Third Volume of "The Last Lion"

[Thomas Fleming]

Does anyone in this group know, or have you recently heard, when the
third volume of Manchester's "The Last Lion" is expected to be
published? I've searched far and wide for an answer, including the
Churchill Centre site, but the closest I've come is "some time in
2007," and those guesstimates were stated many months ago (including
an early 2006 interview with Mr. Reid). I recently finished the first
and second volumes, and am champing at the bit for the rest of the
saga.

I'm new to this group, but have already found it delightfully
stimulating and informative!

[patty mayer]

The following is posted on the Hachette Book Group (owners of Little, Brown)
website under FAQs. It has been posted there for quite some time, so it is
unclear to me whether and how the project is progressing.
http://www.twbookmark.com/library/faq.html#manchester

William Manchester's The Last Lion, Volume III

William Manchester died on June 1, 2004 at the age of 82. Manchester was a
true literary lion and was the author of many important bestsellers
published by Little, Brown over four decades, including biographies of
Douglas MacArthur, the Rockefeller family and John F. Kennedy. His last
book, about life in the Middle Ages, was A World Lit Only By Fire, and it
too was a New York Times bestseller. Manchester completed two volumes of a
three-volume biography of Winston Churchill, and was well into the
concluding volume when a stroke made writing impossible. In May 2004,
Manchester appointed a cowriter to finish Volume 3 based on his outline and
notes. Paul Reid, a prize-winning journalist who has written several
features about Manchester, will pick up where Manchester stopped. Everyone
at Little, Brown who worked with William Manchester admired his warm and
forceful personality, his grasp of the great individuals and events of our
times, and his commitment to the importance of serious writing.

I would also love to see Volume III of the Last Lion

Patty
Greeley, Colorado

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[JMorg...@aol.com]

I recently made an internet search on this issue and found nothing.  perhaps someone has contact with Mr. Reid?

 

For my part, I too am "chomping the bit."  The first two volumes were the incentive to get involved with the centre and listserve.

 

I ended up reading the Gilbert bio. to satiate my desire.  (actually only the last 5 volumes).  I think I must now be hooked for life.

 

John J. Morgan

Stamford, CT 

 

---

See what's free at AOL.com.

[Editor/Finest Hour]

Volume 3, "Defender of the Realm," is being completed by Manchester's
friend Paul Reid, a writer with the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, who
expects to complete it in 2007. Mr. Reid has recently wrote me to
expect a set of proofs that he kindly asked me to read.
He writes:

'I have finished Parts One (1940) and Two (1941) and will be through
Parts Three, Four and Five by mid-2007. Publication is set for
sometime in 2008. Bill's notes and interviews run to thousands of
pages, enough to fuel at least three more volumes. My job, therefore,
is to pace this final volume. About half of it will cover 1940 and
1941, about forty-percent the remainder of the war and about 10-15
percent the post-war years. Bill saw the post-war years (or at least
the last decade) as a long "afterward". Having been guided by Bill
the last year of his life, and having in hand the pages he wrote (to
the fall of France) I think I have a good feeling for the pace he set
and where he was going. The pages Bill finished are, as was usual
with William Manchester, marvelous, full of suspense and
foreshadowing, a real tale beautifully told. Among many things he made
clear to me was his desire that this book be an enjoyable read for
younger people, people under 40 years of age who did not grow up with
stories of the War percolating through their household.'

FINEST HOUR has published two excerpts from DEFENDER OF THE REALM, and
you may like to get the back issues from the Centre office in
Washington:

The Fall of France (FH 109, Winter 2000-01)
also on our website at http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=338

"Undaunted by Odds" (Battle of Britain, FH 124, Autumn 2004)
I believe that is now also posted in .pdf.

[Epa Minondas]

Fantastic.
Vol 2 has been read and referenced into tatterdom.