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.
As a 22-year-old subaltern in the 4th Hussars stationed in Bangalore in 1897, Winston Churchill was an ambitious young soldier. Seeking military distinction, he talked his way onto the Malakand Field Force to battle restless frontier tribes after meeting the commander, Sir Bindon Blood, at a social engagement. There were no openings for junior officers--but Churchill convinced the commander to allow him to come along as a war correspondent. And thus a great career was born.
This book shows the determination and spirit that would later mature into the indomitable personality of Winston Churchill in his prime. While not as polished as his later work, it is still elegantly crafted--and shows a brash willingness to criticize military leaders, including Lord Kitchener himself. It is one of Churchill's more rare works; until a new edition was published in 1990, it had been out of print in English since 1916.
The rarest of his post-war speech compilations, The Unwritten Alliance was the last of Churchill’s books published during his lifetime. Most of these speeches took place during the end of his second Premiership—when the illustrious politician and statesman was in his eighties.
Churchill had experienced several strokes by this time, and his health was failing.However, these speeches show that his mind was still clear—and he was still a master of speechcraft. This collection contains his addresses at banquets, award ceremonies, and to the Primrose League—where he had given his first political speech many decades before, in 1897. These speeches demonstrate Churchill’s mental vigor even in his declining years, filled as much with awards and accolades as with continued personal challenge.
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.
