The Works of WSC
A guide to the Churchill canon
The Canon
This list is broken into two parts. The first part contains the volume-length original works produced during Churchill's lifetime. The date given is that of their first appearance. The second part of the list consists in general of compilation volumes or sets. Typically, but not always, their first appearance was after his death.
I recognise that there are volumes not included here which appear in other bibliogragraphic listings. They are missing because I do not recognise them as primary Churchill works, although technically almost every word was written by Churchill. That definition is grey, at best, and the trick for every bibliographer is to decide where to draw the line.
The works in the first part of the list are, in their first appearance, what I believe to be the fundamental Churchill canon. Many later appeared in abridged format, the abridgement sometimes done by Churchill himself, as with The River War, and sometimes by others, as with Marlborough and The History of the English Speaking Peoples. These too are valid. Keep in mind, for example, that only one edition of the unabridged River War has ever appeared. Also included are the derivative works, such as Blenheim, The American Civil War, and The Island Race.
However, there is another class of volumes which run the gamut from Jack Fishman's If I lived My Life Again, to the seemingly unending Wit and Wisdom style offerings and the tiny stocking-stuffer quote books. Regardless of the quality of any of these books they are selections from the canon and not a fundamental part of it, and I have therefore left them out of the scope of this website. Mostly this has been an easy decision, but there are exceptions. My Ally Stalin, translated into three other languages, is a superb wartime propaganda production which ridicules Churchill's marriage of convenience with Stalin by raking up his previous anti-communist utterances. I was tempted, but all in all it's a quote volume selected by someone with a point of view to present.
The Story of the Malakand Field Force 1897 (1898) Churchill's first book was published while he was still in India, and the consequent difficulties in oversight of its production led to a first edition riddled with typographical errors which caused him no little anguish. However, the work stands as a tribute to Churchill's powers of observation and insight and does much to explain why he became one of the highest paid journalists of his generation. more»
The River War (1899) As one of Churchill's best literary works, The River War further illustrates his unquestioned abilities as a war correspondent. Collectors are eagerly awaiting the first availability of the full text since 1899. more»
Savrola (1900) Churchill's first and only foray into the world of book-length fiction and also the inspiration for our website name. An interesting insight into the young Winston's psychology. more»
London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900) The first of two volumes documenting Churchill's experiences in the Boer War this book takes us through his capture, after the incident of the armoured train, and his escape from prison camp in Pretoria.
Ian Hamilton's March (1900) As a sequel to London to Ladysmith this volume completes Churchill's account of his experiences in the Boer War and also documents the beginning of his long friendship with General Ian Hamilton.
Mr. Brodrick's Army (1903) The rarest of all Churchill's works this collection of six speeches represents his campaign against St. John Brodrick's efforts to expand the standing peacetime army. more»
Lord Randolph Churchill (1906) Frederick Woods classifies this filial biography as "the first and last major work that Churchill tackled as an individual". Stepping cautiously around the definition of 'major' this is, nonetheless, a telling pointer to the importance of the work when evaluating Churchill as a writer". more»
For Free Trade (1906) A close rival in rarity to Mr. Brodrick's Army this volume contains eight anti-protection speeches delivered between 1902 and 1908. more»
My African Journey (1908) In 1907, as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, Churchill undertook a tour of East Africa, probably to the great, if temporary, relief of his political chief, Lord Elgin. The resultant travelogue, which first appeared in installments in The Strand, is a superb mixture of his natural exhuberence and his reporting ability. more»
Liberalism and the Social Problem (1909) In 1909 Churchill was teamed with David Lloyd George as one of England's 'terrible twins' of radicalism. In this volume of speeches he addresses himself to South African conciliation, the Mines Bill, Labour Exchanges, the Budget, Imperial Preference not to mention a scathing attack on the House of Lords. This is probably the Churchill work most desperately in need of an affordable reprint. more»
The People's Rights (1910) This is almost a companion volume to Liberalism and the Social Problem but interestingly and uniquely breaks away from the speech format Churchill had been freely using to this point. Instead he takes the content of the speeches and breaks out their content into topical blocks. ("What suits an audience does not suit the reader"). The result is a type of question and answer format - not a format that Churchill was ever to return to.
The World Crisis (1923-1931) Never intended as objective history this work was Churchill's apologia for the First World War. In a letter to Bonar Law he wrote "It is only by publishing certain documents and telegrams which I have written myself and for which I bear the prime responsibility, that I can deal with the lies and fictions which have ruled so long and which I have borne all these years without making any reply, while every other version has been put before the public".
My Early Life / A Roving Commission (1930) This is unquestionably among Churchill's most popular and most translated works. While it may lack the gravitas of the War Memoirs it is almost certainly more often read. Much of the volume is a rework of the earlier war correspondence volumes into a coherent whole and takes the reader to Churchill's marriage in 1908. Written with a lighthearted touch it set a high standard for the beginning of the literary outpouring of the 'wilderness years".
India (1931) This small volume of ten speeches presented Churchill's case against the India Bill. It appeared in two original impressions and then remained out of print for sixty years until the appearance of the first American edition in 1990. more»
Thoughts and Adventures / Amid These Storms (1932) This disjointed collection of previously published articles illustrates Churchill at his most inconsequential. Clearly a case of recycling purely for financial reasons the best thing in here is the pair of articles which were later to combine into the far more satisfying Painting as a Pastime.
Marlborough: His Life and Times (1933-1938) Neither personal memoir nor family biography this four volume work is arguably Churchill's only attempt at writing 'serious', albeit partial, history. Like many of his other writing projects it ballooned in size as it proceeded and finally occupied almost ten years of his life. The degree to which it is successful history has been, and continues to be, a subject of much debate.
Great Contemporaries (1937) A superbly insightful and entertaining collection of essays offering Churchill's view on many of his colleagues and rivals. more»
Arms and the Covenant / While England Slept (1938) In modern filmgoing parlance this volume should be regarded as the 'prequel' to the seven War Speeches volumes. Edited by Randolph Churchill it covers the period from November 1932 to March 1938 and contains most of Churchill's penetrating attacks on the government over defense and rearmament.
Step by Step 1936-1939 (1939) This is often incorrectly assumed to be one of the speech volumes. It is not. Instead it reprints the fortnightly series of articles which Churchill wrote between March 1936 and May 1939. Until April 1938 they were written for the Evening Standard but after that for the Daily Telegraph. more»
Into Battle / Blood, Sweat and Tears (1941) The first of the seven War Speeches volumes picks up where Arms and the Covenant left off and spans May 1938 to November 1940.
The Unrelenting Struggle (1942) The second of the seven War Speeches volumes spans November 1940 to December 1941.
The End of the Beginning (1943) By now the War Speech volumes were covering single years. This third volume is for 1942.
Onwards to Victory (1944) The fourth volume of the War Speeches covers 1943.
The Dawn of Liberation (1945) The fifth volume of the War Speeches covers 1944.
Victory (1946) The sixth volume of the War Speeches covers 1945.
Secret Session Speeches (1946) Impossible to publish during the war this slim volume contains five of Churchill's speeches which were delivered while the House was in secret session.
Memoirs of the Second World War (1948-1954) This six volume set of memoirs was the work which finally released Churchill from the self-inflicted cloud of financial worries he had lived under for most of his life. As with The World Crisis he claimed that this was not history, but simply his side of the story. more»
The Sinews of Peace (1948) While the war may have ended, Churchill's indefatigable publication of his speeches did not. The War Speeches gave way to The Post-War Speeches. Although this first volume was the slimmest it was probably also the most substantial, containing as it did both the Fulton speech warning of the 'Iron Curtain' and the Zurich speech calling for French and German Unity (in 1946!).
Painting as a Pastime (1948) Among the best-loved and best-known of Churchill's publications this essay describes the hobby that was his constant companion for almost fifty years. more»
Europe Unite (1950) The second volume of the Post-War speeches takes us through 1947-48, and was published just in time for the election of 1950 which saw Churchill come within grasping distance of a return to the premiership.
Taler I Danmark (1950) Unique in the Churchill canon this original work appeared only in Danish - it has never been translated into English.
In the Balance (1951) Again published just before a general election (Oct 1951), this one returning Churchill to power, the third of the Post-War speech volumes covers the years 1949-50.
Stemming the Tide (1953) The fourth of the Post-War Speech volumes sees Churchill back in power at the head of his third government.
A History of the English Speaking Peoples (1956-1958) Although not published until 1956-1958, this four volume work was, in fact, completed in its original form in 1939, as a result of a desperate race against time and the gathering storm. It has never been out of print since first publication and has spawned several abridgements and derivative works.
The Unwritten Alliance (1961) This last entry in the Churchill canon appeared in only one edition and was limited to 5000 copies. The days of the wartime readership were long gone. more»
War Correspondence (1972).
The Early Wars (1962).
The War Speeches (1946).
The Complete Speeches (1974).
The Collected Works (1974-1975).
The Collected Essays (1976).
