A protean figure and a man of massive achievement, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only man to be elected to the presidency more than twice. In a ranking of chief executives, no more than three of his predecessors could truly be placed in contention with his standing, and of his successors, there are so far none.

In acute, stylish prose, Roy Jenkins tackles all of the nuances and intricacies of FDR's character. He was a skilled politician with astounding flexibility; he oversaw an incomparable mobilization of American industrial and military effort; and, all the while, he aroused great loyalty and dazzled those around him with his personal charm. Despite several setbacks and one apparent catastrophe, his life was buoyed by the influence of Eleanor, who was not only a wife but an adviser and one of the twentieth century's greatest political reformers.

Nearly complete before Jenkins's death in January 2003, this volume was finished by historian Richard Neustadt.

ISBN: 0 8050 6959 3

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The most celebrated Prime Minister of the twentieth century and arguably the most renowned British Prime Minister ever, Winston Churchill is an icon of modern history. But, though he was at the forefront of the political scene for almost sixty years, without World War II he might have been remembered as nothing more than a minor player in the dramas of British government.

In this brilliant account Roy Jenkins analyses Churchill's exceptional character in all its strengths and attendant weaknesses. Using his own experience as well as his formidable knowledge of the political history of Britain, Jenkins illuminates Churchill's parliamentary career through its campaigns, elections, and changes of allegiance, its troughs and its peaks.

The progress and events of World War II are followed in detail, reminding us just how precariously Britain stood on a knife-edge between 1939 and 1941. The ballast of Churchill, as this book testifies, was integral to victory and survival.

Exceptional in its breadth of knowledge and distinguished in its style, Churchill is enlivened with humour and highlighted with a penetrating intelligence. It is already the benchmark work of this great man.

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In this sparkling collection of essays Roy Jenkins, who was himself one of the most successful Chancellors of the Exchequer, examines the lives of nineteen of his predecessors in that challenging office. Covering more than sixty years, from Lord Randolph Churchill, who resigned so disastrously in 1886, to Hugh Dalton, who also resigned, after an innocent budget leak, 1947, he evokes the personalities, the disappointments and the triumphs of this remarkable group of politicians.

In these essays, Roy Jenkins employs his political acumen to penetrating effect, illuminating the great (Lloyd George and Winston Churchill) as skilfully as he retrieves from relative obscurity such Chancellors as C. T. Ritchie and Robert Horne. Written with elegance, verve and panache, The Chancellors, provides an enduring and witty appraisal of nineteen varied lives.

Sir Charles Dilke was born in 1843 and died in 1911. His career is one the mysteries and tragedies of 19th-century history. In the summer of 1885 he was the youngest man in the outgoing cabinet and Gladstone's most likely successor as leader of the Liberal Party. His great expectations were shattered when, in July 1885, Donald Crawford, a Liberal candidate, began divorce proceedings against his 22-year-old wife, citing Dilke as co-respondent. In the end, Dilke lost his defence at divorce hearings, resulting in public disgrace. This work, first published in 1958, tells the story of Dilke's experiences, including how he maintained his innocence until his dying day.

ISBN: 0 333 62020 8

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