sandys, one of Churchill’s great-grandsons, passed away last autumn. This March he would have been 44.
January 2019
The Christian Post, https://www.christianpost.com/voice/jonathan-sandys-the-man-who-could-call-churchill-great-grandpapa-dies.html, “Jonathan Sandys, the man who could call Churchill ‘great-grandpapa’, dies” by Wallace Henley, posted 3 January 2019:
“Jonathan went to Sir Martin Gilbert, the official Churchill historian—and the greatest—to test Jonathan’s conclusions that there was much more there than had been covered. Gilbert ‘encouraged me to press on,’ and said there was ‘loads of information on the topic that others had not considered in depth.’
“’Martin made me promise the same promise that was exacted from him in the 1950s that if I’m going to write about my great-grandfather, then I must stick to the letter of the law when it comes to history; I must not embellish anything; I must tell the absolute truth about Churchill, warts and all.’”
READ: Churchill, A Life
The American Interest, https://www.the-american-interest.com/2019/01/22/churchill-in-all-his-complexity/, “Churchill in All His Complexity”, a review on Andrew Roberts’ book Churchill: Walking with Destiny, by Jeffrey Herf, posted 22 January 2019:
“The basic story and its many details have been superbly presented before, most extensively in Martin Gilbert’s eight volumes (several with two or three parts), published from 1966 to 1988.”
Clarification: Sir Martin wrote six volumes of the Churchill biography, the earlier two were written by Churchill’s son Randolph. To date 21 volumes of documents have been published as complements to the volumes of Churchill’s life. Some of those appeared in an earlier edition as “parts” or “companions”.
READ: Churchill, A Life
The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/obituaries/frank-blaichman-dead.html, “Frank Blaichman, 96, Dies; Led Jewish Fighters in World War II” by Neil Genzlinger, posted 25 January 2019:
“The British historian, Martin Gilbert wrote the introduction to Mr Blaichman’s book.”
READ: The Holocaust
The Churchill Project, https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/manchester-gilbert-churchill-biographies/ “The Biographers, William Manchester and Martin Gilbert” by Richard Langworth, posted 28 January 2019:
“Martin Gilbert is virtually error-free, but he takes an entirely different approach: a chronological, day by day account, which puts you at Churchill’s shoulder as events unfold. Gilbert refrains from expressing his opinion, but reviewers … make too much of this. His opinion is clear through his selection of material. It is mainly positive, but he does not overlook Churchill’s faults As a literary work it is thought by some to be almost too thorough. As a reference – particularly with the accompanying document volumes (up to twenty-one now, with two more until Hillsdale finishes the job next year) – it is unsurpassed.”
READ: Churchill Biography
December 2018
USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2018/12/10/winston-churchill-new-biography-andrew-roberts-book-review-churchill-walk-destiny/2207960002/, “Yes, there are still things to learn about Churchill, as fine new biography reveals” by Barry Singer, posted 10 December 2018:
“All Churchill biographies stand in the shadow of their subject and on the shoulders of Churchill’s official biographer, the late Sir Martin Gilbert, whose primary research constitutes the bulk of what we truly know.”
READ: Churchill, A Life
Fox News, https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/lawrence-of-arabia-may-have-been-murdered-by-british-secret-service-new-film-suggests, “Lawrence of Arabia may have been murdered by British secret service, new film suggests” by Benjamin Weinthal, posted 11 December 2018:
“Winston Churchill biographer Sir Martin Gilbert has documented what he termed Lawrence’s ‘little known romance with Zionism,’ including Lawrence’s comment prior to WWI on Jews in then-Palestine: ‘The sooner the Jews farm it the better: their colonies are bright spots in a desert.’”
READ: Churchill and the Jews
The Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/15/first-editor-sunday-telegraph-risked-death-hands-churchills/, “How the first editor of The Sunday Telegraph once risked death at the hands of Churchill’s son,” by Christopher Howse, posted 15 December 2018:
“The tall, birdlike Donald McLachlan had gone to discuss serialisation of the war leader’s memoirs with his son Randolph Churchill. Something McLachlan said fired the notorious temper of Randolph. Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s biographer, saw what happened next: ‘With a shaking and trembling of his whole body, Randolph rose from the table, strode over to the sideboard, picked up a carving knife, and, his face contorted with anger, shook the knife at the editor and bellowed more savagely than any of us had heard before: “People like you should have been shot by my father in 1940”.’”
READ: In Search of Churchill
The Sydney Morning Herald, https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/churchill-review-andrew-roberts-exhaustive-account-of-a-familiar-subject-20181213-h192if.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed, “Churchill review: Andrew Roberts’ exhaustive account of a familiar subject” by Gideon Haigh, posted 21 December 2108:
“Since his death in 1965, biographers have formed a conga line. The first was Churchill’s son, Randolph, commencing the official biography eventually stretched to eight volumes by Martin Gilbert ….”
READ: Churchill, A Life
November 2018
Hamodia, https://hamodia.com/2018/10/30/a-wake-up-call/, “A Wake-Up Call”, Editorial Op-Ed, posted 30 October 2018:
“On November 10, 1938 — an infamous night known to history as “Kristallnacht” — a wave of Nazi-orchestrated, pre-planned deadly riots and arson attacks against Jews took place against Jews throughout Germany and Austria. The pre-eminent historian Martin Gilbert describes how in the ancient German city of Worms, Herta Mansbacher, the assistant principal of the Jewish school, was among those who managed to put out the raging fire that had been lit in one of the synagogues, but a gang of louts soon arrived to light it again.”
READ: Kristallnacht
Tablet, https://www.tabletmag.com/author/amos-guiora, “’Kristallnacht’: The Legal Status of the Bystander” by Amos N Guiora, posted 9 November 2018:
“According to the historian Martin Gilbert, ‘Kristallnacht was the culmination of more than five years and nine months of systematic discrimination and persecution.’”
READ: Kristallnacht
The Richmond Times-Dispatch, richmond.com,
“Events today mirror evils of 80 years ago” by Tommy P. Bauer, posted 9 November 2018:
“Hannah Arendt called it the banality of evil. Author Martin Gilbert called it the collapse of morality, ‘an indication of what happens when a society falls victim to its baser instincts.’”
READ: Kristallnacht
The Mountaineer, mountaineer.com, “The war to end all wars”, by Jim Janke, posted 11 November 2018:
“First World War: A Complete History (Martin Gilbert) covers not just the military aspects of the war, but also diplomatic maneuvering and political issues. Battles are summarized, not detailed, but plenty of small unit action reports are included so you get a good feel for what life was like in the trenches. Gilbert places somewhat more emphasis on British and American operations than those of other combatants, but this book is still recommended as an excellent overall history.”
READ: First World War
Washington Times, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/13/from-churchill-to-trump/, “From Churchill to Trump” by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., posted 13 November 2018:
“As Roberts will be quick to say, his Churchill is written on the foundations laid by the writing of Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer who died a few years ago, and on the insights of half a dozen other astute historians.”
READ: Churchill, A Life
Hillsdale Collegian, https://newstral.com/en/article/en/1112110835/penny-arnn-making-broadlawn-a-home-allison-schuster, “Penny Arnn: Making Broadlawn a home” by Allison Schuster, posted 15 November 2018:
“At age 23, she began working for Sir Martin Gilbert, British historian and official Churchill biographer, and then met Larry Arnn, who was studying under Gilbert at the time.”
READ: In Search of Churchill
National Review, https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/scott-kellys-winston-churchill-comment/, “Even Astronauts Fear the Left” by Dennis Prager, posted 20 November 2018:
“And as regards the Bengal famine, Churchill’s official biographer, the late Sir Martin Gilbert, whom I personally knew to be among the most honest writers I ever met, said:
‘Churchill was not responsible for the Bengal Famine. I have been searching for this evidence for years; none has turned up. The 1944 Document volume of the official biography [Hillsdale College Press] Will resolve this issue finally.’ ”
READ: Churchill Biography Page
The Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/November-27-2018-Response-to-two-letters-572962, Letter to the Editor, “Jerusalem, Israel-Jewish refugees” by Marsha Roth, posted 27 November 2018:
“In his [her] article ‘Why is the story of the Jewish refugees so little known?’ (November 25), Lyn Julius seems unaware of In Ishmael’s House, the comprehensive and highly informative history of Jews in Muslim lands before Islam to today by Martin Gilbert. There were periods of trust, mutual benefit, quiet, as well as terrible oppression, murder, degradation and exile. This book is eye-opening; I recommend it to Julius and your readers.”
READ: In Ishmael’s House
The Jewish Chronicle, https://www.thejc.com/culture/books/book-review-churchill-walking-with-destiny-1.472568, “Book Review: Churchill, Walking With Destiny, by Stephen Pollard, posted, 18 November 2018:
“Churchill must be the most written about figure ever, with over 1,000 biographies, from Sir Martin Gilbert’s magisterial multi-volume collection to many others ….”
READ: Churchill, A Life
The Independent, Dublin, https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/churchill-a-frolicking-dev-and-the-bellringing-irish-suffragette-37556741.html, “Churchill, a ‘frolicking’ Dev and the bell-ringing Irish suffragette”, book review of Churchill, Walking With Destiny, by Frank MacGabhann, posted 25 November 2018:
“The author reveals that 1,009 biographies of Churchill have been written since 1905. The question is inevitably posed – ‘Why 1,010?’ Martin Gilbert wrote nearly 20 volumes on Churchill.”
READ: Churchill, A Life
The Times of Israel, https://www.timesofisrael.com/does-britains-focus-on-the-kindertransport-hide-a-guilty-conscience/, “Does Britain’s focus on the Kindertransport hide a guilty conscience?” by Robert Philpot, posted 26 November 2018:
“As one of the most eminent historians of the Holocaust, the late Martin Gilbert argued: ‘No other country made such an effort to take in Jewish children as Britain.'”
READ: Kristallnacht
October 2018
Frontpage Magazine, https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271500/jeremy-corbyn-calls-arms-embargo-israel-hugh-fitzgerald, “Jeremy Corbyn calls for an arms embargo on Israel” by Hugh Fitzgerald, posted 4 October 2018:
“In the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war …. Even before the war was declared by the Arab states, the Arab Legion joined forces with local Arabs, who attacked the four Israeli settlements that made up the Etzzion bloc. The Jewish forces consisted of member of the Haganah militia and kibbutzniks. Of the 129 Haganah fighters and Jewish kibbutzniks who died during the defence of the settlement, Martin Gilbert states that fifteen were murdered on surrendering.”
READ: Israel, A History
The Yeshiva World, https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/1609602/tonight-80th-yartzheit-kristallnacht-the-night-of-broken-glass.html, “Tonight – 80th Yartzheit: Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass” posted 24 October 2018:
“The British historian Martin Gilbert wrote that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1934 was s widely reported as it was happening, and the accounts from the foreign journalists working in Germany sent shock waves around the world.”
READ: Kristallnacht Book Club Offer
American Thinker, https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/10/some_piercing_insights_into_the_inestimable_winston_churchill.html, “Some piercing insights into the inestimable Winston Churchill” a review of Richard Langworth’s book Winston Churchill, What He Actually Did and Said, by John Dale Dunn, posted 26 October 2018:
“One last consideration as articulated by Sir Martin Gilbert, noted and accomplished historian and Churchill’s biographer:
‘As I open file after file of Churchill’s archive … I am continually surprised by the truth of his assertions, the modernity of his thought, originality of his mind, constructiveness of his proposals, his humanity, and most remarkable of all, his foresight.’ ”
READ: Churchill, A Life
September 2018
The Jerusalem Post, https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Life-and-death-in-the-Riga-Ghetto-566284, “Life and Death in the Riga Ghetto” by Eli Kavon, posted 1 September 2018:
“Sir Martin Gilbert records the two accounts of 81-year-old groundbreaking Jewish historian Simon Dubnov’s murder in the Riga Ghetto in December 1941. ‘According to one account,’ writes Gilbert, ‘Dubnov was murdered by a Gestapo officer who had formerly been one of his pupils. Another account tells of how, sick and with a fever, with enfeebled legs, he could not move quickly enough out of the ghetto, and was shot in the back by a Latvian guard. According to this account, Dubnow’s last words, as he fell, were Schreibt un farschreibt! “Write and record!” This exhortation in Yiddish was typical of Dubnov, the lover of historical record, and the firm believer in the Yiddish culture of Eastern European Jewry, a culture which was being swept away.’ ”
Read: The Holocaust
New Stateman, https://www.newstatesman.com/
“When I was an undergraduate at Oxford, many years ago, my tutor for 20th-century European history, Martin Gilbert – who was about to become Churchill’s official biographer – set me a question that I found unexpectedly difficult to answer. Why, he asked, did Britain go to war in 1939 to save Poland, a country under an anti-Semitic, authoritarian and aggressively military regime; a country, moreover, whose obsolete military equipment and open northern and western borders on the plains of central Europe made it very difficult to defend? Why Poland when Britain did not go to war the year before to save Czechoslovakia, a liberal, democratic state with modern, well-equipped armed forces and (as he pointed out, showing me one of the maps of which he was so fond) an easily defensible mountainous border with Germany?
“What made the question difficult was not really the comparison. It wasn’t hard to conclude that foreign policy was, then as now, about national interest as seen by the government of the day and not about morality. It was clear from the documents Martin set me to read that public opinion in Britain in 1938 was vehemently opposed to war, making it impossible for the government to declare one. By September 1939 it was equally clear that British public opinion had swung round decisively in favour of a war with Germany, making it hard, to say the least, for the government not to.”
Read: The European Powers, 1900-1945
Ham & High, http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/
“A retrospective of the Welsh artist and former Highgate School teacher Kyffin Williams runs at the school and institute where he taught. … He went straight into teaching and remained at Highgate until 1973 where his pupils included the historian Sir Martin Gilbert and composers John Tavener and John Rutter.”
Read: The Atlas Collection
August 2018
The Free Press Journal, India, http://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/suchitra-krishnamoorthis-travel-and-book-tales/1338161, “Suchitra Krishnamoorthi’s travel and book tales” by Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, posted 19 August 2018:
“Firm favourites
These would be Roots – Alex Haley, Holocaust – Martin Gilbert, The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini, Self Made Man – Norah Vincent ….”
READ The Holocaust
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, https://www.jta.org/2018/08/20/life-religion/seattle-singer-wrote-entire-folk-rock-album-history-israeli-palestinian-conflict “This Seattle singer wrote an entire folk rock album on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” by Gabe Friedman, posted 20 August 2018, on Ben Fisher:
“… after graduating, Fisher set out to educate himself on Israel and its history. He read books on the country by Martin Gilbert, Daniel Gordis and Yossi Klein Halevi, and Israeli newspapers like Haaretz.”
READ Israel, A History
The Hindu, https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/vera-lynn-the-forces-sweetheart/article24819420.ece, “Vera Lynn, The Forces Sweetheart” by Prince Frederick, posted 30 August 2018:
“In his book Second World War, Martin Gilbert writes about the precarious situation these troops were in, in Imphal and how they had to be helped, through reinforcements and supplies. He writes about ‘Operation Stamina (which began on April 18, 1944), an air lift to the British and Indian troops besieged in Imphal. By the end of the month, 1,479 men and 1,929 tons of supplies had been flown in by air. By the end of June, 12,561 men and 18.824 tons had been delivered.”
READ Second World War
July 2018
Sir Martin chosen by the Jewish Museum London
to be one of the “remarkable Jewish men and women
who helped to shape British society.”
https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/martin-gilbert
The Jewish Star, http://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/memorial-to-children-of-the-shoah,15727, “Memorial to children of the Shoah” on Heroic Children, Untold Stories of the Unconquerable by Hanoch Teller, by Alan Jay Gerber, posted 3 July 2018, quoting Sir Martin:
“ ‘In this captivating book, Rabbi Hanoch Teller shares the story of children, who, in the midst of the Holocaust, showed courage in the face of torture, and hope in the midst of its indescribable sorrow,’ writes Sir Martin Gilbert, of blessed memory, one of our generation’s greatest historians.”
The Globe and Mail, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-auschwitz-escapee-told-the-world-about-nazi-genocide/ “Auschwitz escapee told the world about Nazi genocide” by Tu Thanh Ha, posted 4 July 2018, on Czeslaw Mordowicz (I urge you to read the complete article):
“’At last the reality of Auschwitz-Birkenau was clear to the outside world … the camp … was revealed to be the largest single killing centre in Europe,’ Mr Gilbert wrote in his 1981 book Auschwitz and the Allies.”
Daily Mail, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5951485/Theresa-presents-Donald-Trump-illustrated-copy-family-tree.html, “Theresa May presents Donald Trump with an illustrated copy of his family tree featuring his Scottish mother – while Melania gets a bespoke scent by the Queen’s perfumer called ‘The First Lady’” by Tim Sculthorpe, posted 13 July 2018:
“Mr Brown also handed over a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.”
[The biography is in fact eight volumes.]
Churchill Biography Collection
Mail Online, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-5954817/BLACK-DOG-David-Davis-gives-England-boss-Gareth-boot.html, “BLACK DOG: David Davis gives England boss the boot” by Black Dog for the Mail on Sunday, posted 15 July 2018:
“Embattled Theresa May has turned to Winston Churchill for inspiration as she clings to office.
“A copy of historian Sir Martin Gilbert’s analysis of the wartime leader, Continue to Pester, Nag and Bite, was spotted on her No 10 desk.”
Continue to Pester, Nag and Bite
Andover Caller, https://andovercaller.com/netanyahus-ties-with-v-4-states-deserve-the-benefit-of-the-doubt/154210/, “Netanyahu’s ties with V-4 states deserve the benefit of the doubt” by “Staff Writer”, posted 19 July 2018:
“Dutch Jewish journalist Hans Knoop … claims, ‘…The brilliant historian Martin Gilbert described in detail how the envoy of the Polish underground Jan Karski, together with foreign minister Count Edward Raczynski, kept on pressing the allies for action to save the Jews.’”
June 2018
When Grandpa Was a Boy, Were There Any Dinosaurs?, http://www.grandpadinosaur.com/1930s/hitler-churchill-road-accidents/, “What If …?”
by William cook, posted 7 June 2018:
“On the evening of 13 December, an unemployed mechanic and truck driver, Mario Constasino, driving along Fifth Avenue, in New York, collided with a British visitor to the city looking in the wrong direction as he crossed the street. The 57-year-old Briton was badly knocked about. His injuries were serious to put him in hospital, but within a few weeks he made a full recovery.”
“Martin Gilbert, Churchill and America (2005), pp. 131-3”
Female First, https://www.femalefirst.co.uk/books/jill-rose-nursing-churchill-1149409.html “5 Fun facts about Winston Churchill that I didn’t know by Jill Rose, Jill Rose writes a piece for us upon the release of her new book Nursing Churchill”
by Jill Rose, posted 19 June 2018:
“He had two baths every day. While in the tub he would ‘hold court to Sir Charles [Wilson], one or more secretaries, and any odd visitors who may be around.’ Sometimes he would sing ‘rather tunelessly, and at the top of his voice.’ Doris told Churchill’s biographer Martin Gilbert that the PM ‘was proud of being able to turn the taps off with his toes.’”
Charles Krauthammer obituary, https://richardlangworth.com/charles-krauthammer-1950-2015, “’If You Can Meet With Triumph and Disaster’: Charles Krauthammer 1950 – 2018”
by Richard Langworth, posted 22 June 2018:
“Fortune and the magic name of Churchill gave me the chance to meet him twice. The first was at a dinner for Sir Martin Gilbert hosted by a World War II Veteran’s Association in 2004.”
A P.S. from Esther: That dinner was also my opportunity to meet Charles Krauthammer, as he came to the dinner to meet Martin.
There was a lot of mutual respect between the two, even if they did not always share the same views. I was struck by sadness on reading his final piece as he faced the end of his life, and then it came so quickly after that. My condolences to his family, and to his large – and well-deserved following. His voice will be missed.
May 2018
JewishJournal, http://jewishjournal.com/culture/books/233869/new-book-judaism-zionism-land-israel-fills-void/, “Why New Book, ‘Judaism, Zionism and the Land of Israel,’ Fills a Void, by Edwin Black, posted 6 May 2018, republished from the San Diego Jewish World, posted 5 May 2018:
“… the estate and publishers of the late, great historian Martin Gilbert have allowed Rabbi Eliach to republish many of Gilbert’s treasured and classic maps in this volume.”
Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israel Conflict
The Times, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/the-times-magazine/beta-male-ive-become-a-southern-softie-83c5x5tkh “Beta male: I’ve become a southern softie” by Robert Crampton, posted 5 May 2018:
“I used to think my biography would be documented in a similar way to, say, Winston Churchill’s, some superdiligent historian like Martin Gilbert patiently reconstructing the fine detail of every single day of my existence.”
BreakingIsraelNews,https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/106754/a-remarkable-resource-opinion/ “A Remarkable Resource” by Jim Fletcher, posted 30 April 2018:
“I’ve enjoyed many studies of Israel, including Israel, by Sir Martin Gilbert.
NewYorkTimes,https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/books/review/alison-weir-by-the-book.html, “Alison Weir: By the Book” an interview, posted 17 May 2018:
“If you could require the prime minister to read one book, what would it be?
“I would give the prime minister Martin Gilbert’s The Will of the People: Churchill and Parliamentary Democracy, because she could benefit from its example.”
The Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-war-ii-at-sea-review-a-history-written-in-water-1526679460 “World War II at Sea Review: A History Written in Water” by Jonathan W. Jordan, posted 18 May 2018:
“In World War II at Sea, Mr. Symonds does for the naval struggle what Martin Gilbert did for the conflict on land in his The Second World War.”
The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/a-book-of-book-lists-jp-morgan-the-book-list-english-literature-summer-reading-a8363586.html, “The Book List: JP Morgan’s pick of the best reads for summer” by Alex Johnson, posted 23 May 2018:
“Churchill, A Life”, by Martin Gilbert
Tri-City News, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, http://www.tricitynews.com/opinion/letters/letter-cartoon-on-jewish-refugees-misses-mark-1.23310103, “Letter: Cartoon on Jewish refugees misses mark” by Joerge Dyrkton, posted 22 May 2018:
“Kristallnacht, or ‘night of broken glass’ on Nov. 10, 1938, in the words of noted historian Martin Gilbert was the most dramatic ‘prelude to destruction’. Over 1,000 synagogues were burned to the ground, countless Jewish shops and homes looted, followed by thousands of men going to concentration camps.”
April 2018
Review of The Story of Israel, http://reviewsbyamoslassen.com/?p=63691, “The Story of Israel: From the Birth of a Nation to the Present Day” by Martin Gilbert – The Story of Israel’s Birth and Development as a Nation”, by Amos Lassen, posted 2 April 2018:
“This is the story of Israel from the first settlers up to the present day. Each chapter is devoted to one segment of history and the photographs and illustrations interspersed through the text and fascinating and interesting. The content is succinct and factual and … it does all the major facets of Israel’s history.”
Michigan Chronicle, https://michronicleonline.com/2018/04/03/cornerstones-clark-durant-american-axles-morris-hood-inducted-into-association-of-churchill-fellows/, “Cornerstone’s Clark Durant, American Axle’s Morris Hood Inducted into Association of Churchill Fellows” by Roz Edward, posted 4 April 2018:
“Past Fellow inductees include … Sir Martin Gilbert ….”
Daily Times, https://dailytimes.com.pk/224183/the-radcliffe-line-revisited/, “The Radcliffe Line revisited” by Ahmad Faruqui, posted 6 April 2018:
“The book won endorsements from Mark Tully of the BBC, Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s biographer, and Jaswant Singh, biographer of Jinnah. It had been reviewed in draft form by the well-known historian Stanley Wolpert and others.”
iNews, The Essential Daily Briefing, https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/winston-churchill-criticism-andrew-roberts/, “Modern criticism of Winston Churchill is fake history – it’s based on quotes taken out of context” by Andrew Roberts, posted 6 April 2018:
“These ancient tropes, long exploded by serious Churchill historians such as Sir Martin Gilbert and Richard Langworth, tend to be based on truncated quotes ripped out of context.”
UKPOL, Political Speech Archive, http://www.ukpol.co.uk/sir-john-major-2017-martin-gilbert-lecture/, “Sir John Major – 2017 Martin Gilbert Lecture” by Sir John Major, posted 6 April 2018:
“I first met Martin over 30 years ago, and liked him immediately. He was highly intelligent, inquisitive – and interested in everything. He was also self-effacing and modest. Rarely has so much talent been so well concealed.
“His books speak to us still – and will continue to do so for generations to come.
“Martin always believed that – by having a knowledge of the past – the future could be shaped for the better.”
Jewish News Online, http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/joan-motl/, “Marching against the peril of indifference,” by Joan Ryan, posted 10 April 2018 quoting from Sir Martin’s book The Righteous:
“’Even in the darkness of the Holocaust,’ the late Martin Gilbert wrote in his wonderful account of their story, ‘there were sparks of light.’ But the stories of Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg and our own Frank Foley are not just those of many individual acts of courage and rescue, but a reminder, as Gilbert suggested, of ‘what human beings are capable of doing – for the good 0 when the challenge is greatest and the dangers most pressing,’”
Tablet, http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/259677/lithuanias-museum-of-holocaust-denial, “Lithuania’s Museum of Holocaust Denial” by Dovid Katz, posted 12 April 2018:
“Vilnius has a tiny, separate Holocaust museum, out of sight on a hill up a driveway, whose longtime fearless director, Rachel Kostanian, now retired, was repeatedly harrassed for her determination just to tell the truth. On more than one occasion, the late Sir Martin Gilbert would truly play the part of the white knight who would step in to save her job. The saga became the source for much dark humor on all sides of the debate.”
Surviving the Holocaust, Avraham Tory
Tablet, http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/259727/two-friends-who-escaped-from-auschwitz, “Two Friends Who Escaped from Auschwitz and Warned the World,” by Jackson Richman, posted 13 April 2018:
“’There had been a number of escapes from Auschwitz and in every case, the escapee had been caught, sometimes within hours, sometimes within days,’ the late British historian and Oxford professor Martin Gilbert said in a 2011 episode about Vrba and Wetzler’s escape in the PBS series Secrets of the Dead.”
Link for Film Transcript: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/escape-from-auschwitz-program-transcript/96/
The Algemeiner, https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/04/20/israel-and-russia-a-complicated-history/, “Israel and Russia, A Complicated History” by Ben Cohen, posted 20 April 2018:
“In any case, Israel’s leaders understood pretty clearly by the early 1950s that the Soviet embrace could easily turn into a noose. In his monumental history of the State of Israel, the late Martin Gilbert writes of an October 1955 conversation between Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett, and US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, in which the former complained that Israel had ‘lost everything’ with regard to its relations with Soviets ‘without gaining a thing’ from the Americans.”
March 2018
The Virginia Gazette, http://www.vagazette.com/opinion/va-vg-edit-shatz-0314-story.html, “The world marched to war, 1933-1939” by Frank Shatz, posted 13 March 2018:
“Marching To War 1933-1939, History as it Happened in Original Photographs,” published by The Illustrated London News [by Robert Ochsenhirst].
The foreword to the book was written by Sir Martin Gilbert, a British historian and author of 88 books, including works on Winston Churchill and 
the Holocaust.
Getty Images, http:gettyimages.co.uk/License/BBC_LDFT603L, “Late Great Britons – Churchill”, posted 21 March 2018, with thanks to Kate McShane for finding the quote:
“Doc profile of Winston Churchill. Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s biographer looks beyond the established reputation to find a very different greatness: Churchill the champion of social reform & international harmony.”
February 2018
Politifact, Politifact.com, “Fact-check: Darkest Hour movie gets Winston Churchill mostly right” by Jon Greenberg, posted 26 February 2018:
“In his meticulous biography of Churchill, Martin Gilbert cites Churchill’s May 26, 1940, telegram to the commander in Calais. Churchill called on him to hold out as long as possible to aid the British Expeditionary Force at Dunkirk.”
Business Standard, business-standard.com, India, “Rhythms of history: A rocking retelling of the later 20th century” by Vikas Datta, posted, 25 February 2018. In a piece about Billy Joel’s classic 1989 song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” about historical events between 1949 and 1989, Datta ends:
“But those who would prefer history chronologically need not get disheartened. Sir Martin Gilbert’s three-volume A History of the Twentieth Century is wider-ranging, though not having the same percussion arrangement.”
History of the Twentieth Century
South China Morning Post, scmp.com, “The five books Duncan Palmer couldn’t live without: Hong Kong hotel boss’ must-read if he were marooned on a desert island” by Kate Whitehead, posted 2 February 2018:
Never Despair: Winston S. Churchill, 1945-1965, by Martin Gilbert, 1988.
“This is the original Churchill biography. His statesmanship was tremendous – he was very engaging and brought people together after the second world war. We talk today about America and Europe, and how things are breaking up, but Churchill was about bringing people together.
“I read this book in the late 1990s when I was general manager of the Savoy in London. I kept coming across stories of Churchill – he was a regular at the Savoy in the war days – and that’s when I read this book. I’ve got a big 16-inch-tall brass bust of Churchill at my home in the UK.”
Winston S Churchill, Volume VIII Never Despair 1945-1965
The Bookseller, thebookseller.com, “Former Heinimann m.d. Nigel Viney dies” by Katherine Cowdrey, posted 6 February 2018:
“He initially started out in the trade by working in bookselling, first at Blackwells in Oxford then at Dennys in London. He later joined William Heinemann as production manager in 1963, subsequently moving into editorial, where he was engaged in projects including editing the official life of Churchill over many volumes, initially working with Randolph Churchill and latterly with Martin Gilbert.”
January 2018
The Daily Brian, dailybrian.com, “Churchill, the Jews and the Arabs” by Brian Brown, posted 5 January 2018:
“Since anti-Semitism is sweeping cross England and Europe, I want to quote some passages from England’s greatest statesman, Winston Churchill.
“I propose to quote passages from Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill and the Jews (2007).”
CBC News Saskatchewan, cbc.ca/newcanada/saskatchewan, “Books to add to your 2018 reading list”, posted 8 January 2018:
“Chris Best
“Best is a former Saskatchewan Roughrider and current Mechanical Engineer living in Regina”:
Churchill, A Life – Martin Gilbert
CougarBoard, cougarboard.com, submitted by dreamlvr, on 6 January 2018:
“I read the Martin Gilbert biography a few years ago, and it seems the portrayal isn’t far off the mark.”
Reddit AskHistorians, reddit.com, submitted by Bert799, on 8 January 2018:
“What are your opinions regarding Martin Gilbert’s books of WW1 and WW2? I have had an interest in buying them for a while now and wanted to know how accurate the are, and how ‘good’ they are to read (is it a slog or not).”
Kugelfang52 responds:
“I read the WW1 books by Gilbert, SLA Marshall, and Keegan about a decade ago. I enjoyed all of them as they offered quite different perspectives and focus. Looking at them as strictly operational histories versus a more ‘war and society’ approach, Gilbert’s work falls into the latter whereas the other two are more slanted toward military although not purely operational. More that the other two, he includes the views of society toward the war, notably the peace movement. I enjoyed how he interwove primary source quotations throughout his work.”
American Spectator, spectator.org, “The Spectacle Blog, Must See Churchill” by R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., on the film Darkest Hour, posted 16 January 2018:
“In it Winston appears in a subway car on his way to Westminster, and the passengers, all commoners, urge him never to surrender. Actually the official biographer of Churchill, Martin Gilbert, reminded me before he died of an incident that captured the scene’s spirit and had the added benefit of actually occurring in 1940.
“Winston was walking from Admiralty House across Horse Guards to a gate that leads to Number 10. A group of construction workers saw him and cheered. Winston became very agitated and could not unlock the gate. His aide, I believe it was Anthony Eden, asked him why he was so troubled. The new Prime Minister answered with tears in his eyes, “Because I can’t help them.” His darkest hour was that dark.”
Huff Post, huffingtonpost.com, “Darkest Hour: Read the Movie” by Barry Singer, posted 16 January 2018:
“Darkest Hour opens with Winston Churchill awaiting word as to whether, in the wake of Hitler’s invasion of Holland and Belgium, Neville Chamberlain will resign and Churchill will be appointed Prime Minister. To understand this critical transition, one should read Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, by Churchill’s official biographer Martin Gilbert. Even better, for anyone with the appetite, read the official biography itself; at the very least Volume VI, subtitled Finest Hour.
Historum.com, “Review of Martin Gilbert’s The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War” by Sam-Nary, posted 9 January 2018:
“Though the promotion for Haig would put him in a position to lead the British armies in France, Gilbert notes that it was actually events in London that did more to determine how the British forces were to be used.”
The Times, thetimes.co.uk, “Every age craves a new image of Churchill, Darkest Hour offers one of the best portraits of our wartime leader but no actor will ever capture this complex, multi-faceted character” by Ben Macintyre, posted 13 January 2018:
“In the eight-part series The Wilderness Years (1981), Robert Hardy, with the help of historian Martin Gilbert, played a Churchill who seemed to echo the rise of Thatcherism, at least in the minds of Thatcherites: ‘He was out of power. He stood alone. And he was right.’”
New Statesman, newstatesman.com, “What can Brexit Britain learn from Winston Churchill?” by Nicholas Shakespeare, posted 20 January 2018:
“… it was only by a whisker’s breadth that Churchill, not Halifax, became leader on 10 May 1940. Speaking at historian Martin Gilbert’s memorial service in 2015, former prime minister Gordon Brown recalled asking Gilbert to sum up what he had learned after writing his 38 volumes on Churchill. ‘I learned,’ Gilbert said, ‘what a close thing it was.’”
Politico, politico.com, “Winston Churchill dies at age 90, Jan. 24, 1965” by Andrew Glass, posted 24 January 2018:
“On this day in 1965, Winston Churchill, the prime minister who guided a beleaguered Britain through World War II, died in London at age 90.
“Today, Churchill is commemorated in St. Paul’s by a bronze memorial plaque that reads: ‘The catafalque of Sir Winston Churchill stood here at his state funeral on 30 January 1965.’”
SOURCE: “CHURCHILL AND AMERICA,” BY MARTIN GILBERT (2005)
Jewish Chronicle, thejc.com, “Examination of rough undercurrents of migration” book review of Journeys From the Abyss by Tony Kushner, by Robert Low, posted 26 January 2018:
“Kushner focuses on three groups of Jewish refugees: those pressed into domestic service in the 1930s, however overqualified they were for such drudgery; the 732 young Holocaust survivors airlifted to the Lake District in 1945 and immortalised by the late Sir Martin Gilbert as “The Boys” in his book of that name (although, as Kushner points out, 10 per cent of them were girls); and the 4,500 Jews on board the Exodus who, in 1947, were forcibly prevented from landing in Palestine by the British authorities and eventually returned to Hamburg.”
DECEMBER 2018
Jewish Standard, Times of Israel, jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com, “The Hungarian Jewish girl who became Indian almost-royalty” by Meylekh Viswanath, 7 December 2017:
Fori was a remarkable woman, who completely remade herself as an Indian while never forgetting her Jewish past. In fact, late in her life, when she met the British Jewish historian Martin Gilbert, a classmate of her son’s, she asked him for reading material on the history of the Jews. She felt her ignorance of that subject keenly. In response, Gilbert wrote a book, “Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5,000-Year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith,” published in 2002, based on his correspondence with her.
Being Jewish is, first and foremost, being a part of the Jewish people, and Fori felt this kinship until the end. As she told Martin Gilbert, “I have a feeling of guilt. I wasn’t there. I was safe. The guilt feeling is still with me. Why should I not have suffered?”
http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/the-hungarian-jewish-girl-who-became-indian-almost-royalty/
The Spectator, spectator.org, “Darkest Hour: What to Read if You Loved the Movie” by Richard M. Langworth, posted 8 December 2017:
Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, vol. VI, Finest Hour 1939-1941
(Hillsdale College Press, 2011, 1308 pages; http://amzn.to/2hBExwT)
“This is a whacking big book, yet not expensive. It’s the key volume of Churchill’s enormous Official Biography. It puts you at his shoulder day by day in May 1940, as France falls and Britain is left alone. Part two of the volume, also called “Darkest Hour,” is easily the most memorable section, walking you through a shocking a catalogue of disaster and the constant barrage of setbacks and challenges Churchill faced.”
PowerLine, powerlineblog.com, “Darkest Two Hours” by Scott Johnson, posted 9 December 2017:
“Churchill is not the man who foresaw Hitler’s threat and decried the policy of appeasement. He is not the man who called on Britain to resist Hitler and rebuild its defenses. He is not the visionary statesman who saw the gathering storm. He is not, as the title of one of Martin Gilbert’s biographical volumes has it, The Prophet of Truth. …
“To my knowledge the best Churchill on film remains Robert Hardy’s in the 8-part television series The Wilderness Years. Martin Gilbert’s companion book appears still to be in print.”
Vulture, vulture.com, “The 4 Things That Helped Gary Oldman Disappear Into Winston Churchill” by Kyle Buchanan, posted 11 December 2017:
“For the first two months of preparation, Oldman voraciously consumed any book or article he could find on Churchill. ‘My appreciation for him has risen, and I’m continuing to read about him and it doesn’t end with this film,’ he said. ‘I was in touch with a Churchill scholar and he guided me to a couple of the places to read, and then there was the Martin Gilbert book, [Churchill: A Life], which is sort of a bible.’”
The Algemeiner, algemeiner.com, “’Tis the Season to Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital” by Batsheva Neuer, posted 14 December 2017:
“Why did the Jews of Europe decide to create a Jewish state in the Land of Israel? The answer is not the Holocaust. The answer is also not because of the fall of the British Empire.
“It is because the Jews are the prototypical aboriginals returning to an ancient homeland. According to historian Martin Gilbert, for more than 1,600 years, the Jews formed the main population of ‘Palestine.’ For much of this time, the land was ruled by independent Hebrew kingdoms under King David and his successors. The name Israel was switched to Palestine by the Romans after their conquest — in an attempt to de-Judaize the kingdom.”
The Routledge Atlas of Jerusalem
The Federalist, federalist.com, “On the Difficult Question of Teaching Our Faith To Our Children” by Bethany Mandel, posted 20 December 2017:
“In his biography of Winston Churchill, Martin Gilbert paraphrased a letter Churchill sent home to his mother about why, at age 21, he planned to hire a tutor for himself.”
Chicago Tribune, chicagotribune.com, “10 things you might not know about fingerpointing” by Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer, posted 20 December 2017:
“Soon after Winston Churchill graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1894, he was accused by an ex-classmate’s father of ‘acts of gross immorality of the Oscar Wilde type.’ Churchill sued, winning a retraction and 400 pounds.”
Sources: Churchill, A Life by Martin Gilbert
The Weekly Standard, weeklystandard.com, “Can ‘Darkest Hour’ Avoid the Pitfalls That Have Plagued so Many Churchill Films?” by Steven F. Hayward, posted 20 December 2017:
“Like Young Winston, The Wilderness Years hews faithfully to the source material, in this case the fifth volume of Martin Gilbert’s magisterial official biography of Churchill covering that period, the longest of the Gilbert’s eight volumes at 1,167 pages.”
WSC Volume V, The Prophet of Truth
The Independent, independent.co.uk, “Brexit will be great for our food industry and our pubs – that’s why I stand against a second referendum” by Tim Martin, posted 21 December 2017:
“According to historian Martin Gilbert the truth exists, but it’s hidden in a fog by lack of evidence and lack of perspective – other impediments include intellectual arrogance and misinformation, especially in politics. It’s fascinating to see, at close quarters, the process by which myths are dismantled and the truth emerges in our democratic system.”
NOVEMBER 2017
The Times of Israel, timesofisrael.com, “Ahead of Balfour 100, UK enshrine’s Churchill’s headstrong case for Israel” by Robert Philpot, posted 1 November 2017:
“As Martin Gilbert suggested in his book, Churchill and the Jews, Churchill ‘held in high regard both the Jewish religious ethic and the Zionist ideal.’ ”
The New York Times, nytimes.com, “Blood, Sweat, Toil and Tears: Playing Churchill on Screen” by Julie Bloom, posted 3 November 2107:
“To get at the man beneath those cigar-puffing, jowly stereotypes, enhanced by makeup, Mr Oldman spent four months researching and preparing for the role – watching footage, reading his many works and those of biographers like Martin Gilbert and even the politician Boris Johnson.”
Las Vegas Optic, lasvegasoptic.com, Letters to the editor, by Frank Splendoria, posted 4 November 2017:
“In his book Second World War, Martin Gilbert describes the evolution of genocidal methods of the Nazis.”
National Post, nationalpost.com, “Why biographies can be as stimulating as great literature” by Robert Fulford, posted 6 November 2017:
“Moreover, Gilbert’s careful, detailed, chronological approach can prove illuminating and enjoyable even in its parts. If we choose just one period, such as the early stages of the Second World War, we find Martin putting us at Churchill’s shoulder as events swirl around him and he makes world-shaking decisions. When this kind of intimacy happens, biography becomes a literary art, at once enjoyable and educational, work that we may want to revisit often.”
The Jewish Chronicle, thejc.com, “Another centenary, and we still need to learn” by Jonathan Boyd posted 9 November 2017:
“Martin Gilbert wrote his atlases of Jewish history to portray ‘the extraordinary diversity of the Jewish saga.’ ”
“This Day in Jewish History” honours Sir Martin, posted 14 November 2017:
The Guardian, theguardian.com, “Jeanne Brousse obituary” posted 16 November 2017:
“ ‘I felt horrified by the atrocious fate likely to befall all those innocent victims whose only “mistake” was to have been born Jewish.’ Brousse is quoted as saying in Martin Gilbert’s 2003 book The Righteous: Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust.”
OCTOBER 2017
Rand Daily Mail, “Smuts and Churchill, two flickering lamps in the gloom” by David Southey, posted 26 September 2017; book review Churchill & Smuts – The Friendship, by Richard Steyn:
“He is clear that he has no intention in his new book of rehashing what has already been accomplished by acclaimed historians such as Martin Gilbert ….”
Camera.org, “C-SPAN Pairs with Palestinian Panelists Purveying Anti-Israel Propaganda”, posted 16 October 2017:
“Historian Martin Gilbert reports that 6,000 Jews resided in Jerusalem in 1838, compared to 5,000 Muslims and 3,000 Christians. Encyclopedia Britannica of 1835 ‘assessed the Jewish population of Jerusalem in 1844 at 7,120, making them the biggest single religious group in the city.’ ”
The Columbus Dispatch, dispatch.com, “Author Erik Larson finds new approaches to old stories” by Jim Welker, posted 23 October 2017, an interview with the author:
“Q. If you were to recommend that President Trump read something, what would it be?
“A. … if he were to read one of the great books of history about a real president – maybe Roosevelt or the eight-volume Winston Churchill biography by Martin Gilbert – it would show him what it means to be a real leader.”
The New India Express, newindiaexpress.com, “This poll will miss Nehru-Gandhi’s first ‘videshi bahu’ vote in Himachal Pradesh” by Vishal Gulati, IANS, posted 26 October 2017:
“The oldest resident of Kasauli and the oldest living member of one of the famous political families in India, popularly known as Auntie Fori, passed away at the age of 108 this April. … After the death of her husband, Auntie Fori, whose life has been portrayed by historian Martin Gilbert in his book Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5,000-Year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith, she was involved more in social work.
washingtonpost.com, ” ‘I was determined … that the greatest number of those who came to me could be saved’ ” by Emily Langer, posted 27 October 2017, an obituary of Jeanne Brousse, who told her story to Sir Martin for his book The Righteous:
” ‘I felt horrified by the atrocious fate likely to befall all these innocent victims whose only “mistake” was to have been born Jewish,” she once told the historian Martin Gilbert. ‘ I was determined to find solutions so that the greatest number of those who came to be could be saved. ….
” ‘I was faced with a number of painful, tragic situations,’ Gilbert quoted her as saying in his book The Righteous, The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. ‘Nothing was organized at the beginning. we had to find individual solutions case by case – quickly. It was so risky. My family and I were faced with impossible problems, and we had to think of ideas, subterfuge and ruses.’ ”
September 2017
13 September2017:Commentary,commentarymagazine.com,“Win-Winston, Review of Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality, by Richard M. Langworth” by Andrew Roberts
“Since the death of Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, in 2015, Churchill has needed a representative to destroy the vicious myths to which his reputation is constantly being subjected. Richard M. Langworth is that person, and his Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality is the book.
5 September 2017: Forbes, forbes.com
“How Great Leaders Persuade Using Word Pictures” by Randy Shattuck.
“Winston Churchill was a master of word-pictures. All great leaders have this ability, to one degree or another. This is well documented in Martin Gilbert’s book, Churchill: The Power Of Words. But Churchill’s most powerful and effective word-picture did not come from his own mouth.”
August 2017
5 August 2017: American Thinker, americanthinker.com, “Churchill Biopics, the Trouble with the Movies,” by Richard M. Langworth
“The 1981 TV series Churchill: The Wilderness Years remains the definitive Churchill biopic. Herein Robert Hardy showed us both Churchill’s human frailties and his greatness. Hardy and the series’ writers partnered with Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, to portray the anxious politician of the 1930s, out of power, vainly warning of the Nazi menace. Brilliantly cast, the result was a masterpiece.”
READ MORE: The Wilderness Years
3 August 2017: Jerry Amernic Blog “The Fiction of Historical Hollywood”
“If you want to know what happened at Dunkirk or any other event from World War II, read a book. Maybe even two. Read Sir Martin Gilbert.”
READ MORE: The Second World War, A Complete History
July 2017
21 July 2017: Management Today, managementtoday.co.uk: “Jeremy Bullmore’s best books about bosses, Stick to biographies, recommends, MT’s resident problem-solver” by Jeremy Bullmore.
“Q. I’m starting my own business and would like to read up on great bosses (my own one was pretty uninspiring). Who should I look into? And please don’t say Branson!
“Jeremy says: The best books about bosses are not about bosses. They’re about people who’ve managed to accomplish remarkable things. Very few will be soloists. All the great engineers, scientists, statesmen, generals, philanthropists, explorers, athletes, businessmen, team managers and impresarios owe some of their success to those whose allegiance they commanded. So don’t buy autobiographies; buy biographies of those whose achievements you most admire. The fundamentals of being a good boss haven’t changed that much so it doesn’t matter if many of your chosen subjects are long since dead. Some starter thoughts: Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey; Churchill by Martin Gilbert; The Double Helix by James Watson; Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.”
READ MORE on Churchill
MAY 2017
29 May 2017: The Hindu, thehindu.com, “About a reclusive icon, Two books that tell the Fori Nehru story” by Kallol Bhattacherjee
“In 2009, after Fori turned 100, I turned to scholar and conservationist Shernaz Cama, who had known her for many years, for information. I told her that though I had found a mention in books on Indira Gandhi and B.K. Nehru, Fori’s husband, hers was a character that appeared only fleetingly. It looked as if Fori’s life lacked a full narrative force in itself. In most of the biographies of Indira Gandhi, she appears as a friend and confidante. In B.K. Nehru’s autobiography Nice Guys Finish Second, she appears as a wife who gives direction and stability to a remarkable public life.
” Cama searched her study and fetched me Letters to Auntie Fori. ‘Read this and return the book on time,’ she said. The book is remarkable as it grew out of a conversation between Fori and Martin Gilbert, a friend of her son Ashok. …
“In her lifetime, Fori remained inaccessible to most writers. However, the two books — by B.K. Nehru and Gilbert — add up to be a biography of sorts as the former offers glimpses into her life through the eyes of her family members while the latter tells us about her European past and heritage.”
READ MORE: Letters To Auntie Fori: The Story Of The Jewish People
21 May 2017: The Times of Israel, timesofisrael.com
“Ignoring Israel, Trump misses chance to push for peace where it counts” By Raphael Ahren.
In the comments, Mladen Andrijasevic writes:
“Sir Martin Gilbert obtained information about Churchill’s meeting with King Abdulaziz by petitioning the British Prime Minister to allow him access to the archives which were supposed to be opened in 2045, when as Martin Gilbert put it , he would have been 9 years dead even if he lived to the age of 100. He was granted access. On February 17, 1945 on his way back from Yalta Churchill stopped in Cairo and met Ibn Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia. Churchill was trying to persuade Ibn Saud to accept the creation of a Jewish state, but unfortunately for Churchill (and us) Roosevelt had already beaten him to it and promised Ibn Saud that he would not do anything to help the Jews. What is more, Roosevelt said nothing to Churchill who was there too.”
READ MORE: Churchill and the Jews
April 2017
20 April 2017: The New York Jewish Week, jewishweek.timesofisrael.com, “Holocaust Memory Under Siege In Worlds Of Politics, Art, As Yad Vashem raps Trump White House, questions over its kid-glove treatment of some European governments” by Nathan Jeffay.
“Yad Vashem sends representatives to Lithuania’s Holocaust commission, despite the fact that, in a Kafkaesque turning-of-the-tables, the very same commission investigated Yitzhak Arad, a survivor and former Yad Vashem director, in relation to alleged acts against Lithuanian non-Jews when he was fighting as a partisan. This probing of Arad, who was a member of the commission, was just nine years ago and at the time, Yad Vashem’s chairman, Avner Shalev, took a tough and principled stand. He accused Lithuania of “historical revisionism and distortion,” that the country was equating Nazis and partisans — and he bolted from the commission. (So did the noted British historian Sir Martin Gilbert.)
“But today, Yad Vashem is back on the commission.”
15 April 2017: Telegram.com, Worcester, Massachussetts, “Letter: Spicer is dead wrong on Hitler’s use of poison gas” by Rev. David J. Miller.
“Sean Spicer is dead wrong. Hitler did, in fact, use poison gas to kill large numbers of his own people, German citizens in good standing.
“In his book ‘The Holocaust,’ Martin Gilbert describes how, from January 1940 to August 1941, 70,000 Germans were killed by gas in five ‘euthanasia institutions.’ The victims were Germans deemed unfit for life, the chronically sick, gypsies, and the mentally ill.”
14 April 2017: The Canadian Jewish News, cjnews.com, “With Yom Hashoah Nearing, We Remember Acts of Jewish Resistance” by Mark Mietkiewicz
“This year on the evening of April 23, people will pause to remember the heroism of the millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust. They will also remember the Jews who marshalled what resources they had in order to fight back against Nazi oppression. As Yom Hashoah approaches, here’s a look at Jewish resistance during the Second World War.
“The late renowned historian, Sir Martin Gilbert described resistance in his book, The Holocaust, the Jewish Tragedy: ‘In every ghetto, in every deportation train, in
every labor camp, even in the death camps, the will to resist was strong, and took many forms. Fighting with the few weapons that would be found, individual acts of defiance and protest, the courage of obtaining food and water under the threat of death, the superiority of refusing to allow the Germans their final wish to gloat over panic and despair.’
“Gilbert takes a broad definition of resistance. ‘Even passivity was a form of resistance. To die with dignity was a form of resistance. To resist the demoralizing, brutalizing force of evil, to refuse to be reduced to the level of animals, to live through the torment, to outlive the tormentors, these too were acts of resistance. Merely to give a witness of these events in testimony was, in the end, a contribution to victory. Simply to survive was a victory of the human spirit.'”
13 April 2017: The Times, thetimes.co.uk, “Don’t let the revisionists rewrite Nazi history” by David Aaronovitch, mentioning Jim Allen’s 1987 play Perdition:
“A television debate between Allen and the historian Martin Gilbert … ended in the playwright’s intellectual evisceration.”
5 April 2017: Honest Reporting Canada, “HRC Commentary in Winnipeg Free Press: ‘Balfour Declaration’s Centenary a Historic Moment'” by Mike Fegelman, quoting Michael Coren:
“Balfour’s comment was told to me by my old friend Sir Martin Gilbert, the famous historian and fellow of All Souls Oxford. Martin was a close and dear friend and also Churchill’s official biographer and also one of the greatest historians of Israel and also the Holocaust.”
Correction: Sir Martin was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford.
March 2017
7 March 2017: History News Network, “Yes, Churchill Really Was a Friend of the Jews” by Daniel Mandel
“Revisionism is a long-standing cottage industry where Winston Churchill is concerned …. which clashes with much that is presented in the late Sir Martin Gilbert’s Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship ….”
January 2017
24 January 2017: International Business Times, ibtimes.co.uk, “Sadiq Khan urges ‘zero tolerance attitude towards hate crimes’ following anti-Semitic attacks in London” by Lara Rebello
“… while meeting with genocide survivors at City Hall on 23 January. … At the event the mayor read an excerpt from Sir Martin Gilbert’s book on Holocaust survivors – The Boys: Triumph Over adversity – and met World War II Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich and Cambodian genocide survivor Sokal Din among others.”
5 January 2017: The Times of Israel, timesofisrael.com, “A chance meeting … or was it?” Blog by Zelda Harris.
“Dan then went on to tell me that his grandfather had originated from Germany and was one of ‘The Boys’ did I know about them?
“I smiled almost wept and said ‘There’s wonderful film of that name made by the late Sir Martin Gilbert, its about what happened when they came to England. I have always said it should be shown in every school’.”
December 2016
30 December 2016: Belfast Telegraph, belfasttelegraph.co.uk, “We are not living in a ‘post-truth’ world, we are living in a world of lies: Nigel Farage is not a Nazi, nor is Donald Trump. But what is terrifying – and deeply akin to fascism – is our ability to ‘think’ our way from truth into lies” by Robert Fisk.
“Most of us remember Nigel Farage’s disgraceful – and untrue – words to the European Parliament on 28 June when he claimed that most members ‘have never done a proper job’. But it was his other remark which was so frightening: ‘Isn’t it funny? When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me – well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you?’
“Those words jogged my memory. Where I had I heard this sneer before?
“Then, quite by chance, there I was in Poland a few days ago, reading the late Martin Gilbert’s Auschwitz and the Allies, about the US and British failure to respond militarily to news of the Nazi death camps. And there I read these words, uttered by Adolf Hitler on 30 September 1942: ‘In Germany, too, the Jews once laughed at my prophecies. I don’t know whether they are still laughing, or whether they have already lost the inclination to laugh, but I can assure you that everywhere they will stop laughing.’ In 1925, newly released from prison, Hitler had written a lengthy editorial in Volkischer Beobachter, attacking Jews, Marxists and the Weimar Republic. And that was 17 years before his 1942 ‘not laughing’ speech.”
16 December 2016: Haaretz, haaretz.com, “Theresa May’s Effort to Eradicate Anti-Semitism Needs Our Help” by Michael Laitman.
“Consciously or not, Jewish unity has always been a sore in the eyes of some non-Jews. They argue that the Jews are using their close ties with one another to gain unfair advantage over people from their host nations. Others, such as Winston Churchill, sensed that the ‘corporate spirit, the spirit of their race and faith,’ as Martin Gilbert quoted him in Churchill and the Jews, has a special role in Judaism. Churchill believed that this corporate spirit gives Jews a ‘special power which … nothing else would ever give.’ ”
14 December 2016: From the Catholic Herald, catholicherald.co.uk, “For years Pius XII has been smeared. The BBC retraction shows the tide is turning; Major historians such as Sir Martin Gilbert have demolished the myths first perpetrated by the Soviet Union” by William Doino, Jr.
“When I read the BBC’s correction, I could not but help think of the impressive scholarship of men like Chadwick and Gilbert, who did so much to exonerate Pius XII, and whom I had the privilege of consulting before their respective deaths. Both of them, I am sure, would have welcomed the BBC’s about-face, especially Gilbert, whose book,The Righteous, is a comprehensive study of Christians, including Pius XII, who rescued Jews during World War II – often at great risk to themselves.
“In 2003, the year Gilbert’s book was published, he granted me an extensive interview in which he methodically demolished the charges against Pius XII, emphasizing two things:
- Not only was the Catholic Church not “silent,” during the Holocaust, Vatican Radio, authorized and sustained by Pius XII, was among the first major voices to publicly condemn Nazi atrocities against Jews and Catholics in Poland, shortly after World War II began. Hence, said Gilbert, ‘To assert Pius XII was “silent” about Nazi mass murder is a serious error of historical fact.’ Sir Martin also told me that the Pope’s Christmas message of 1942, which condemned the extermination of people based upon their ‘race or descent’ was extremely important, because it ‘put the Pope squarely and publicly against the Holocaust.’ Indeed, the Nazis were so infuriated by it that they denounced Pius XII as a ‘mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals.’
- Asked if he agreed with the Vatican’s 1998 declaration on the Holocaust (‘We Remember’) that ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Jews were rescued under Pius XII, Gilbert, who spent decades meticulously researching the Holocaust in archives around the world, told me that that statement was not a self-serving exaggeration, but historically accurate: ‘Yes, that is certainly correct. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, saved by the entire Catholic Church, under the leadership, and with the support of Pope Pius XII – would, to my mind, be absolutely correct.’
“Gilbert has helped to inspire a generation of writers who have defended Pius XII with hard facts and serious research.”
8 December 2016: Jewish Link of New Jersey, jewishlinknj.com, “Should/Could the Allies Have Bombed Auschwitz?” by Norbert Strauss.
“Martin Gilbert … who is best known as the Biographer of Winston Churchill, wrote “Auschwitz and the Allies”. It is the best known reference work on the subject.”
2 December 2016: The Daily Caller, dailycaller.com, “The Crown: A Not-So-Crowning Achievement” by Richard M. Langworth.
“About that stroke: A whole episode is devoted to the Queen’s shock, after the fact, at learning that Churchill and his deputy, Anthony Eden, were simultaneously out of commission, and the country leaderless, in late June 1953. She summons Lord Salisbury (Clive Francis) and the Prime Minister himself, and gives them a dressing-down. After all, an adviser tells her, they are upper-class British schoolboys, used to a right good hiding by their nanny.
“Except it never happened.
“Three days after Churchill’s stroke, the Queen wrote from Edinburgh: ‘I am so sorry to hear from [private secretary] Tommy Lascelles that you have not been feeling too well these last few days. I do hope it is not serious and that you will be quite recovered in a very short time.’ (Martin Gilbert, Never Despair 1946-1965, 852.)
November 2016
28 November 2016: Jerusalem Post, jpost.com, “T.E. Lawrence wanted to see Jewish colonies – ‘bright spots in a desert’ – in the Holy Land” by Benjamin Glatt.
On November 28, 1918, a year after the Balfour Declaration, Lawrence wrote to the British newspaper “The Jewish Guardian,” cited in Martin Gilbert’s “Churchill and the Jews,” that “Speaking entirely as a non-Jew, I look on the Jews as the natural importers of Western leaven so necessary for countries of the Near East.”
23 November 2016: liherald.com, Long Island, New York, “Learning from their stories, Holocaust survivors asked to be educators” by Jeffrey Bessen.
“Maurice Vegh, 86, who was also at the luncheon, took that mission to heart many years ago. The Long Beach resident took it upon himself to visit public and private schools and museums, and tell his story, which is part of “The Boys: The Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors,” written by Sir Martin Gilbert and published in 1997.”
14 November 2016: GuelphToday.com, “From the Second Storey, A Holocaust survivor remembers, Howard Chandler’s story comes full circle with surprise find at Guelph exhibit” by Andrew Vowles.
“In Sir Martin Gilbert’s book The Boys: Triumph Over Adversity, published in 1996, Chandler says, ‘We were packed onto an open freight train and shuffled to and fro, depending which way the front was moving. We shuffled like this for four weeks, on two days of rations, and it took a very heavy toll. It was the worst time ever since entering the camps.’ ”
October 2016
20 October 2016: The Wall Street Journal, wsj.com, “Restoring the Fortunes of Zion” book review of Israel, A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis, by Neil Rogachevsky.
“His explanations of Israel’s major wars and the grinding conflicts of recent years are often evocative, but readers would be better off with two straightforward classics: Martin Gilbert’s “Israel” (1998) and Walter Laqueur’s “A History of Zionism” (1972), which remain the works to beat.”
August 2016
30 August 2016: The Wall Street Journal, wsj.com, “The Forgotten Story of Winston Churchill’s Daring Escape, Author Candice Millard on ‘Hero of the Empire’ and the art of historical writing”, by Eben Shapiro.
When asked “How many Churchill biographies did you read? Which do you recommend” Millard responded first with Sir Martin Gilbert’s “… all-encompassing biography ….”
30 August 2016: Vice.com, “This Documentary Is Telling the Story of World War I in Real Time” by Luke Winkle.
“On average, Neidell is writing about five episodes of ‘The Great War’ at once, studying macro-analyses like Sir Martin Gilbert’s The First World War and daily newspaper archives.”
25 August 2016: Fortune.com, “Goldman Sachs Says You Should Read These 9 Back-to-School Books” by Lucinda Shen.
“On Thursday, the investment banking giant published its second annual Back-to-School Reading List, a collection of books the bank’s executives put together each fall. Despite its name, the list is for both students and working adults at ‘every age and career stage,’ Goldman wrote …. CEO Lloyd Blankfein once suggested that young readers could learn a lot more reading about history than economics or the markets.
“6. Churchill: A Life, by Martin Gilbert
“Clark also recommends this biography exploring Winston Churchill, the U.K. prime minister during the Second World War. Churchill was fascinating ‘for his mistakes and failures as he is for his successes, his seemingly boundless energy and curiosity, and for having been an incredibly prolific writer,’ Clark said.”
GoldmanSachs.com, “2016 Back-To-School Reading List” 25 August 2016:
Kent Clark – Investment Management Division, New York:
Churchill: A Life, by Martin Gilbert
“This is a good one volume biography of Churchill by Martin Gilbert, who was the ‘official’ Churchill biographer. I think Churchill is as interesting for his mistakes and failures as he is for his successes, his seemingly boundless energy and curiosity, and for having been an incredibly prolific writer. The biography gives good perspective on some of the most important events of the 20th century, at least as seen from Churchill’s vantage point. Unless you have a good knowledge of the political figures of this era, I’d recommend an e-book edition since you can easily get a bit of information on the many characters who feature throughout the book.”
19 August 2016: Supply Chain Digest, scdigest.com, “In Supply Chain, it Pays to Put it in Writing, Too Often Scopes of Work – and Directives to Employees – Leave too Much Unclear and Open to Interpretation” by Dan Gilmore.
“As British Prime Minister in the Second World War, according to Martin Gilbert’s excellent book about Churchill’s war leadership, Churchill decided that every instruction, suggestion, proposal or criticism from him were to be in writing. Churchill insisted that all answers were to be in writing. Yes, there could be discussion, but decisions, instructions, proposals and criticism in writing.”
4 August 2016: The Daily Mail, dailymail.co.uk, London, “Three of four MPs are set to fly out of Britain for holidays this summer ….” by Matt Dathan
“Second World War titles also feature highly on this summer’s reading lists for MPs, with The Secret History of the Blitz, Roger Hermiston’s All Behind You, Winston: Churchill’s Great Coalition 1940-45, John Bew’s Citizen Clem and Martin Gilbert’s Holocaust all among the luggage as politicians jetted away for their summer breaks.”
2 August 2016: The Myeloma Beacon, myelomabeacon.com, Princeton, New Jersey, “Myeloma Rocket Scientist: Reflections on Harold Macmillan and Multiple Myeloma” by Trevor Williams.
” We are now in the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, one of the largest battles of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. For that reason, I have been re-reading Somme: The Heroism and Horror of War by Martin Gilbert. It is striking how many men who became well known in later life served at the Somme, for instance J. R. R. Tolkien and the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Some of these veterans suffered long-lasting effects from their time there. One such individual is my motivation for writing this column. Something that he said about his experiences when injured seemed to resonate with my experiences as a multiple myeloma survivor.”
July 2016
31 July 2016: Tribune Star (tribstar.com), Terre Haute Indiana, “The Off Season: Finding the man who died at Courcelette” by Mike Lunsford.
For more about the Battle of the Somme, he recommends Martin Gilbert’s The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War….
21 July 2016: The Oklahoman (newsok.com), Oklahoma City, “Recommended books about Winston Churchill” by Philip Hart.
If the reader limits his Churchill reading to a single work … Churchill: A Life pretty much sticks to the factual record …. couple reading it with his later book, In Search of Churchill — A Historian’s Journey. It is an account of what he learned from the many persons, then of an advanced age, who had crossed paths with Churchill; Gilbert tracked them down and interviewed them about Churchill’s personal qualities.
17th July 2016: “The Real Churchill’s London” Part 2 by Richard Langworth,
Richard Langworth recounts his memories of Sir Martin’s speech, “Spinning Top of Memories” posted by The Churchill Centre, on Churchill’s London. The best of Langworth; the best of Gilbert! https://richardlangworth.com/t
1 July 2016: The Weekly Standard, “The Battle of the Somme and Tolkien, 100 Years Later” by Michael Warren, quoting Joseph Loconte:
“Historian Sir Martin Gilbert, author of a definitive account of the Somme offensive, interviewed Tolkien in the 1960s about his life as a soldier. He notes that Tolkien’s description of the dead marshes matches precisely the macabre experience of soldiers at the Somme ….”
June 2016
30 June 2016: New York Times, “How JRR Tolkein found Mordor on the Western Front” Joseph Loconte
“According to the British historian Martin Gilbert, who interviewed Tolkien decades later about his combat experience, he came under intense enemy fire. He had heard ‘the fearful cries of men who had been hit,’ Gilbert wrote. ‘Tolkien and his signalers were always vulnerable.'”
Read More: What Tolkien Taught Me About the Battle of the Somme
28 June 2016: The Telegraph, www.telegraph.co.uk/news, “Chilcot Inquiry: when is the Iraq War Report being published and why had it taken so long?” by Emily Allen
“Historian Gilbert was noted for his meticulous biography of Churchill and his examination of the Holocaust.”
21 June 2016: “The Real Churchill’s London” by Richard Langworth,
Richard Langworth recounts his memories of Sir Martin’s speech, “Spinning Top of Memories” posted by The Churchill Centre, on Churchill’s London. The best of Langworth; the best of Gilbert! https://richardlangworth.com/
May 2016
7 May 2016: The Gatestone Institute, International Policy Council, “The Arabs’ Real Grievance Against the Jews” by Fred Maroun
“Before modern Israel, as the historian Martin Gilbert wrote, ‘Jews held the inferior status of dhimmi, which, despite giving them protection to worship according to their own faith, subjected them to many vexatious and humiliating restrictions in their daily lives.’ ” Quote from In Ishmael’s House, A History of Jews in Muslim Lands
6 May 2016: Canadian Jewish News, “Lecture Series to Look at Nuremberg Chief Prosecutor”, by Myron Love
“Now in its 11th year, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada’s annual Sol and Florence Kanee Distinguished Lecture Series – scheduled this year for May 16 – has brought to Winnipeg such notable scholars as Martin Gilbert and Deborah Lipstadt and journalists such as Caroline Glick and Avi Shavit.”
5 May 2016: Jerusalem Post, “Not Just News”, Grapevine: Kfar Etzion Saga
“On the day prior to Israel’s declaration of independence, members of the Arab Legion of the Jordanian Army, assisted by local Arabs, concluded a three-day battle against the settlers of Kibbutz Kfar Etzion. Of the 127 Hagana combatants and kibbutz members who died in defense of the settlement, 15, according to historian Martin Gilbert, were murdered after they surrendered. Many kibbutz members who paid the supreme sacrifice during that massacre were Holocaust survivors.”
April 2016
29 April 20: From The Inquirer, Philly.com, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “Commentary: At Dachau, A Grim Reminder of Horror and Atrocities” by Hannah Dougherty Campbell
“I would learn later that there were many unsung heroes of this time in the book The Righteous, by Martin Gilbert, I read about a man who hid a family in his cellar and covered the trapdoor with a rug. When Nazis searched his house, their guard dogs sniffed the rug area until he lured them away by offering them little pieces of meat. Women in various villages set loaves of bread on bushes along the trails leading to the camps so weakened prisoners would find them – and perhaps the strength to survive. Would we do the same? Risk our lives, our families, to save one person in peril?”
20 April: Bloomberg View, “Never Mind the Missile Tests, Iran Just Wants to Get Along” by Eli Lake, on Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister:
“After rehashing the history of the Iran-Iraq war and complaining about how U.S. presidents for 37 years have stated that ‘all options are on the table’ when it comes to countering Iranian aggression, Zarif writes, ‘The words “never again” resonate with Iranians, too.’
“ ‘Never again’ is of course most associated with preventing another Holocaust against the Jews. It is the title of Martin Gilbert’s history of that crime. Zarif is the front man of a regime that not only threatens to wipe out the world’s only Jewish state but also actively denies the Holocaust.”
“Sir Martin retained a great love of Cornwall, and with Lady Gilbert, made many visits to the County. They often stayed at Coverack, exploring the Lizard Peninsula, and also visited the Falmouth Jewish Cemetery. At Coverack, Martin transcribed a headstone in the Church graveyard of a young boy who had been killed in a bombing raid. He was … especially moved by this headstone because the boy could so easily have been him.”
5 April 2016: Omaha.com, Omaha, Nebraska, “This book club focuses on Churchill, but those who appreciate good conversation will feel right at home” by Blake Ursch
“The roundtable meets at Barnes and Noble in the Crossroads Mall to discuss books written by or about the United Kingdom’s most famous prime minister. Currently, the group is slogging through an eight-volume biography of Churchill written by Sir Martin Gilbert. They cover one chapter per month, meeting at 2 p.m. and often talking until the store closes.
“In his spare time, John Meeks, president (or perhaps more aptly, prime minister) of the group, is devouring an 18-volume supplementary series to the biography, filled with letters, reports and other source material. He subscribes to two Churchill periodicals (“The Churchillian” and “Finest Hour”). And, next to his bookshelf in the basement, he has a framed portrait of the statesman.
“In total, he estimates that he’s read about a dozen telephone book-sized volumes on Churchill.
“It all raises a question: Why? What’s so interesting about a figure whose reach, for many Americans, extends only so far as the cover of a 10th-grade history book?
” ‘I just find each chapter exciting,” Meeks said. “I like it because it’s nonstop action.’ ”
March 2016
20 March 2016 : From The Sydney Morning Herald, www.smh.com.au, posted “Riebling’s take on the Vatican and Nazi Germany” by Peter Craven
“The most impressive thing about Church of Spies is that it offers a positive, if qualified, defence of Pius – one we’ve heard before from learned Rabbi historians – but which is here presented with a fair amount of new detail and with plenty of drama and colour. It has led Martin Gilbert, the great biographer of Churchill, to say in a blurb for the book, ‘Mark Riebling shows that the Vatican took a very powerful stance against the Nazis. It is especially important for Jewish people – and I am Jewish myself – that this information is now being gathered for all to see.’ ”
February 2016
15 February 2016: The Washington Post, “How to rid the world of genocide” by Gareth Evans
“… it was such a huge breakthrough when the U.N. General Assembly in 2005 unanimously endorsed the principle of the ‘responsibility to protect,’ or ‘R2P,’ as it is now universally known: the standard of the whole international community to prevent and halt genocide and other atrocity crimes behind sovereign borders. This conceptually bridged that North-South gap, changed the language of the debate from ‘right’ to ‘responsibility’ and laid new foundations for effective practical action. The British historian Martin Gilbert described it, a little breathlessly but not without reason, as ‘the most significant adjustment to sovereignty in 360 years.’ ”
10 February 2016: St Peter Herald.Com, “Jesus, the Great Shepherd and Good Physician” by Greg Kalyvas, Faribault, Minnesota.
“Martin Gilbert recounts the true story of a British officer in events that transpired on the Somme battlefield in France, 1916. ….”
January 2016
14 January 2016: Christian Today: “War, terror and oppression: 5 reasons religion can’t be blamed for all the evil in the world” by Heather Tomlinson.
“It’s true that some of the commonly cited evils done in the name of Christianity are an embarrassment to the faith, but the rhetoric rarely matches the reality. For example, the Catholic Church is frequently criticised for its role in the Second World War. But this ignores the many priests who hid Jews, openly challenged the policies of Hitler, and some of the positive influence that Pope Pius XII had – as the late historian Sir Martin Gilbert argues.”
December 2015
31 December 2015: The Times of Israel, “NY rabbi: ‘Not even 1 million’ Jews killed in the Holocaust” by Raoul Wootliff
“While historians differ on the exact number of Jews killed at the hands of the Nazis, the most commonly cited figure for the total number has been six million with near-universal agreement among Holocaust scholars. According to British historian Martin Gilbert, the total number of victims is just under six million—around 78% of the 7.3 million Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe at the time.”
30 December 2015: The Wall Street Journal, “Remembering Those We Lost This Year” by Karl Rove
“As the year closes, let us remember a few notables who left this life in 2015. Martin Gilbert, a young Oxford scholar in 1962, was asked by Randolph Churchill to help research the biography of his father, Winston S. Churchill. Following Randolph’s death in 1968, Gilbert took up the task of writing the biography’s final six volumes ….”
22 December 2015:Deseret News, deseretnews.com, Salt Lake City, Utah, “In Our Lovely Deseret: Christmas for children in the midst of war’s devastation” by Susan Evans McCloud.
“Churchill spoke movingly of the flags of the two nations intertwined, of the highest military, naval and air officers grouped together along with the ranks of British and American sailors. He spoke of the ‘deeply moving expression of the unity of faith of our two peoples’ (see Churchill: A Photographic Portrait by Martin Gilbert).
“On the Dec. 8 of that same year, just a few weeks before the holidays, Churchill had learned of Japan’s attack on the United States and America entering into the war. With grateful jubilation he responded, ‘No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. … So we had won after all! … England would live; Britain would live. … We should not be wiped out. Our history would not come to an end.’
11 December 2015: Atlanta Jewish Times, atlantajewishtimes.com “Heroic Children focuses on a few to tell the story of Holocaust victims” by R. M Grossblatt.
“ ‘Hanoch Teller has put all of the students of the Holocaust — and of the human condition — in his debt,’ said Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill.”
From weeklystandard.com, The Magazine, December 21 issue: “Bush the Elder, A partisan’s perspective on a statesman’s career” by Thomas J. Duesterberg on Jon Meacham’s book:
“The newer breed of popular historians are more straightforward in their approach, and reach huge audiences which otherwise would be left to wonder what happened to the story of American democracy and leadership in the world, economic growth and innovation, and related themes. In contrast to France or Great Britain, where trained historians familiar with the vast array of learning on specific periods—Fernand Braudel, Martin Gilbert, Robert Skidelsky, Niall Ferguson—turn to popular history, few professional scholars in America can escape from their ideological blinders to reach a larger audience.”
4 December 2015: From The Spectator, new.spectator.co.uk, “Hubris made the 20th Century the bloodiest in history” by Allan Mallinson, in a book review of Alastair Horne’s book Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the 20th Century.
“… the late Sir Martin Gilbert, quoted with apparent approval in the preliminaries: ‘I’m not a theoretical historian, seeking to guide the reader to a general conclusion. I’m quite content to be a narrative chronicler, a slave of the facts’.”
3 December 2015:The Jewish Chronicle, thejc.com, “A prelude to horror, the evocative testimonies from victims of Kristallnacht’ by David Robson.
In a review of Ruth Levitt’s book Pogrom – November 1938, Robson writes: “How spontaneous was it? Martin Gilbert in his history of the Holocaust doesn’t concern himself with the question ….”
Good that he consulted Martin Gilbert’s classic tome, but one wonders why does he not mention Gilbert’s Kristallnacht, Prelude to Destruction which focuses entirely on this one pogrom, the lead-up to it, the fall-out from it, and the resulting changes in Nazi policy
November 2015
23 November 2015: From the HollywoodReporter.com: Karski & the Lords of Humanity Film Review by John DeFore
“Gathering vintage interviews from a couple of different documentaries, the film movingly observes a man who can be physically unsettled by things he saw several decades prior. New interviews with Wood, Winston Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert and others help finish the tale, in which Karski smuggled microfilm out of Poland containing reports on the mass extermination.”
From The Churchill Centre, winstonchurchill.org, Chartewell Bulletin, Number 89, November 2015, “New Pictoral Biography Celebrates Churchill’s, Interview with Max Arthur”:
CB: You were good friends with the late Sir Martin Gilbert, who was the Official Biographer of Churchill. What did you learn from him, and how did that friendship help guide you in putting together this book?
MA: I have dedicated this book to my dear friend and inspiration. Martin had a fund of rich anecdotes which enhanced the background details of the extraordinary life of Churchill. He had amazing recall and an encyclopedic knowledge of this man who dominated the British and world landscape for so many years. He always looked for facts to support his work. He might add some historical background, but he never put thoughts or words into the mouths of people, which could not be verified by research. I have no doubt in my mind that Martin should be seen as the foremost authority on the life of Churchill. It was a privilege to know him.
12 November 2015: The Jewish Chronicle, thejc.com. Highgate rebuilds for growing congregation”.
“Highgate Synagogue is being rebuilt in a £2 million-plus project to provide modern, environmentally friendly premises for a membership that has almost tripled to 400 over the past three decades. … Features of the new building will include a learning centre in honour of the late historian, Sir Martin Gilbert, who was a regular congregant, as well as a larger house on site for Rabbi Nicky Liss and his family.”
11 November 2015:From Deseret News, Deseretnews.com, Salt Lake City, Utah, “This week in history: the Nazis unleash Kristallnacht” by Cody K. Carlson
As a pretext for unleashing the pogrom that became known as Kristallnacht, the Nazis used the Grynszpan assassination of Von Rath: “In Martin Gilbert’s book The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, Grynszpan’s account is included ….”
Read More:The Holocaust
7 November 2015: Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield West Virginia, “Veterans Day: Selfless sacrifice a hallmark of American military” by Larry Hypes
“The great Armistice, which officially ended hostilities, was itself not without controversy right up to the magic hour. In Martin Gilbert’s classic one-volume work “The First World War: A Complete History” he writes that although the fighting was scheduled conclude at the designated hour, there was no orderly path to peace on the fateful day. For example, at First and Second Army headquarters, the commanders received news at 6:30 a.m. of the surrender terms but ordered that firing continue until 11. Gilbert notes that historian Donald Smythe says, “The men who died or were maimed in those last few hours suffered needlessly and their mishandling provoked a Congressional investigation after the war. One of the officers so ordered to keep up the attacks was an Army officer from Missouri, Capt. Harry S. Truman, who maintained his attack until 10:45, just 15 minutes before the official cease fire. Gilbert wryly observed that firing skills of the military were still being refined and perfected right up to the last minute before peace.”
Read More: First World War
October 2015
28 October 2015: TimesofIsrael.com, “Hitler, the Mufti and Bibi”, posted , by Wayne Kopping, director of the film Obsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West.
Kopping writes about Bibi Netanyahu’s incorrect claim that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who met with Hitler on 28 November 1941, persuaded Hitler to murder the Jews:
” They had the same goal: Both of them wanted to exterminate Jews. Hitler was the first to propose it, but Hitler found a fervent supporter in the leader of the Palestinians. As Historian Martin Gilbert put it in Obsession, ‘Hitler saw at once that this man not only could serve his purpose, but wanted to serve his purpose.’ ”
Read More Second World War
27 October 2015: Townhall.com, “Why are Progressives Afraid of the First Amendment?” by Susan Stamper Brown
In the biography, “Churchill: A Life,” author Martin Gilbert writes how Winston Churchill loudly voiced his grave concerns about the apathy shared by those seemingly impervious to the malevolent National Socialist Movement’s intention to steam through Europe like volcanic lava, destroying everything in its way, including free speech.
24 October 2015: Londonderry Sentinel, Maiden City Great War Roll of Honour, Part 7, by Trevor Temple
” Martin Gilbert in his book, First World War, recounts the actions of the Irish Guards on the day Guardsman Rankin lost his life ….”
12 October 2015: In the Ocala Star Banner, “Expert on Winston Churchill tells large crowd of British leader’s beliefs, humor” by Andy Fillmore
“A sold-out audience at the second in this season’s Evening Lecture Series at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) heard historian and author Larry Arnn describe Winston Churchill as a genius and the greatest statesman of our time …. Arnn traveled to England and worked with Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer and his staff, where he met and married his wife Penny Arnn in 1979.”
7 October 2015: Deseret News, Utah, “This week in history, World War I nearly starts 6 years early” by Cody K. Carlson
Writing of the 1908 annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austro-Hungary, Carlson quotes:
“In the book The First World War: A Complete History, historian Martin Gilbert wrote: ‘The annexation was not only in defiance of the 1878 Treaty of Berlin… but completed Austrian control of more than 300 miles of Adriatic coastline. Bosnia could also serve as a military base, when need or opportunity arose, for an Austrian attack on Serbia.’ ”
7 October 2015: Bible Gateway Blog, “God and Churchill: An Interview with Jonathan Sandys and Wallace Henley”, by Jonathan Petersen
Quoting Wallace Henley:
“Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer, saw the importance of Churchill’s relationship with God and personally encouraged Jonathan to pursue research.”
September 2015
10 September 2015: Canadian Jewish News, “5775: The year in review”
Martin Gilbert, the esteemed Jewish British historian and the biographer of Winston Churchill, dies at 78.
16 September 2015: Jewish News, “Memorial honouring prolific historian Sir Martin Gilbert set for September”.
At the time of his death, his personal website was swamped with tributes, among them leaders of the Jewish community, including Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who described him as “a scholar and a gentleman,” adding: “Every educated Jew’s bookshelf has been enriched by at least some of his books.”
20 September 2015: Ottawa Citizen, Reported by David Pugliese.
“Governor General praises the bravery of those who fought in the Battle of Britain”: “Here is what Governor General David Johnston had to say at the Battle of Britain ceremony today:”
“Some years ago, I had the opportunity to speak to Sir Martin Gilbert, the author of a multi-volume biography of Winston Churchill and someone who knew more about Churchill’s thinking than any living person. Sir Gilbert had just gained access to Churchill’s secret wartime diaries. I asked him, “What did you learn from them that you didn’t already know?” He replied: “I learned what a close thing it was.”
The outcome of the Battle of Britain—like that of the Second World War itself—was never guaranteed. Without the great courage, ingenuity and skill of those who fought the air war, as well as the remarkable resilience of people on the home front, things might have turned out very differently. As governor general and commander-in-chief of Canada, I’m grateful for this opportunity to mark this milestone anniversary.”
2 September 2015: From Clifford D. May, writing on Chamberlain and appeasement, The Washington Times
First, he did not originate the policy of appeasement. Starting in the 1920s, many in Britain believed that too much blame for the Great War had been heaped on Germany’s shoulders and that the Treaty of Versailles was unjust. Given that premise, the possibility that appeasement might lead to reconciliation was hardly baseless. In “The Roots of Appeasement,” the great historian Sir Martin Gilbert described this effort as, initially at least, “a noble idea, rooted in Christianity, courage and common sense.”
10 September 2015: From Jerry Amernic’s blog
“Sir Martin Gilbert, the late British historian whom I had the pleasure of meeting, wrote a chilling account of human depravity in his epic tome The Holocaust. The day was September 1, 1942, the place a hospital in the German-occupied city of Lodz, Poland. The perpetrators were Nazi SS officers, who were little more than boys themselves, and their victims Jewish newborns.”
11 September 2015: From The Weekly Standard Magazine, The Inner Circle, Vol 21, No. 2, “Winston Churchill as political operator” by Cita Stelzer:
“Much of what we know about Churchill relates to his wartime leadership, chronicled as part of the late Sir Martin Gilbert’s magisterial biography.”
5 September 2015: From Pakistan Today online edition, “Blame-game politics” by Khawaja Manjar Amin.
“… With lamentations, sour heart and mourning mood, one asks the million-dollar question: Why are we perpetually saddled with political pygmies and colourless nonentities? Where is our William Gladstone, our Winston Churchill, our Lloyd George, our Franklin D Roosevelt …. What was the principal difference? About one of these luminaries, Winston S Churchill, his biographer Martin Gilbert writes: ‘Churchill’s capacity for work amazed those who saw it at first hand. The four or more hours after dinner, from ten or eleven in the evening until two or even three in the morning were particularly busy ones, with long official memoranda, or chapters of the new book being tested on Treasury officials or research assistants and then dictated to one of the secretaries who worked special night shifts’.”
4 September 2015: Published in Things To Do Guide: Go Knoxville (Tennessee), “Upcoming events at Knox-area worship centers”
Temple Beth El, 3037 Kingston Pike, is hosting a photo exhibit by Robert Heller entitled “Jewish Life in Poland.” The exhibit opened on Sept. 4.
During the summer of 2007, University of Tennessee professor Rob Heller traveled to Poland for the opening of the “Living On” exhibit of portraits of Tennessee Survivors and Liberators. That week, he spent time in Warsaw, Krakow and Auschwitz, photographing the few remnants of Jewish life that still exist. Using Martin Gilbert’s “Holocaust Journey” as a guide, Heller photographed sights, big and small, that had significance to what was once an enormous thriving Jewish community. The exhibit will be a small sampling of those photographs.
August 2015
28 August 2015, The Telegraph, Obituary for Denis Avey
Denis Avey, Auschwitz Witness – : “The historian Martin Gilbert provided a foreword to his book ….”
5 August 2015, Pravda.Ru, Lyuba Lulk
“… the exchange of gifts between Obama and then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during the visit of the latter to Washington in March 2009. Barack Obama reportedly gave Brown 25 classic American DVDs, while Brown presented Obama with an on ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet and the first edition of seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.”
July 2015
24 July 2015, The Huffington Post – Huffpost Arts & Culture, Annette Insdorf
“Festivals in Krakow and Jerusalem Feature Karski and Arendt”, quotes Sir Martin’s contribution to Slawomir Grunberg’s film, “Karski & The Lords of Humanity”
22 July 2015, The Jewish Chronicle – The Jewish Chronicle Online, Bernard Wasserstein
“How far did the UK aristocracy’s love of the Nazis really go?”, quotes Sir Martin’s description of the “almost meeting” between Churchill and Hitler in 1932.
20 July 2015, The Federalist, Kurt Schlichter
“Europe is Partying Like It’s 1939”, quotes, “… travelling through Europe accompanied by a copy of Martin Gilbert’s magisterial one-volume biography, ‘Churchill, A Life‘ ….”
10 July 2015, My Old Addiction, Movie Reviews by Bill Antoniou
Reviews the Martin Gilbert scripted film, Academy Award winner for Best Documentary, 1982, “Genocide”.
9 July 2015, The News Review, Reno, Nevada, Dennis Myers
“Righteous, UNR hosts an exhibit about those who rescued Jews from Nazis”, quotes from Sir Martin’s book The Righteous on the number of people needed to save even one Jew.
2 July 2015, Jewish News, Rabbi Yoni Birnbaum
“Sedra of the week: Balak” begins: “One of the most inspirational works authored by the late Sir Martin Gilbert, of blessed memory, is The Righteous. Published in 2002, it documents the work of these precious individuals, Christian, Muslim or of no faith at all who risked their own lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.”