This is the amazing story of one of the twentieth century's most remarkable men, Winston Churchill -- solider, war correspondent, Member of Parliament, writer, painter, and Britain's courageous wartime Prime Minister.

There was little in Winston's schoolboy record to point to such a successful career. At England's famous prep school, Harrow, the freckle-faced lad was rebellious, full of mischief, always at the bottom of his class, and always up to schoolboy pranks. There was, for instance, the never-to-be-forgotten incident of the homemade bomb with exploded with gratifying force.

One subject in which Winston did excel, though, was reading. In his favorite books, he traveled beside brave adventurers and soldiers to faraway places and fought brilliantly to win difficult military campaigns. It is not surprising then that his other love was his troop of tin soldiers that always marched to victory in perfect formation, with Winston in command.

After Harrow came Sandhurst, England's West Point, and membership in the cadet calvary. Then action in Cuba, in the hills of northern India, and in the Sudan. But Winston's great adventure of his youth was as war correspondent in South Africa when, captured by the Boers, he risked his life in a daring escape that thrilled all England.

In the years that followed, most of Churchill's energy was devoted to politics. Often he was in disfavor. But when World War II was declared, his true greatness was revealed and it was Winston Churchill who was chosen to lead the British people to victory.

From the dust jacket