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.
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!"
Who can deny feeling moved by these words--or by any of the hundreds of speeches given by Winston Churchill to rally the British public, spur its government to armament against Hitler, and defend the causes for which he believed? Churchill By Himself is the first collection of quotations from a leader who had as much talent for wit as he had for inspiration and exhortation. Edited by renowned Churchill scholar Richard Langsworth, this volume is the definitive collection of important quotes from one of the 20th century's most persuasive and brilliant orators.
The fifth and last volume of Churchill's five-volume series The World Crisis tells a gritty, true-to-life account of the Eastern Front-written by someone whose decisions had a profound impact on the success of war efforts both in the East and in the West. While the battle for modern civilization was being fought on the Western Front during World War I, an equally important war-with equally high stakes-was being fought on the Eastern Front, between Russia, Germany, and Germany's Austrian allies. It's rare that a historical account of World War I documents in as much detail the events of the Eastern Front as those of the West. Churchill's account was one of the first to do so, telling the story of an armed conflict that was shockingly dissimilar from its counterpart in the West.
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.
