Here are some of the best of Churchill's letters, many of a more
personal and intimate nature, presented in chronological order, with a
preface to each letter explaining the context. The recipients
include a vast range of people, including his schoolmaster, his American
grandmother and former President Eisenhower.
They are taken from within the Churchill Archive in Cambridge, where
there is a mass of Churchill's correspondence. Several of the letters
included have never appeared in book form before.
Winston Churchill has become an iconic figure greatly loved the world
over, but maybe especially these days in the USA. Churchill understood
the power of words and he used his writing to sustain and complement his
political career, publishing over 40 books and receiving the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1953.
This volume concentrates on his more intimate words. It seeks to show
the private man behind the public figure and introduce fresh light on
Churchill's character and personality by capturing the drama, immediacy,
storms, depressions, passions and challenges of Churchill's
extraordinary career. Churchill was neither a god nor a demon. Through
these letters we see him as a human being with human emotions, frailties
and a large ego. He was not always right. He held strong opinions and
was often provocative. These letters take us into his world and allow us
to follow the changes in his motivations and beliefs as he navigates his
90 years. There are intimate letters to his parents, his teacher at
Harrow, Louis de Souza (Boer Secretary of State for War), his wife
Clementine, Prime Minister Asquith, Lord Northcliffe, Anthony Eden,
President Roosevelt, Eamon De Valera, the French Socialist Prime
Minister Léon Blum and Charles De Gaulle.
These are letters of a personal nature and are most illuminating. They
are enhanced by facsimiles of the letters and images which appear
throughout the book, helping the reader to envisage a sense of Churchill
in his most private moments.
