Sir Winston S. Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values."
Over a 64-year span, Churchill published over 40 books, many multi-volume definitive accounts of historical events to which he was a witness and participant. All are beautifully written and as accessible and relevant today as when first published.
During his fifty-year political career, Churchill served twice as Prime Minister in addition to other prominent positions—including President of the Board of Trade, First Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Home Secretary. In the 1930s, Churchill was one of the first to recognize the danger of the rising Nazi power in Germany and to campaign for rearmament in Britain. His leadership and inspired broadcasts and speeches during World War II helped strengthen British resistance to Adolf Hitler—and played an important part in the Allies’ eventual triumph.
One of the most inspiring wartime leaders of modern history, Churchill was also an orator, a historian, a journalist, and an artist. All of these aspects of Churchill are fully represented in this collection of his works.
Churchill Sizes Up the Giants of His Age, Offers Wisdom for Our OwnWinston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature on the strength of "his mastery of historical and biographical description." Nowhere is that mastery more evident than in Great Contemporaries (1937), which features Churchill’s brief lives of those he called "Great Men of our age."Great Contemporaries profiles towering figures ranging from Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Lawrence of Arabia, and Leon Trotsky to Charlie Chaplin, H. G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, and George Bernard Shaw. This edition includes five essays that have never appeared in any previous version, some thirty black-and-white photographs, and an enlightening introduction and annotations by noted Churchill scholar James W. Muller.Written in the decade before Churchill became prime minister, the essays in Great Contemporaries focus on the challenges of statecraft at a time when the democratic revolution was toppling older regimes based on tradition and aristocratic privilege. Churchill’s keen observations take on new importance in our own age of roiling political change.Ultimately, Great Contemporaries provides fascinating insight into the statesman’s perspective. Churchill’s objective is clear: he tries to learn from these giants in order to discover what makes a man great. He approaches his subjects with a measuring eye, finding their limitations at least as revealing as their merits.
Winston Churchill’s political career did not end with the conclusion of World War II. While his career would never reach the heights it did during the war, he held on to political influence for some time. And from 1945 to 1951, he was Leader of the Opposition—the minority party in the English government.
While some saw this new position as an unfortunate demotion for a once great political leader, in truth, he embraced it with his characteristic panache—clearly shown in this collection of fifty-two of his speeches and broadcasts delivered during this time, when Churchill worked to preserve Britain’s influence in the world even as its Imperial history was coming to a close. While not as powerful as he once was, Churchill’s oratory still rings—and his wit still shines.
The first volume of Winston Churchill's six-volume memoirs as a statesman and leader during World War II, The Gathering Storm begins with his thoughts on World War I--and how its ending laid the foundations for the next global conflict. As a military and political leader during both wars, Churchill was well placed to give readers a behind-the-scenes tour of history as it was being created, by a man who had a definitive part in shaping it. The volume continues with contemporary letters and memoranda from the British government documenting the country's terrifying descent into war. As Prime Minister during World War II, Churchill possessed a unique understanding of these documents' connection to historical events--and guides the reader through them with vivid narrative skill.
