Winston Churchill as a young man wrote a two volume life of his father, Lord Randolph. When he died in his turn, his own son Randolph – father of the current Winston, MP – began a full-scale life of him, assisted by Martin Gilbert. Randolph Churchill died with this vast project hardly launched; Martin Gilbert carries it on. This is the sixth main volume, presumably out of a projected eight; thirteen companion volumes of documents have appeared beside the previous five tomes. This one is so far unaccompanied; there is a great deal of meat in it, historical and biographical, and it is crammed with quotations.

Its readers are taken, day by day, through the first two and a quarter years of the last World War. During those years their subject rose from the vital, but secondary, post of First Lord of the Admiralty to that of Prime Minister; as Prime Minister, he sustained this kingdom