NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "An altogether absorbing popular biography ... The heroic Churchill is in these pages, but so is the little boy writing forlorn letters to the father who all but ignored him. "--People When Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace in 1874, Imperial Britain stood at the splendid pinnacle of her power. Yet within a few years the Empire would hover on the brink of catastrophe. Against this backdrop, a remarkable man began to build his legacy. From master biographer William Manchester, The Last Lion: Visions of Glory reveals the first fifty-eight years of the life of an adventurer, aristocrat, soldier, and statesman whose courageous leadership guided the destiny of his darkly troubled times--and who is remembered as one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century. Praise for The Last Lion: Visions of Glory "Absolutely magnificent ... a delight to read ... one of those books you devour line by line and word by word and finally hate to see end. "--Russell Baker "Bedazzling. "--Newsweek "Manchester has read further, thought harder, and told with considerable verve what is mesmerizing in [Churchill's] drama... One cannot do better than this book. "--The Philadelphia Inquirer "Superb ... [Manchester] pulls together the multitudinous facets of one of the richest lives ever to be chronicled... Churchill and Manchester were clearly made for each other. "--Chicago Tribune "A vivid, thoroughly detailed biography of the Winston Churchill nobody knows. "--Boston Herald "Adds a grand dimension ... rich in historical and social contexts. "--Time