A Prelude to Immortality: Winston Churchill’s ’my Early Life’

This is the incredible story of why and how Winston Churchill in his mid-50s decided to write an autobiography designed to reshape his image and to reduce an overwhelming personal debt burden. The book, My Early Life, emerged from a truly Churchillian writing process that was both complicated and highly focused. An extensive dictation process using both external research and his own previously written materials created a rough draft. Then additional researchers, reviewers and publishers on two continents helped mold the final product. My Early Life is Churchill’s Aeneid and many sections approach lyric poetry in the style of writing and in its visual and emotional impact. How all this came about is described and analyzed in this book. It further explores just how successful an endeavor this was and the global impact this book has had on literature and as a source for educational and literary publications.

Gary L. Stiles is a writer, physician, medical researcher, corporate executive, student of history and art with a 40-year interest in Winston Churchill and his writings. He was the Ursula Geller Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Research at Duke University (Emeritus) and is widely published in medical and scientific literature. This is his third nonmedical book. In 2020 he published William Hart: Catalogue Raisonné and Artistic Biography and in 2022 Churchill in Punch by the Unicorn Publishing Group. He has written extensively on Churchill in the periodical literature. He lives in New York City with his wife Alexis.
He is also the author of Churchill in Punch 978-1-914414-13-8