Great Contemporaries

First published in 1937, this book is a set of biographical essays on public men Churchill had known or studied. The subjects include British and European politicians, soldiers, and writers - among them figures such as Lawrence of Arabia, Foch, the Kaiser, and contemporaries from the years before the Second World War. Each piece is a character sketch that mixes personal recollection with a judgment of policy and temperament. The collection is not an autobiography, though Churchill's own career supplies the vantage point. It is portraiture of a political generation, written as essays rather than as a continuous history.

Quarter-bound in redbuckram with blue Modigliani paper sides, printed and blocked with a red and white design by Raquel Leis Allion. Red slipcase.