The Crisis

In one of the first blockbuster novels of the 20th Century, American author Winston Churchill (not to be confused with the latter British statesman Winston S. Churchill) weaves real-life historical figures and his own memorable characters into a colorful tapestry of a nation sliding toward civil war......more

In one of the first blockbuster novels of the 20th Century, American author Winston Churchill (not to be confused with the latter British statesman Winston S. Churchill) weaves real-life historical figures and his own memorable characters into a colorful tapestry of a nation sliding toward civil war. In 1857, St. Louis has become a bustling center of transportation and commerce. But the divisions that threaten to tear the nation apart simmer just below the placid surface of daily life. Prosperous merchant and slaveowner Comyn Carvel and his daughter Virginia make no secret of their love for the Southern way of life, or their willingness to fight for it. Meanwhile, a young lawyer from Boston, Stephen Brice, arrives in St. Louis and is soon transformed by his encounters with the horrors of slavery —and with the Republican Party's rising star, Abraham Lincoln. Clarence Carvel, Virginia's cousin, longs for a chance to prove himself in battle for the South and, more importantly, to Virginia herself. And calculating Yankee businessman Eliphalet Hopper determines to fight for no cause but his own —to gain wealth and respect at any cost. Written just 40 years after the Civil War —when the conflict was still within living memory— The Crisis brings to life the passions, fears, sacrifices, heroism, and cowardice displayed by those who lived through the impassioned era of the "house divided".(less)

Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Edward Spalding and Emma Bell (Blaine) Churchill. He attended Smith Academy in Missouri and the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1894 and became an editor of the Army and Navy Journal. He resigned from the navy to pursue a writi......more

Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Edward Spalding and Emma Bell (Blaine) Churchill. He attended Smith Academy in Missouri and the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1894 and became an editor of the Army and Navy Journal. He resigned from the navy to pursue a writing career. While he would be most successful as a novelist, he was also a published poet and essayist.

His first novel was The Celebrity (1898). (Mr. Keegan's Elopement was published in 1896 within a magazine. In 1903 it was republished as an illustrated hardback book.) Churchill's next novel—Richard Carvel (1899)—was a pheno

Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Edward Spalding and Emma Bell (Blaine) Churchill. He attended Smith Academy in Missouri and the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1894 and became an editor of the Army and Navy Journal. He resigned from the navy to pursue a writing career. While he would be most successful as a novelist, he was also a published poet and essayist.

His first novel was The Celebrity (1898). (Mr. Keegan's Elopement was published in 1896 within a magazine. In 1903 it was republished as an illustrated hardback book.) Churchill's next novel—Richard Carvel (1899)—was a phenomenon, selling as many as two million copies in a nation of only 76 million, and made Churchill rich. His next two novels, The Crisis (1901) and The Crossing (1904), were also very successful.

Churchill's early novels were historical but his later works were set in contemporary America. He often sought to include his political ideas into his novels. Churchill wrote in the naturalist style of literature, and some have called him the most influential of the American naturalists.

In 1899, Churchill moved to Cornish, New Hampshire. He became involved in politics and was elected to the state legislature in 1903 and 1905. He unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor in 1906. In 1912, he was nominated as the Progressive candidate for governor but did not win the election. He did not again seek office. In 1917, he toured the battlefields of World War I and wrote about what he saw, his first non-fiction work.

Sometime after this move, he took up watercolors, and also became known for his landscapes. Some of his works are in the collections of Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor, Vermont, Hood Museum of Art (part of Hopkins Center for the Arts Dartmouth College) in Hanover, New Hampshire, and Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire.

In 1919, Churchill decided to stop writing and withdrew from public life. As a result of this he was gradually forgotten by the public. In 1940, The Uncharted Way, his first book in 20 years, was published. The book examined Churchill's thoughts on religion. He did not seek to publicize the book and it received little attention. Shortly before his death he said, "It is very difficult now for me to think of myself as a writer of novels, as all that seems to belong to another life."

Churchill died in Winter Park, Florida in 1947. He is the great-grandfather of Albany, New York, journalist Chris Churchill.

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