As a young, ambitious soldier, Winston Churchill managed to get himself posted to the 21st Lancers in 1899 as a war correspondent for the Morning Post - and joined them in fighting the rebel Boer settlers in South Africa.

In this conflict, rebel forces in the Transvaal and Orange Free State had proclaimed their own statehood, calling it the Boer Republic. Perhaps the most riveting personal account is found in London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, where Churchill is captured in Pretoria not long after he arrives to join the British forces - and is frustrated not by the conditions in the prison but by the fact that he was missing the action.

Churchill tells the story of how he escaped and made a daring overland crossing, travelling only at night to avoid detection.

Over a 64-year span, Churchill published over 40 books, many multivolume definitive accounts of historical events to which he was a witness and participant. All are beautifully written and as accessible and relevant today as when first published.

During his 50-year political career, Churchill served twice as Prime Minister in addition to other prominent positions - including President of the Board of Trade, First Lord of the Admiralty, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Home Secretary.

In the 1930s, Churchill was one of the first to recognise the danger of the rising Nazi power in Germany and to campaign for rearmament in Britain. His leadership and inspired broadcasts and speeches during World War II helped strengthen British resistance to Adolf Hitler - and played an important part in the Allies' eventual triumph.

One of the most inspiring wartime leaders of modern history, Churchill was also an orator, a historian, a journalist, and an artist. All of these aspects of Churchill are fully represented in this collection of his works.