Winston Churchill rages against time and his own mortality in this tumultuous political drama of his last ten years of public life. Here is Churchill at his most outrageous, maddening, and devious-but also at his most human, courageous, and defiant. "I am an obstinate pig." This was how Winston Churchill described himself. At the end of July 1945, Winston Churchill was a defeated man-hurled from power by the British people at the end of the war in which he had just saved his country. Churchill Defiant is the story of how, when it seemed impossible, Churchill fought his way back over the next six years to the center of great events-the only place he ever wanted to be. In 1951, at last prime minister once more, he was ready to begin his dash to win "the last prize I seek": the enduring peace that had eluded the world after Hitler's defeat. But Churchill's battles were just beginning. He would have to wage war with both his closest colleagues and his most indispensable allies, the Americans, to get where none of them wanted him to go: the negotiating table with the Soviets. Barbara Leaming has written a gripping, fast-paced narrative of bare-knuckle politics, of life-and-death decisions, of old grudges and fresh blame. It is the story of how, between 1945 and 1955, Churchill simultaneously fought to prevent a third world war and to defy his own mortality as the clock ticked away and time threatened to run out for him. This is Winston Churchill in close-up-a compelling, vivid, and deeply poignant portrait of the great man at a time when almost no one wanted him to remain on the public stage and when he was willing to do absolutely anything to stay there. Editorial review.

You will, but I shall not: Berlin, July 1945 -- Face facts and retire: London, 1945 -- Sans soucis et sans regrets: Lake Como, September 1945 -- Old man in a hurry: London, October 1945 -- The wet hen: St James's Palace, 1946 -- Winnie, Winnie, go away: Miami Beach, Florida, 1946 -- Imperious Caesar: Southampton, England, 1946 -- Plots and plotters: Hyde Park Gate, 1947 -- Before it is too late: Westminster Abbey, November 1947 -- The dagger is pointed: La Capponcina, Cap d'Ail, France, August 1949 -- Another glass of your excellent champagne: Venice, 1951 -- White with the bones of Englishmen: London, October 1951 -- Naked among mine enemies: New York, January 1952 -- I live here, don't I? London, 1952 -- If nothing can be arranged: Jamaica, January 1953 -- The abdication of Diocletian: Buckingham Palace, 1953 -- I have a right to be heard! Bermuda, December 1953 -- An obstinate pig: aboard the Queen Elizabeth, July 1954 -- The "R" word: Westminster Hall, November 1954.