"I am perhaps the only man who has passed through the twosupreme cataclysms of recorded history in high executive office... I was in thissecond struggle with Germany for more than five years the head of His Majesty'sGovernment. I write therefore from a different standpoint and with moreauthority than was possible in my earlier books. I do not describe it as ahistory, for that belongs to another generation. But I claim with confidencethat it is a contribution to history which will be of service to the future." Sir Winston Churchill From the origins of the conflict, the rise of Hitler and thefutile attempts at appeasement, through the darkest days of Britain's lonestand against the Axis powers, the great alliances with the USA and SovietRussia and the triumphs of D Day and the eventual liberation of Europe to theterrible birth of the Cold War under the shadow of nuclear weaponry, this isWinston Churchill's landmark history of World War II. At once a personalaccount and a majesterial history, TheSecond World War remains Churchill's literary masterpiece.