In 1903, Winston Churchill was at the cusp of a brilliant political career-a newly elected Parliament member with a brash, aggressive style of oration and passionate political convictions. During this time, John Brodrick, the Secretary of State for War, proposed an expansion of Britain's peacetime military-a plan which Churchill strongly opposed. Churchill attacked Brodrick's plan in six fiery speeches on the subject-speeches that generated strong support and left Brodrick politically isolated. Mr. Brodrick's Army is a compilation of all six of these speeches. With fewer than 20 first editions currently in existence, it is the rarest of Churchill's works-remarkable not only for its historical significance, but for its early display of the oratorical brilliance for which Churchill would become known.
