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.
More than any other book by Winston Churchill, the wide-ranging THOUGHTS AND ADVENTURES allows the contemporary reader to grasp the extraordinary variety and depth of Churchill’s mature thoughts on the questions, both grave and gay, facing modern man.Churchill begins by asking what it would be like to live your life over again and ends by describing his love affair with painting. In between, he touches on subjects as diverse as spies, cartoons, submarines, elections, flying, and the future. Reading these essays—originally dictated late at night in the 1920s in his study, and by which he was able to support his family and live like a lord without inherited wealth—is like being invited to dinner at Churchill’s country seat at Chartwell, where the soup was limpid, Pol Roger Champagne flowed, the pudding had a theme, and Churchill entertained lucky visitors with vivid conversation. With a new introduction and notes by James W. Muller, Academic Chairman of the Churchill Centre, this edition recovers Churchill’s unforgettable table talk for a new generation of readers.
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 Churchill’s two-volume biography of his father was an ambitious project. Lord Randolph Churchill had been a much-maligned character toward the middle and end of his life, and part of the purpose of this biography was to lift the haze of scandal surrounding his name.
This first volume deals with early events in Lord Randolph Churchill’s life, including his upbringing, his education, and his quarrel with the Prince of Wales over a woman being courted by his brother. This episode resulted in a temporary exile from society that would serve as a prequel to Randolph’s later disgrace. While Churchill is clearly a supporter of his father’s, he is not afraid to be honest about the mistakes and failures of his career and personal life.
