Asked by George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s This Week programme on Sunday what was the last book he read, President Bush answered: “I’m reading A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900. It’s a great book.” He went on to say that he was taking from it the importance of taking the long historical view.
I think most people listening would have assumed he meant Winston Churchill’s tetralogy – which actually ends in 1900. The President’s “…since 1900″ suggests that the book he’s been reading is in fact the new one by Andrew Roberts,
Andrew’s new book is in fact so new it’s not yet on sale. Official publication date is Feb. 1 next year. However, pre-publication copies in various states of editing always fly around the reviewing world way before official publication date, and the POTUS would have no difficulty getting one to read.
Andrew Roberts is one of the fine recent crop of young conservative British historians, often mentioned on these pages, and a contributor to–among countless other publications– The New Criterion.