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.
Sir Winston Churchill crossed the political divide to join the Liberal Party in 1904. Conservatives saw him as a traitor to his former political party; liberals, as a strong champion for progressive views.
The People's Rights was originally published in 1909, as part of Winston Churchill's campaign efforts in response to the House of Lords' rejection of the Liberal budget. It contains several impassioned speeches delivered by Churchill during a nine-day campaign period offering scathing criticism of the House of Lords' decision and supporting causes such as free trade and liberal tax positions. Ultimately, Churchill's efforts would contribute to a Liberal majority and successful budget passage.
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.
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.
