Great Contemporaries [Revised Edition]
About this ebook
The original collection of 21 essays was published in 1937, mainly written between 1928 and 1931. This 1939 edition contains four additional essays on Lord Fisher, Charles Stewart Parnell, Lord Baden-Powell and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"THESE essays on Great Men of our age have been written by me at intervals during the last eight years. Although each is self-contained, they throw from various angles, a light upon the main course of the events through which we have lived. I hope they will be found to illustrate some of its less well-known aspects. Taken together they should present not only the actors but the scene. In their sequence they may perhaps be the stepping-stones of historical narrative.
The central theme is of course the group of British statesmen who shone at the end of the last century and the beginning of this—Balfour, Chamberlain, Rosebery, Morley, Asquith and Curzon. All lived, worked and disputed for so many years together, knew each other well, and esteemed each other highly. It was my privilege as a far younger man to be admitted to their society and their kindness. Reading again these chapters has brought them back to me, and made me feel how much has changed in our political life. Perhaps this is but the illusion which comes upon us all as we grow older. Certainly we must all hope this may prove to be so. In the meantime those to whom these great men are but names—that is to say the vast majority of my readers—may perhaps be glad to gain from these notes some acquaintance with them."
"By far the most important, thoughtful edition of Churchill's famous personality sketches ever published...The indispensable 'desert island' text for any marooned Churchillian."—Finest Hour
"Interesting, well written and worth reading."—Kirkus Reviews
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About the author
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (30 November 1874 - 24 January 1965) was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940-1945 and again from 1951-1955. In addition to his careers of soldier and politician, he was also a prolific writer under the pen name "Winston S. Churchill".
After being commissioned into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in 1895, Churchill observed the Cuban War of Independence and sent war reports to The Daily Graphic. He continued his war journalism in British India, at the Siege of Malakand, then in the Sudan during the Mahdist War and in southern Africa during the Second Boer War. He subsequently published his despatches in two works, London to Ladysmith via Pretoria and Ian Hamilton's March (both 1900).
His fictional output included one novel, Savrola (1900) and a short story, The Dream (1947), but his main output following his election comprised non-fiction, with over 130 of his speeches or parliamentary answers published in pamphlets or booklets.
In 1923 Churchill lost his parliamentary seat and moved to the south of France, where he wrote The World Crisis, a six-volume history of the First World War (1923-1931). In 1930 he wrote his first autobiography, My Early Life, and thereafter Marlborough: His Life and Times (1933-38), a four-volume biography of his ancestor, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. He also wrote a series of biographical profiles for newspapers, which were later collectively published as Great Contemporaries (1937).
In May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister and wrote no histories during his tenure, although several collections of his speeches were published. At war end he was voted out of office and returned to writing, producing a six-volume history, The Second World War (1948-53), which became a best-seller in both the UK and US.
He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his overall lifetime body of work.
