The greatest politician and statesmen of the twentieth century by Britain's leading military historian. Was Churchill as a great a wartime leader as he has hitherto been made out? John Keegan discusses the view of the soldiers such as Alanbrooke, his wartime Chief of Staff, and considers Churchill the politician who surprisingly got it wrong so often, not least in the 1945 election. Keegan also writes vividly about Churchill's upbringing and his ambitious streak, which emerged early on and led him into the army and the Boer War.