The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory 1874-1932

About this book

The first volume in William Manchesters masterful magnum opus account of Winston Churchills life. The Last Lion: Visions of Glory follows the first fifty-eight years of Churchills life--the years that mold him into the man who will become one of the most influential politicians of the twentieth century. In this the first volume Manchester follows Churchill from his birth to 1932 when he began to warn against the re-militarization of Germany. Born of an American mother and the gifted but unstable son of a duke his childhood was one of wretched neglect. He sought glory on the battlefields of Cuba Sudan India South Africa and the trenches of France. In Parliament he was the prime force behind the creation of Iraq and Jordan laid the groundwork for the birth of Israel and negotiated the independence of the Irish Free State. Yet as Chancellor of the Exchequer he plunged England into economic crisis and his fruitless attempt to suppress Gandhis quest for Indian independence brought political chaos to Britain. Throughout Churchill learned the lessons that would prepare him for the storm to come and as the 1930s began he readied himself for the coming battle against Nazism--an evil the world had never before seen.