The prime minister and Nobel Prize–winning historian begins his four-volume biography of the British statesman John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough.

In the first volume of this ambitious and stunningly written biography, Sir Winston S. Churchill discusses the early career and stratospheric rise of his illustrious, seventeenth century ancestor. John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, may have been eclipsed in history by his more well-known descendant, but in his time, Marlborough was considered one of England’s foremost military and political leaders.

This first installment pays particular attention to personal details of Marlborough’s life, and the important role several women played in his success—including his sister, his wife, the Duchess of Cleveland, and Queen Anne herself. Churchill breathes life into these personal connections in order to showcase Marlborough not only as a luminary figure in British history, but also to bring him to life once again in the mind of the reader.

“A sustained meditation on statecraft and war by the greatest war leader of our time.” —Foreign Affairs

“The greatest historical work written in our century, an inexhaustible mine of political wisdom and understanding, which should be required reading for every student of political science.” —Leo Strauss