Churchill, Sir Winston (1874–1965)

WINSTON CHURCHILL earned his reputation as one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century in a political career that lasted more than 50 years. During that time, he consistently opposed the aggression and totalitarianism of imperial Germany, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union. During his long career, he also frequently employed his impressive oratorical skills and wrote constantly throughout his public life. This impressive corpus of speeches, journalism, memoirs, and histories gives the student of Churchill a thorough map of the great man's mind.

Born into British and Tory aristocracy, he was the eldest son of Lord Randolph Churchill and an American heiress, Jennie Jerome. As a youth, Churchill attended Harrow and Sandhurst (military academy), and then served as a subaltern in a variety of ...