In the original dust jacket. Navy cloth binding with silver title on the spine.

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For conditions, please view our photographs. A nice clean rare copy from the library gathered by the famous Cambridge Don, computer scientist, food and wine connoisseur, Jack Arnold LANG.

An engaging and original account of 1921, a pivotal year for Churchill that had a lasting impact on his political and personal legacy. After the tragic consequences of his involvement in the catastrophic Dardanelles Campaign of World War I, Churchill’s political career seemed over. He was widely regarded as little more than a bombastic and unpredictable buccaneer until, in 1921, an unexpected inheritance heralded a series of events that laid the foundations for his future success. Renowned Churchill scholar David Stafford delves into the statesman’s life in 1921, the year in which his political career revived. From his political negotiations in the Anglo-Irish treaty that created the Irish Free State to his tumultuous relationship with his “wild cousin” Clare Sheridan, sculptor of Lenin and subject of an MI5 investigation, this broad account explores the nuances of Churchill’s private and public lives. This is an engaging portrait of this overlooked yet pivotal year in the great man’s life.

Reviews:

• “Important. . . . An elegant venture. . . . Its power lies in a vivid re-creation not only of Churchill’s public roles but also his private life―of good fortune but also family tragedy―thus producing something close to the actual rhythm of lived history.”―Paul Bew, Wall Street Journal

• “A fascinatingly detailed account of one of the most important years of Winston Churchill’s life.”―Anne de Courcy, author of The Viceroy’s Daughters

• “A brilliant portrayal of the triumphs and tribulations of Churchill’s middle age.”―Paul Addison, author of Churchill: The Unexpected Hero

• “In 1921 Winston Churchill triumphed over political disaster and personal tragedy. He re-shaped the Middle East, pursued peace in Ireland, and “laid the foundations of his future glory.” Stafford has had the brilliant idea of focussing on this single, crucial year and he sheds dazzling new light on both the man and the epoch. ”―Piers Brendon, author of The Decline and Fall of The British Empire, 1781-1997

• “Vividly adds perspectives and colour to a busy yet little known year of Churchill’s life that most biographies can only treat in monochrome.”―David Lough, author of No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money

• “A fascinating and fluent account of Churchill’s efforts to win the peace and hold together the Empire.”―Lawrence James, author of Churchill and Empire

• As a history-jock, I read a lot of books, and the history books I like the best are those that delve into a certain phase of a subject’s life. It can be a 10 year period – The Roaring 20’s, say, or a one year period examined in David A T Stafford’s superb history, “Oblivion and Glory: 1921 and the Making of Winston Churchill”. The year 1921 was quite an important year in Churchill’s life. Stafford takes the year in terms of seasons and looks at the various events and people that were important to Churchill. He lost several people close to him that year – his mother and a two year old daughter – and traveled to the Middle East to work on the peace settlement there. He fought with David Lloyd George and other politicians and couldn’t seem to find a real place for himself. That would come, of course, in 1940, after years in the “political wilderness”. But painting and traveling occupied his time, as well. He became a noted landscape painter during this time. I’m planning to use this book as a text in a Life Long Learning class I’m giving this coming summer. Stafford’s book is a well-written book about an important year in the life of Winston Churchill. If the subject interests you, also check out “No More Champagne: Winston Churchill and his Money”, by David Lough, published in 2015.

David Stafford, a former diplomat, has written extensively on the Second World War and on intelligence history and is the author of, among other books, THE SILENT GAME, ROOSEVELT AND CHURCHILL and CHURCHILL AND THE SECRET SERVICE. After several years at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and at the Canadian Institute of International Affairs in Toronto, he returned to Edinburgh, where he is now Project Director of The Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars at the University of Edinburgh. David Stafford regularly reviews for the international press and contributes extensively to television and radio features on history.