WINSTON CHURCHILL began to write the first of what were to be the six volumes of The Second World War in 1946. It was a work he had expected to postpone to a later stage of his life, since he had looked forward in 1945 to extending his wartime leadership into the peace. The rejection of his party by the electorate was a heavy blow, which might have dulled his urge to write. But resilience was perhaps the most pronounced of his traits of character, and he had already written the history of another great war in which he had been a principal actor. Once committed to the task, he attacked it with an energy, enthusiasm and power of organisation which would have been remarkable in a professional historian of half his age.

Winston Churchill's six-volume history of the cataclysm that swept the world remains the definitive history of the Second World War. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable both for its breadth and sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it is universally acknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction and is an enduring, compelling work that led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Gathering Storm vividly describes the steps that led to war, a period that ended with Churchill as Prime Minister: the aftermath of the First World War, the rise of Adolf 1-1itler, British attempts at appeasement and the eventual outbreak of conflict on a global scale for the second time in thirty years.

In his introduction, John Keegan discusses Churchill's historical methods and the extraordinary achievement of The Second World War. This volume also includes appendices, an index, maps and diagrams.

'This is o story told while the sweat and shock of mortal combat are still upon the teller' EVENING STANDARD

BOOK I

From War to War

1919--1939

BOOK II

The Twilight War

September 3,1939--May 10,1940