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.
This volume contains the last of Churchill's great speeches from World War II, delivered during the final eight months of the global conflict-and the final period of his time in office. The victory expressed in this volume is mixed. These speeches detail Churchill's public reactions to the forming of the United Nations, the death of Roosevelt, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, and, lastly, the election that defeats him.Perhaps most notable is the "Gestapo" speech of 1945, in which Churchill made a controversial comparison between a Socialist government and the Gestapo-an extremely charged word at that time-that many believe cost him his job as Prime Minister.
The fourth of Churchill's grandly ambitious four-volume A History of the English-Speaking Peoples begins with the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars-and ends with the Boer War of 1902. In it, Churchill makes an impassioned argument for the crucial role played by the English-speaking people in exporting not just economic benefits, but political freedom.Written in Churchill's characteristically compelling style, this volume is the only one in the series to benefit from Churchill's own personal experience as a soldier and a wartime journalist during the Boer War. It provides fascinating reading for those interested in world history and England's impact on it.
The Sinews of Peace is the lesser-known alternate title of the "Iron Curtain Speech" delivered at Westminster College in 1946—where Churchill championed the idea of a "fraternal association" between people of the English-speaking world to preserve the spirit of military and political cooperation forged during the war. President Truman had been present at that speech, and some believed Churchill was suggesting a formal alliance.
This collection contains the first and perhaps most significant of Churchill’s speeches delivered immediately after the war. Within them, it’s easy to see the common theme of European unity and cooperation Churchill is proposing—including a partnership between Germany and France. Europe did grow toward a more unified whole—a result perhaps influenced in no small amount by the words contained within these pages.
