Today a forgotten figure, Bourke Cockran was acclaimed during his lifetime as America's greatest orator. A seven term Congressman from New York City, he was a confidant and economic adviser to two American presidents, Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt. He was also the lover of Jennie Churchill - Winston's mother - after the death of Lord Randolph. And, for twelve years (1895 to 1906), he was the young Winston's mentor. Until now, the story of the extraordinary and crucial relationship between them has not been told.

At one level, the story is about politics, exploring the ways the young Churchill adopted Cockran's political and economic views - on liberty, capitalism, free speech, due process, free trade, and other issues that Churchill was to make his own. On another level, the story is biographical, chronicling the meetings between the men, and reproducing - for the first time in full - their private correspondence. It is the story of Churchill growing up.

On yet another level, it is historical, vividly evoking the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, when Churchill was often in the thick of the action - fighting at the Khyber Pass in India or escaping from a Boer camp in Pretoria (and becoming a household name as a consequence) - all the while keeping up his correspondence with Cockran. The drama of such events is part of the book's irresistible appeal, and brings together a revealing new insight into who Churchill really was, and how some of his greatest strategies and international relationships were forged.

About the Author
MICHAEL MCMENAMIN has written extensively on Churchill, including his regular column"Action This Day" in Finest Hour, the quarterly journal of The Churchill Centre.