Narrative historian Lawrence James has written a genuinely new biography of Winston Churchill, one focusing solely on his contradictory relationship with the British Empire. As a young army officer in the late nineteenth century serving in conflicts in India, South Africa, and the Sudan, his attitude toward the Empire was the Victorian paternalistic approach--at once responsible and superior. Conscious even then of his political career ahead, Churchill...

"Winston Churchill was the consummate networker. Using newly discovered documents and archives, Churchill's American Network reveals how the famed British politician found a network of American men and women who would push American foreign policy in Britain's direction during World War II-while at the same time producing lucrative speaking fees to support his lavish lifestyle. Stelzer has gathered contemporary local newspaper reports of Churchill's...

"In Island Stories, historian David Reynolds offers a multi-faceted new account of the last millennium to make sense of Britain's turbulent present. With sharp analysis and vivid human detail, he examines how fears of decline have shaped national identity, probes Britain's changing relations with Europe, considers the creation and erosion of the "United Kingdom," and reassesses the rise and fall of the British Empire. Island Stories is essential reading...

"Using newly declassified records and long-forgotten memoirs, including the diaries of a key British spy, James Barr tears up the conventional interpretation of this era in the Middle East, vividly portraying the tensions between London and Washington, and shedding an uncompromising light on the murkier activities of a generation of American and British diehards in the region, from the battle of El Alamein in 1942 to Britain's abandonment of Aden...

"Drawing on a wealth of previously unexamined material, this staggering account sheds new light on the responsibility of England and France for the dire consequences of this landmark agreement. On returning from Germany on 30 September 1938 after his agreement with Hitler on the carve-up of Czechoslovakia, Neville Chamberlain addressed the British crowds: "My good friends ... I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our...

"During a pivotal few months in the middle of the First World War all sides--Germany, Britain, and America--believed the war could be concluded. Peace at the end of 1916 would have saved millions of lives and changed the course of history utterly. Two years into the most terrible conflict the world had ever known, the warring powers faced a crisis. There were no good military options. Money, men, and supplies were running short on all sides. The German...