英语国家史略A history oof the English speaking people.pdfVIP

A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES [1952-1957] (Cohen A260) (Woods A138) Churchills last great work was published nearly twenty years after its first draft was penned in the late 1930s, just after Churchill had wrapped up Marlborough. This enabled him to utilize the literary team he’d assembled for the biography, to which he added dozens of outlines he had solicited from scholars. In his Preface he remarks that the book slumbered peacefully until 1956, when things have quietened down. They had certainly quieted for him; for the first time since 1922-23, when he was briefly out of Parliament, his voice no longer counted at the summit of affairs. Reading reports of the last decade of his life, one is struck by the central interest his History represented in his final years, how rapidly he sank into decline and depression after the final volume was published. His prewar contract with Cassell called for him to be paid £20,000; the work eventually earned millions, was repeatedly reprinted, and remains in print today. In its final form the original single volume evolved to four, each of which was published simultaneously in Britain, the USA and Canada—a first for Churchills works. Each volume is divided into three books. Volume I, The Birth of Britain, takes us from the primitive tribes who formed the Island Race to the development of the nation through the Feudal Age, ending with the reign of Richard III. Volume II, The New World, spans the period from the consolidation of the Tudor dynasty in 1485 to the great and glorious Revolution of 1688, the emergence of England as a great power, and the establishment in North America of lively and assertive communities of English- speaking peoples. Volume III, The Age of Revolution, was per