Last Lion, The: Volume 1

In this, the first volume, Manchester follows Churchill from his birth to 1932, when he began to warn against the re-militarization of Germany. Born of an American mother and the gifted but unstable son of a duke, his childhood was one of wretched neglect. He sought glory on the battlefields of Cuba, Sudan, India, South Africa and the trenches of France. In Parliament he was the prime force behind the creation of Iraq and Jordan, laid the groundwork for the birth of Israel, and negotiated the independence of the Irish Free State. Yet, as Chancellor of the Exchequer he plunged England into economic crisis, and his fruitless attempt to suppress Gandhi's quest for Indian independence brought political chaos to Britain.

Throughout, Churchill learned the lessons that would prepare him for the storm to come, and as the 1930's began, he readied himself for the coming battle against Nazism--an evil the world had never before seen.
"Absolutely magnificent . . . a delight to read . . . one of those books you devour line by line and word by word and finally hate to see end."--Russell Baker
"Adds a grand dimension . . . rich in historical and social contexts.--Time
"An altogether absorbing popular biography . . . The heroic Churchill is in these pages, but so is the little boy writing forlorn letters to the father who all but ignored him."--People
"Bedazzling."--Newsweek
"Manchester has read further, thought harder, and told with considerable verve what is mesmerizing in [Churchill's] drama. . . . One cannot do better than this book."--Philadelphia Inquirer
"Superb . . . [Manchester] pulls together the multitudinous facets of one of the richest lives ever to be chronicled. . . . Churchill and Manchester were clearly made for each other."--Chicago Tribune