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.
A vibrant account of the people who shaped Britain's early history, The Birth of Britain is the first of Churchill's popular and accessible four-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Here, Churchill guides the reader through the establishment of the constitutional monarchy, the parliamentary system, and the people who played lead roles in creating democracy in England.Based on the research of modern historians as well as a wealth of primary source material, this history was respected by scholars as well as the public in its day-a testament both to its integrity as a work of historical nonfiction and its accessibility to laypeople. Churchill used primary sources to masterful effect in this work-quoting directly from ancient and medieval documents to provide valuable insights into the characters of many ancient and medieval figures who played a lead role in early British history.
Once the war was over, the story didn't end-not for Churchill, and not for the West. Volume 4 of Churchill's five-volume series The World Crisis documents the fallout of World War I-including the Irish Treaty, the peace conferences between Greece and Turkey; and news articles from noted contemporaries.The period immediately after World War I was extremely chaotic-and it takes a genius of narrative description and organization to accurately and accessibly describe it for us. Churchill manages to accomplish this with evident skill, depicting the international disorganization and anarchy present immediately after the war-with the unique perspective of both a historian and a political insider.
In 1931, Britain's Conservative Party proposed the India Bill--a piece of proposed legislation that made significant changes to the way India governed itself under British rule. Winston Churchill, with a distinguished history of military service and war correspondence in India behind him, took a position on this bill independent of the party line--and fought for it with characteristic conviction and oratory brilliance.
This book contains seven speeches and three important addresses on the subject, printed originally to generate popular support for Churchill's opinion. It should be noted that Churchill's opposition to Indian home rule is one of his more controversial political positions. Despite the strength of his oration, his attempt failed--and the India Bill was approved by Parliament in 1935. Documenting a rare loss for Churchill, these speeches provide an important insight into his mind and strategy as a political leader.
