Europe Unite

London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1950. First edition, only printing. Hardcover. This is a jacketed British first edition, only printing of the second of Churchill's five postwar speech volumes. Condition is very good in a very good minus dust jacket. The green cloth binding is square, clean, bright, and tight with sharp corners, with minor bumping and a touch of fraying at the spine head and wrinkling at the heel. The contents are bright and clean with no previous owner marks. The top edge is a little soiled, the the fore edge only slightly so. The dust jacket is unclipped, retaining the original lower front flap price, with shallow loss at the spine head and adjacent upper rear panel, and fractional loss at the lower spine and flap fold corners. The white rear panel is mildly toned and soiled, the yellow spine print slightly sunned but still distinct. The dust jacket is protected beneath a clear, removable, archival cover.

Europe Unite includes 52 speeches spanning January 1947 to December 1948. The book reflects Churchill's position as then-Leader of the Opposition, and many of the speeches contain both domestic and foreign policy indictments of Clement Attlee's Labour Government, which had replaced Churchill in 1945. Nonetheless, the title is rooted in Churchill's 7 May 1948 speech to the Congress of Europe. Churchill was an early, ardent, and vital advocate of pan-European integration. This and earlier speeches lent impetus to what would eventually become the European Union.

As ardent an advocate as Churchill was of Britain, and though his rhetoric and sentiments could ascend inspiring heights, Churchill had been a soldier, a war leader, a politician and statesman and as such, could not fail to be a realist. Postwar Britain was diminished economically, militarily, and territorially. As Randolph Churchill said in his introduction to the book, Britain's "place in the world can only be regained" in part by "assumption by Britain of a leading role in promoting the unity of Europe." The movement toward European integration would continue to prevail. So would Churchill. During the election of February 1950 - the month this book was published - Churchill polled more than 37,000 votes, double that of his challenger. Labour's majority was reduced to six, and when Prime Minister Clement Attlee called another election in 1951 the Conservatives won 321 seats to Labour’s 295, returning Churchill to Downing Street.

Reference: Cohen A246.1, Woods/ICS A128(a), Langworth p.296