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 period from 1940 to 1941 was a difficult one for Britain-and for Churchill-during the War. Faced with military setbacks abroad and growing criticism from the public and the government at home, Churchill gave some of his most effective speeches during this time-ultimately hardening British resolve against Hitler.This collection contains seventy-two broadcasts, speeches, and messages to Parliament displaying Churchill's enormous fortitude in the face of personal and political challenge. This volume sold over 30,000 copies in the UK and more than 20,000 in North America-offering insights into the human spirit as relevant today as they were in their time.
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.
The fifth in Winston Churchill's six-volume account of World War II picks up at the dawn of a more optimistic time for the Allied forces. After considerable struggle, the balance has finally shifted toward the Allies--and in Closing the Ring, Winston Churchill documents the drive toward victory. With the visionary perspective of one who has both documented and shaped history, Churchill tells us of the destruction of the once-formidable armies of the Third Reich, the bombings of Berlin, and the panic that descended among Hitler's inner circle. Churchill's writing is masterful and highly readable--providing a compelling narrative account of the Allies' end game. But victory was bittersweet for Churchill, who saw the greatness of the British Empire fading even as the war was won. This definitive work provides an intimate look at both this volatile period in history and in Churchill himself--both as a wartime leader and as an individual.