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.
The Sinews of Peace is the lesser-known alternate title of the "Iron Curtain Speech" delivered at Westminster College in 1946—where Churchill championed the idea of a "fraternal association" between people of the English-speaking world to preserve the spirit of military and political cooperation forged during the war. President Truman had been present at that speech, and some believed Churchill was suggesting a formal alliance.
This collection contains the first and perhaps most significant of Churchill’s speeches delivered immediately after the war. Within them, it’s easy to see the common theme of European unity and cooperation Churchill is proposing—including a partnership between Germany and France. Europe did grow toward a more unified whole—a result perhaps influenced in no small amount by the words contained within these pages.
Winston Churchill's reputation still looms large in the canon of twentieth-century history-as a war leader, orator, and pillar of strength for Britain in the years of struggle against Hitler. Churchill's inspiring wartime speeches gave the British hope and comfort during years of bombings, violence, sacrifice, and terror.This compilation, composed of speeches made from 1938 to the end of 1940, contains some of his best. Highlights include "This was Their Finest Hour;" "Never in the Field of Human Conflict Was So Much Owed, By So Many, to So Few;" and "I Have Nothing to Offer but Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat." Even many decades after the end of the war, Churchill's words still have the power to stir the blood-and inspire the heart.
1942 was an important turning point in World War II. Britain and its allies had faced considerable challenges thus far. Beset by bombings and devastated by personal loss and the restrictions of war, the British public was losing patience with the war effort-and their prime minister. Churchill faced an uphill battle in his military efforts as well as in gathering political and public support for the struggle to come.But when the US joined the war, at the end of 1941, the tides turned. Churchill has been quoted as saying he felt certain of the Allied victory with the US on his side-and his speeches reflect a renewed sense of hope and conviction. This collection of wartime speeches from 1942 provides an interesting historical commentary on this volatile time in history-from the point of view of one of its most prominent wartime leaders.
