When we seek an example of unalloyed courage, the man who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the visionary leader, immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In The Storm of War, Andrew Roberts gave us a tantalizing glimpse of Churchill the war leader. Now, at last, we have the full and definitive biography, as personally revealing as it is compulsively readable, about one of the great leaders of all time.

Part 1.The preparation. -- A famous name : November 1874-January 1895 -- Ambition under fire : January 1895-July 1898 -- From Omdurman to Oldham via Pretoria : August 1898-October 1900 -- Crossing the floor : October 1900-December 1905 -- Liberal imperialist : January 1906-April 1908 -- Love and liberalism : April 1908-February 1910 -- Home Secretary : February 1910-September 1911 -- First Lord of the Admiralty : October 1911-August 1914 -- 'This glorious, delicious war' : August 1914-March 1915 -- Gallipoli : March-November 1915 -- Plug Street to victory : November 1915- November 1918 -- Coalition politics : November 1918-November 1922 -- Redemption : November 1922-May 1926 -- Crash : June 1926-January 1931 -- Into the wilderness : January 1931-October 1933 -- Sounding the alarm : October 1933-March 1936 -- Apotheosis of appeasement : March 1936-October 1938 -- Vindication : October 1938-September 1939 -- 'Winston is back' : September 1939-May 1940 -- Seizing the premiership : May 1940 -- Part 2. The trial. -- The fall of France : May-June 1940 ; The Battle of Britain : June-September 1940 -- The Blitz : September 1940-January 1941 -- 'Keep buggering on' : January-June 1941 -- 'Being met together' : June 1941-January 1942 -- Disaster : January-June 1942 -- Desert victory : June-November 1942 -- 'One continent redeemed' : November 1942-September 1943 -- The hard underbelly : September 1943-June 1944 -- Liberation : June 1944-January 1945 -- Victory and defeat : January-July 1945 -- Opposition : August 1945-October 1951 -- Indian summer : October 1951-April 1955 -- 'Long sunset' : April 1955-January 1965 -- Conclusion : 'Walking with destiny'.