Winston Churchill’s monumental The Second World War, is a six volume account of the struggle between the Allied Powers in Europe against Germany and the Axis. Told by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, this book is also the story of one nation’s heroic role in the fight against tyranny. Having learned a lesson at Munich they would never forget, the British refused to make peace with Hitler, defying him even after France had fallen and it seemed as though the Nazis were unstoppable.

What lends this work its tension is Churchill’s inclusion of primary source material. We hear Churchill’s retrospective analysis of the war, but we are also presented with memos, letters, orders, speeches, and telegrams that give day-by-day accounts of the reactions as the drama unfolds. We listen as strategies and counter-strategies unfold in response to Hitler’s conquest of Europe, his planned invasion of England, and his assault on Russia. All contrive to give a mesmerizing account of the crucial decisions that must be made as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

While in some ways a continuation of Churchill’s history of World War I, The World Crisis, The Gathering Storm is his attempt to understand the terrible circumstance that gave rise to Nazi Germany and a second, even more destructive world conflict. Churchill was perhaps the only person who held such prominent positions of power in both world wars and as such, was uniquely qualified to tell the story from war to peace and back again.

The Gathering Storm covers the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Adolf Hitler, the capitulation of Munich and the entry of Britain into the war. This book makes clear Churchill’s feeling that the Second World War was a largely senseless but unavoidable conflict.

Churchill won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 in part because of this awe-inspiring work.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Winston Churchill was born in 1874 and was one of the most significant leaders of the twentieth century. He acted as a war correspondent during the Boer War and after his capture and release, Churchill became a national hero in England, parlaying that celebrity into a political career becoming elected to the Conservative Party. Churchill joined the Liberal Party in 1904. Churchill’s career was volatile during the 1920s and ’30s owing, in part, to his support of the abdication of King Edward VIII, but when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Churchill was reappointed Lord of the Admiralty.

In 1940, Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister and remained in office until 1945. Churchill successfully guided the nation through World War II, mobilizing and inspiring the British people as well as forging strong ties with American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Churchill remained in Parliament and was re-elected in 1951 and did not resign until 1955 when he was eighty years old.

After retirement, Churchill remained incredibly active, spending his time writing, publishing The History of the English Speaking People and more. That work, along with his six volume history of World War II and The World Crisis, his history of World War I, earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953. In 1963 Churchill was made an honorary U.S. citizen. He died in 1965 at the age of ninety.

ABOUT THE SERIES

RosettaBooks’ collection of Churchill's best writing is gathered together here, reflecting his first-hand experience, notations, speeches, and journals. Churchill won the Nobel Prize for Literature in large part due to the writing reflected in these important books that journal the everyday happenings and relationships between the Axis and the Allies during World War II and other major 20th century conflicts.