Sir Winston Churchill has become one of the legends of the twentieth century. A major and then an outstanding political figure in British and world history between 1905 and 1965, he was also a writer of substantial reputation and enormous output. A bibliographer, Frederick Woods, estimated in 1963 that "the total sales of his books in the English language alone are in the region of four million." In speech and written prose he has been noted as a master of the memorable phrase--"blood, toil, tears and sweat" caught the imagination of a generation. Although interest in his essays has ben immeasurably enhanced by Churchill's status as statesman and historical writer, they have merit in their own right.

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace, the home of his grandfather, the seventh duke of Marlborough, on 30 November 1874. His parents were Lord Randolph Churchill, who was just beginning his erratically...