Author Profile: Sir Winston S. Churchill

For almost a century Sir Winston S. Churchill has been a personality of international interest and importance. From the adventurous days of his youthful escapades in the Boer War and the publication of his first controversial writings on the operations of the Malakand Field Force, Churchill has never for long been out of the public eye or the newspaper headlines.

He has gloried in triumphs such as few men have achieved and he has suffered defeats, disappointments, humiliation and derision in a measure seldom experienced by any other man in public life. He has been mocked and isolated in Parliament and yet lived to see his critics hail him as the greatest parliamentarian of modern times. He was cheered as the architect of victory in the greatest war in history and then hurled from office by the very people he had led through the terror to triumph. Today he stands alone, pre-eminent among all the giants of world history.

It is difficult to find an historical parallel to the many-sided career of Mr. Churchill. His versatility and his achievements in so many different spheres of activity make him unique. There have been many statesmen who were also writers of high quality, many orators who were also men of action, many politicians who dabbled in the arts. But the existence of any other man who has done all these things remains unknown.

As a writer, Churchill was a war correspondent, novelist, biographer, historian, reviewer, essayist and the contributor of innumerable topical articles on a wide range of subjects to newspapers and magazines throughout the world. How much did he write? In 1974, the Collected Works of Sir Winston Churchill was published by the Library of Imperial History, London, to mark the centenary of his birth, November 30, 1874. The set was issued as a limited edition of 3000, and contains all 50 of Churchill's published titles, arranged in 34 volumes, plus an additional 4 volumes of his essays- a total of 5 feet of books.

Much of what Churchill wrote, including some of his most important works- Marlborough, His Life and Times; The Second World War; A History of the English-Speaking Peoples- were written to keep creditors at bay. They are now considered to be some of the best histories written on their respective subject matter. The Churchill story is one of high adventure, bitter defeats, and the inner strength of the towering Englishman whose watchword was: Never give in. Never, never, never, never give in."

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