This is the second volume in a four-volume biography of Winston Churchill’s ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough. After the defeat of the Conservative government in the 1929 general election, Winston Churchill distanced himself from the official Conservative leadership over a myriad of issues, including Indian Home Rule and protective tariffs. During this time, Churchill entered a period of political exile—a time he referred to as “the wilderness years."
While it may have been a low point in his political career, it was a high point for his writing. It was during this time that Churchill began his work on Marlborough: His Life and Times, widely considered to be one of Churchill’s most ambitious and masterful literary works. Although sometimes maligned and not as well known in contemporary times as his more famous descendant—Churchill himself—Marlborough was known in his day as a gifted military commander who never lost a battle. This second volume brings his military successes, political intrigues, and personal passions to life.
About the Author
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.
