Churchill as a historian

Istvan Simon wrote: Churchill, had considerably more understanding than Mr. Heelan, and Mr. Heelan would benefit from reading his words. For Churchill understood what Mr. Heelan apparently does not: that men that fight for your freedom do so because of what is in their heart, not  for narrow calculations of advantage or disadvantage, which for them is meaningless anyway, particularly if they die doing so. 

John Heelan replies: By the same token, Mr Simon might benefit from reading a critique of Churchill's writing ["In command of History" by David Reynolds (2004)] which measures Churchill's account of the Second World War against the consensus of professional history.  Reynolds points out that Churchill sought to impose his own version of history on the world and that although the six volumes may be valuable as an insight into Churchillian psychology, they are almost worthless as history, a repeated blend of suggesio falsi and suppressio veri. A reviewer, Frank McLynn, comments, "Churchill attempted to fashion his own version of history often in glaring contrast to the truth unearthed by professional historians.  Given that many people get their knowledge of the Second World War from Churchill's writings, and that his distortions have become received opinion, for better or worse he succeeded". [source: Review of books- The Independent (1112/04, p.29) [That certainly seem to apply to the formation of Mr. Simon's views that seem to rely on Churchill and Hollywood for elucidation.]

RH:Professional historians do not have papal infallibility. They spend much time proving that rival historians have overlooked key documents, but they gang together when faced with a successful outsider like Churchill. In one of my first pieces if research, I showed that on the story of the marriage of Philip II of Spain and Mary Tudor historians referred to a manuscript which does not exist. It is still possible that Churchill was in general right, even though he may have been wrong about details. Of course, his version of events was tailored to suit his own reputation, but he witnessed those events, which his critics did not.

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