"Narrative historian Lawrence James has written a genuinely new biography of Winston Churchill, one focusing solely on his contradictory relationship with the British Empire. As a young army officer in the late nineteenth century serving in conflicts in India, South Africa, and the Sudan, his attitude toward the Empire was the Victorian paternalistic approach--at once responsible and superior. Conscious even then of his political career ahead, Churchill found himself reluctantly supporting British atrocities and held what many would regard today as prejudiced views, in that he felt that some nationalities were superior to others. His (some might say obsequious) relationship with America reflected that view: America was a former colony where the natives had become worthy to rule themselves, but--he felt--still had that connection to Britain. This outmoded attitude was one of the reasons the British voters rejected him after leading the country brilliantly in the Second World War. His attitude remained decidedly old-fashioned, truly Victorian, in a world that was shaping up very differently."--From publisher description.