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.
A vibrant account of the people who shaped Britain's early history, The Birth of Britain is the first of Churchill's popular and accessible four-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Here, Churchill guides the reader through the establishment of the constitutional monarchy, the parliamentary system, and the people who played lead roles in creating democracy in England.Based on the research of modern historians as well as a wealth of primary source material, this history was respected by scholars as well as the public in its day-a testament both to its integrity as a work of historical nonfiction and its accessibility to laypeople. Churchill used primary sources to masterful effect in this work-quoting directly from ancient and medieval documents to provide valuable insights into the characters of many ancient and medieval figures who played a lead role in early British history.
In the 1930s, well before Britain entered the War, Winston Churchill warned about the Nazi threat building in the east--even as many European leaders were urging caution and diplomacy. Arms and the Covenant is a collection of forty-one of Churchill's speeches from 1928 to 1938--speeches that would prove highly prescient, and ultimately successful in inspiring Britain's action as the first country to stand against Hitler.
The speeches range in tone from weighty solemnity to an almost lighthearted approach. Notable among these speeches is "The Disarmament Fable," in which Churchill presents the case for disarmament in the guise of negotiations among animals as to who should be allowed to keep their horns, and who should be permitted teeth and claws.
This volume presents a fascinating look at Churchill's tactics in convincing the British government and public of the rising danger building in the east--and at his versatility and skill as one of the best orators of the twentieth century.
The first volume of Winston Churchill's six-volume memoirs as a statesman and leader during World War II, The Gathering Storm begins with his thoughts on World War I--and how its ending laid the foundations for the next global conflict. As a military and political leader during both wars, Churchill was well placed to give readers a behind-the-scenes tour of history as it was being created, by a man who had a definitive part in shaping it. The volume continues with contemporary letters and memoranda from the British government documenting the country's terrifying descent into war. As Prime Minister during World War II, Churchill possessed a unique understanding of these documents' connection to historical events--and guides the reader through them with vivid narrative skill.
