Candice Millard

Using many unpublished sources, she weaves into a nail-biting escape story a larger picture of Africa at the cusp of the 20th century. Her eye for humanising detail, her vivid topographical descriptions and her keen awareness of the realities (and surrealities) of war come together in a truly fascinating book.

A gripping story [that] casts an interestingly oblique light on Churchill's personality, and on a traumatic war.

This is a tremendously readable and enjoyable book ... She aims to retell the story in a thrilling contemporary style for a generation of readers, and in this she succeeds. Most historians will have cause to envy her narrative ability.

The Making of Winston Churchill

At age twenty-four, Winston Churchill believed that to achieve his ambition of becoming Prime Minister he must do something spectacular on the battlefield. Although he had put himself in extreme danger in colonial wars in India and Sudan, and as a journalist covering the Spanish-American War in Cuba, glory and fame had eluded him. Churchill arrived in South Africa in 1899 to cover the brutal colonial war against the Boers. Just two weeks after his arrival, he was taken prisoner. Remarkably, he pulled off a daring escape - but then had to traverse hundreds of miles of enemy territory alone. The story of his escape is extraordinary enough, but then Churchill enlisted, returned to South Africa, fought in several battles and ultimately liberated the men with whom he had been imprisoned. Millard tells a magnificent story of bravery, savagery and chance encounters with a cast of historical characters - including Rudyard Kipling, Lord Kitchener and Gandhi - with whom he would later share the world stage, and gives us an unexpected perspective on one of the iconic figures in our history.

Hero of the Empire

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Candice Millard

Praise for Hero of the Empire

Completely engrossing

Using many unpublished sources, she weaves into a nail-biting escape story a larger picture of Africa at the cusp of the 20th century. Her eye for humanising detail, her vivid topographical descriptions and her keen ...

A gripping story [that] casts an interestingly oblique light on Churchill's personality, and on a traumatic war.

Completely engrossing

Using many unpublished sources, she weaves into a nail-biting escape story a larger picture of Africa at the cusp of the 20th century. Her eye for humanising detail, her vivid topographical descriptions and her keen ...

A gripping story [that] casts an interestingly oblique light on Churchill's personality, and on a traumatic war.

Completely engrossing

Using many unpublished sources, she weaves into a nail-biting escape story a larger picture of Africa at the cusp of the 20th century. Her eye for humanising detail, her vivid topographical descriptions and her keen ...

A gripping story [that] casts an interestingly oblique light on Churchill's personality, and on a traumatic war.

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