Winston Churchill, voted the greatest Briton of all time in a recent public poll, led a life rich in accomplishments, and this fast-paced chronological guide delves into the many ups and downs of his life and career. Marvel at his derring-do and precocious abilities as a young man during the Boer War, wince at his blunders as Home Secretary in the Liberal government, laugh along with his talent for self-promotion and admire his steely resolve during the Second World War. Featuring a beautiful gatefold illustration of Chartwell and its grounds, black and white illustrations, witty anecdotes, incredible trivia, a timeline and glossary, readers of all ages will be entertained and educated.

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill won two resounding victories. The first was a victory over Nazi Germany, the second a victory over the legion of sceptics who had derided his judgement, denied his claims to greatness, and excluded him from high office on the grounds that he was sure to be a danger to King and Country. Churchill was the only British politician of the twentieth century to become an enduring national hero. The curious thing is that it happened at the age of 65, at a time when he was considered to be a spent force, with a track-record of disastrous decisions. All but the most hostile of his adversaries conceded that he possessed great abilities, remarkable eloquence, and a streak of genius. But it was almost universally agreed that he was a shameless egotist, an opportunist without principles or convictions, an unreliable colleague, an erratic policy-maker who lacked judgement, and a reckless amateur strategist with a dangerous passion for war and bloodshed. At one time or another in his career, he had offended every party and faction in the land, yet despite this he became the embodiment of national unity, an uncrowned king who threatened to eclipse the monarchy. In this incisive new biography, Paul Addison tells the story of Churchill's life in parallel with the history of his reputation. He seeks to explain why Churchill was transformed into a national hero, and why his heroic status has endured ever since in spite of the attempts of iconoclasts to debunk him. He argues that we are now in a position to reach beyond the mythology - both positive and negative - to see the real Winston Churchill, a warrior-statesman whose qualities were remarkably consistent through all the vicissitudes of his career.

Aimed at students, scholars, collectors and dealers, this guide to Winston Churchill's books is designed as a reference when hunting for, or reading, Winston Churchill's books. Its purpose is to inform people of what they are holding in their hands and how to tell a first edition from a reprint.

Although Churchill is a 1953 Nobel laureate in literature, his famous speeches have overshadowed his other writing. Winston Churchill's Imagination concentrates on key works in modes other than political rhetoric to show how Churchill engages readers with those words and ideas that are hallmarks of his imagination. Chapters take up his literary relationship with Lawrence of Arabia; Churchill's intense but little-known involvement with cinema in an essay on Charlie Chaplin and as a script writer and consultant in the 1930s for Alexander Korda's film studio; Churchill's evocation of paintings as templates for narrative in his first history and in his only novel; his imaginative engagement with science and science fiction; the depiction of time, duration, and alternative history in his biography of Marlborough; and Churchill's last testament in the realm of imagination, The Dream.

A unique and evocative portrait of World War II—and a charming coming-of-age story—from the private diaries of Winston Churchill's youngest daughter, Mary. “I am not a great or important personage, but this will be the diary of an ordinary person's life in war time. Though I may never live to read it again, perhaps it may not prove altogether uninteresting as a record of my life.” In 1939, seventeen-year-old Mary found herself in an extraordinary position at an extraordinary time: it was the outbreak of World War II and her father, Winston Churchill, had been appointed First Lord of the Admiralty; within months he would become prime minister. The young Mary Churchill was uniquely placed to observe this remarkable historical moment, and her diaries—most of which have never been published until now—provide an immediate view of the great events of the war, as well as exchanges and intimate moments with her father. But these diaries also capture what it was like to be a young woman during wartime. An impulsive and spirited writer, full of coming-of-age self-consciousness and joie de vivre, Mary's diaries are untrammeled by self-censorship or nostalgia. From aid raid sirens at 10 Downing Street to seeing action with the women’s branch of the British Army, from cocktail parties with presidents and royals to accompanying her father on key diplomatic trips, Mary's wartime diaries are full of color, rich in historical insight, and a charming and intimate portrait of life alongside Winston Churchill during a key moment of the twentieth century.

Warrior and writer, genius and crank, rider in the British cavalry’s last great charge and inventor of the tank—Winston Churchill led Britain to fight alone against Nazi Germany in the fateful year of 1940 and set the standard for leading a democracy at war. Like no other portrait of its famous subject, Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill is a dazzling display of facts more improbable than fiction, and an investigation of the contradictions and complexities that haunt biography. Gretchen Craft Rubin gives readers, in a single volume, the kind of rounded view usually gained only by reading dozens of conventional biographies. With penetrating insight and vivid anecdotes, Rubin makes Churchill accessible and meaningful to twenty-first-century readers with forty contrasting views of the man: he was an alcoholic, he was not; he was an anachronism, he was a visionary; he was a racist, he was a humanitarian; he was the most quotable man in the history of the English language, he was a bore. In crisp, energetic language, Rubin creates a new form for presenting a great figure of history—and brings to full realization the depiction of a man too fabulous for any novelist to construct, too complicated for even the longest narrative to describe, and too valuable ever to be forgotten.

Taking a unique look at how Britain survived the bombing of its major cities, 'The Blitz, A Very Peculiar History' tells a story of blackouts, Bletchley Park and bravery during the darkest (literally) period of World War II. From Dunkirk to Dad's Army, explore the many ways in which Britain tried to foil the incoming bomber planes, featuring quirky stories and fascinating trivia about this period of history. Were German paratroopers really dropped disguised as nuns? Find out the answer to this question and many more even more bizarre ones throughout the course of this amazing tale of sacrifice and survival in the face of adversity.