The teeter-totter of Palmerston and Disraeli I found to be anti-climatic, as was much of the last 150 years, to paraphrase a different era and battle, 2 bald men fighting over a comb. This has a profound effect in the later hatred of the First World War where the Economic Consequences of the Peace were forever entwined with what had occurred in 1871. This is truly King James I lasting legacy – a thorough, complete, and unbiased edition in English of the Holy Scriptures. In his preface he remarks that the book 'slumbered peacefully', until 1956, 'when things had quietened down'.

This highly sought after set comes in the original pictorial dust jackets, each with a bare minimum of wear, and scarce thus. Printing major works by someone with Churchill s global stature in the 1950s would have been not only a commercial coup, but also a matter of reputational prestige which may help explain why the printer undertook this special binding.

It’s certainly not the fault of the author, the reader’s (my fault) because readers of books such as this, should have some background and knowledge of the subject. This volume begins with King William III and Queen Mary II; a tumultuous left over location of the world following the removal of King James II. Churchill has been rightfully penned as the “Last Lion” (William Manchester) and if this is the case then certainly the “First Lion” would have to be King Henry II (the “Coeur de Lion” is King Richard I). This begins an awakening of working class peoples to see the value to what they brought (and continue to bring in the modern age to a different sort of degree. Pages good condition with maps and genealogical tables in every volume, some foxing to the early pages, the majority clean and bright.

And just one reason I loved it so much was because it seemed to bring all these small subjects together that I had heard about, read about, and studied, unfortunately very little, but now I know how they interrelate. Churchill then goes on to describe the South African immigration and frontier, and from here he pays respectful history of fact to the foundation of Australia, New Zealand, and the island state of Tasmania. Sir WSC breaks for a spell – but maintains a link to the History of English Speaking Peoples by providing occasional references to what other matters are going on globally at the time. For example, King Charles II of Spain is wrongly mentioned as King Charles III, three kings and two generations apart; Lucy Walter, King Charles II of England's mistress or wife, becomes Lucy Waters. Feudal system - A political and economic system of Europe from the 9th to about the 15th century, based on the holding of all land in fief or fee and the resulting relation of lord to vassal and characterized by homage, legal and military service of tenants, and forfeiture.He began the book in 1939 and delivered the book prior to the outbreak of WWII to his publisher with about half a million words. This is naturally a British history, but it is also very much an American, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian, Indian, South African history, the greatest story of our centuries told by the master storyteller of our time.