''The Great Contemporaries'' by Winston Churchill was first published simultaneously in the UK and US in 1937 and then two years later in this revised edition with four additional essays.

It is a celebrated collection of essays written by Churchill between 1928 and 1937. It profiles some of the most influential political, military, and cultural figures of his era—including Adolf Hitler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, T.E. Lawrence, and Charlie Chaplin—offering his insights into what makes a leader great.
Churchill uses these celebrity and leader profiles to analyze the limits and merits of greatness, dissecting the decisions that led to his subjects' triumphs or downfalls.
By evaluating these towering personalities, Churchill simultaneously reveals a great deal about his own political character, his views on the British Empire, and the impending geopolitical threats of the 1930s.
One of the most famous essays in the collection is "The Truth About Hitler." Written in 1935, Churchill warned of the Führer's dark ambitions while expressing his hope to avoid the massive, looming conflict.