Acclaimed historian Roy Jenkins presents a comprehensive biography of Winston Churchill, an icon of modern history, from his childhood to the critical World War II period and beyond-a New York Times bestseller."This is a first class, well-sustained work of history and a masterpiece of biography… It will be a brave, not to say foolhardy, author who attempts to write another life of Churchill for at least a decade, perhaps longer."-Andrew Roberts, Sunday Telegraph Roy Jenkins combines unparalleled command of British political history and his own high-level government experience in a narrative account of Churchill's astounding career that is unmatched in its shrewd insights, its unforgettable anecdotes, the clarity of its overarching themes, and the author's nuanced appreciation of his extraordinary subject.Exceptional in its breadth of knowledge and distinguished in its stylish wit and penetrating intelligence, Churchill is one of the finest political biographies of our time.

List of IllustrationsPrefaceGlossary of Parliamentary TermsPART ONE A Brash Young Man 1874-1908        1. A Doubtful Provenance    2. Subaltern of Empire and Journalist of Opportunity    3. Oldham and South Africa    4. Tory into Liberal    5. Convert into Minister    6. An Upwardly Mobile Under-SecretaryPART TWO The Glow-worm Glows: The Morning was Golden 1908-1914        7. Two Hustings and an Altar    8. The Sorcerer's Apprentice at the Board of Trade    9. A Young Home Secretary    10. From Prisons to Warships    11. ‘The Ruler of the King's Navee’    12. Churchill in AsquithlandPART THREE The Noontide was Bronze 1914-1918        13. A Flailing First Lord    14. Last Months at the Admiralty    15. Finished at Forty?    16. An Improbable Colonel and a Misjudged Re-entry    17. Lloyd George's Ambulance Wagon Arrives a Little Late    18. Making the Most of MunitionsPART FOUR Hesitant Afternoon Sunshine 1919-1939         19. Anti-Bolshevik Crusader and Irish Peacemaker    20. A Politician without a Party or a Seat    21. Gold and Strikes    22. A Relentless Writer    23. Cuckoo out of the Nest    24. Unwisdom in the Wilderness    25. An Early Alarm Clock    26. Arms and the Covenant    27. From the Abdication to Munich    28. The Last Year of the PeacePART FIVE The Saviour of his Country and the Light of the World? 1939-1945         29. Quiet War with Germany and Uneasy Peace with Chamberlain    30. Through Disaster in the Fjords to Triumph in Downing Street    31. Twenty-One Days in May    32. The Terrible Beauty of the Summer of 1940    33. The Battle of Britain and the Beginning of the Blitz    34. No Longer Alone    35. The Anglo-American Marriage Ceremony    36. The Hinge Year    37. 1943: From Casablanca to Teheran    38. The Return to France    39. The Beginning of the End    40. Victory in Europe and Defeat in BritainPART SIX Was the Evening Leaden? 1945-1965         41. ‘The English Patient’    42. Two Elections and a Resurrection    43. A Consensual Government    44. ‘An Aeroplane ... with the Petrol Running Out’    45. A Celebration and a Last Exit    46. The Sun Sinks Slow, How SlowlyReferencesSelect BibliographyIndex