- Jubilee offer: spend £10 or more on any product sold by Amazon.co.uk on or before June 6 and you can buy "The Diamond Jubilee A Classical Celebration Album" for just £2.50 Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Margaret Thatcher Volume One: v. 1
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £1.60
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Margaret Thatcher Volume Two: The Iron Lady: Iron Lady v. 2 for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £1.60, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Love her or hate her, there is no escaping the impact that Margaret Thatcher has made upon post-war British Politics. The 1980s are indelibly marked as the Thatcher years, and her rise from Grantham grocer's daughter to Finchley MP in 1959, Leader of the Conservative Party by 1975, and Prime Minister by 1979 was as tenacious as it was controversial. Since being ousted from power, biographers have been busy reassessing her legacy. By far the most distinguished account to date is John Campbell's Margaret Thatcher. Volume One: The Grocer's Daughter. Campbell's credentials for the job are impeccable, having already written the acclaimed biography of Thatcher's great rival, Edward Heath, winner of the 1994 NCR Book Award. As he explains from the outset, this is not an authorised biography, but Thatcher's office made no attempt to prevent the reconstruction of Thatcher's life from her birth in Grantham to her entry into Downing Street. This is a blessing, as Campbell's immensely readable and even-handed book challenges the idealised myth of Thatcher's early life and indoctrination into the "Victorian values" of her Methodist father Alderman Roberts. According to Campbell, Thatcher reinvented herself as a wealthy Home Counties lady, through her difficult years at Oxford, marriage to Denis, and sexist responses from her party throughout her early years in Opposition. However, as her status as a "conviction politician" grew, and with the General Election of 1979 looming, she radically changed her image: "In place of the Home Counties Tory lady in a stripy hat, married to a rich husband, whose children had attended the most expensive private schools, she forced the media to redefine her as a battling meritocrat who had raised herself by hard work from a humble provincial background." Campbell's story is always compelling, his research meticulous, and his sweep of the political skulduggery of the 60s and 70s masterful. Margaret Thatcher is an absorbing story of the creation of a modern political myth. --Jerry Brotton
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sunday Herald
`Campbell's biography is a fantastic character study ... he's interesting'
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Few prime ministers loom as large in the British historical imagination as does Margaret Thatcher. Idolized by her supporters and demonized by her detractors, her historical image is as much myth as it is reality, one created in part by Thatcher's own efforts to shape her public profile in politically appealing terms. One of the great achievements of John Campbell in his excellent first volume of his biography of Thatcher is his success in separating the myths from the story of her life and assessing their contribution to defining her image.
This Campbell does starting with the image from the subtitle, that of 'the grocer's daughter'. He skillfully deconstructs this legend, noting that Margaret Roberts's upbringing was neither as humble nor as idyllic as she made it seem and that her father, Alfred was not the hero she would later make him out to be. What emerges instead is a hard-working and determined young woman who pursued politics from a young age. Her career was facilitated greatly by her marriage to Denis Thatcher, who provided emotional and financial support that was indispensable to her rise in politics.
Thatcher's work ethic and drive soon won her office in Edward Heath's cabinet as Secretary of State for Education. Here she gained firsthand exposure to the Whitehall bureaucracy for the first time, an experience that left her less than impressed. Yet even after Heath's defeat in the two successive elections of 1974, his position appeared secure enough to make a challenge to his leadership of the Conservative Party seem foolhardy, and Thatcher's challenge came after more prominent Tory leaders passed on the opportunity. Yet her campaign tapped a deep vein of resentment, and she triumphed against all expectations.
Throughout this, Campbell notes the fortuitous confluence of events that aided her rise. This was best illustrated by her assumption of the Conservative Party leadership at the moment when an opening for her ideology emerged with the breakdown of the democratic socialist consensus. With unemployment swelling to levels not seen since the 1930s, Thatcher was able to exploit the inability of the Labour government to grapple with the problem. The book ends with the Conservative victory in the 1979 general election and Thatcher embarking on her transformative 11-year premiership, the subject of his next volume.
Impressively researched and absorbingly written, Campbell's book is a triumph of the biographical art. He succeeds in presenting a judicious portrait of Thatcher, one that approaches her with skepticism yet never fails to giver her her due. It is the indispensable starting point for understanding this complex and controversial figure, one that is unlikely to be bettered for its description of Thatcher's early years and their role in her political legend.
This Campbell does starting with the image from the subtitle, that of 'the grocer's daughter'. He skillfully deconstructs this legend, noting that Margaret Roberts's upbringing was neither as humble nor as idyllic as she made it seem and that her father, Alfred was not the hero she would later make him out to be. What emerges instead is a hard-working and determined young woman who pursued politics from a young age. Her career was facilitated greatly by her marriage to Denis Thatcher, who provided emotional and financial support that was indispensable to her rise in politics.
Thatcher's work ethic and drive soon won her office in Edward Heath's cabinet as Secretary of State for Education. Here she gained firsthand exposure to the Whitehall bureaucracy for the first time, an experience that left her less than impressed. Yet even after Heath's defeat in the two successive elections of 1974, his position appeared secure enough to make a challenge to his leadership of the Conservative Party seem foolhardy, and Thatcher's challenge came after more prominent Tory leaders passed on the opportunity. Yet her campaign tapped a deep vein of resentment, and she triumphed against all expectations.
Throughout this, Campbell notes the fortuitous confluence of events that aided her rise. This was best illustrated by her assumption of the Conservative Party leadership at the moment when an opening for her ideology emerged with the breakdown of the democratic socialist consensus. With unemployment swelling to levels not seen since the 1930s, Thatcher was able to exploit the inability of the Labour government to grapple with the problem. The book ends with the Conservative victory in the 1979 general election and Thatcher embarking on her transformative 11-year premiership, the subject of his next volume.
Impressively researched and absorbingly written, Campbell's book is a triumph of the biographical art. He succeeds in presenting a judicious portrait of Thatcher, one that approaches her with skepticism yet never fails to giver her her due. It is the indispensable starting point for understanding this complex and controversial figure, one that is unlikely to be bettered for its description of Thatcher's early years and their role in her political legend.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a well-written and well-researched book that is both even-handed and insightful. What you should get from reading this is both a clear view of Lady Thatcher as a person and as a politician, and some interesting insights into how her life has influenced her political views.
The book also demolishes some of the mythology surrounding Lady Thatcher, and shows that she was more of a political opportunist than a great thinker. Equally it does highlight her determination and political skills.
I await the 2nd volume with interest!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book made its way onto my bookshelf thanks to a thoughtful gift from my parents. I've always had an admiration of Thatcher, not because of any particular policy (admittedly I didn't know that much about her particular policies ie the success of mass privatisation and the failures of poll tax) but because of her evident strength, articulation, will, ideology and even to some extent, her appearance. The first female Prime Minister in the United Kingdom she was someone who, regardless of the side of the fence on which you sit, she made an immense impact on the way we live our lives today. We may not be able to pinpoint it directly, but her policies and her strength mattered and she came along at a time when Britain was on its knees. She entered the Premiership in a difficult situation, but she left the Premiership with the country in a much better position than it had been (even if, at the time, the country was back in economic turmoil).
I'm not going to get into a debate about why I think she mattered, because that is what this book does. Campbell presents a concise biography of Thatcher's time in power, covering all the major points of her premiership and providing a balanced, but sympathetic view to the Iron Lady. He talks about her relationship with her cabinet ministers and manages to explain quite clearly how the strong personality which made her first two terms so successful, ultimately led to her downfall in her third. The book was extremely well researched, constantly picking apart the memoirs of those in cabinet and correcting errors or claims made in them with the true facts. It doesn't glaze over the big controversies of Thatcher's tenure as PM even looking at the big corruption scandals which again led to her eventual removal from office.
The analysis of her relationships with other world leaders was also a very interesting aspect of the book. The Reagan / Thatcher relationship in particular shows how close these two on both a personal and professional level. They had an unflinching respect for each other, yet when Thatcher disagreed, she didn't make an exception for Reagan and step aside, Campbell manages to show quite clearly that when the Lady had a view, she would hold her ground simply until she won the argument. This did not mean that the was unmoveable. As Campbell displays in the book, Thatcher would merely argue as a way of informing her side, and although a lot of her colleagues found it both frightening and tiring, arguing with the Iron Lady simply managed to grant her more information on a particular argument.
A wonderful book that gives an immensely detailed account of both Thatcher as a person and Thatcher as a politician. Usually perceived as a cruel and uncaring woman by the mainstream press and even the younger generations, she is given a human dimension which we only really saw on that moment she was exited from Number 10. We are given a more colourful picture of "Maggie" with which any reader can gain the important information required to make an informed view on her. Some may read this and have their view that she was the worst thing to happen to this country reinforced. Others, like myself, may read this and have their admiration for her grow as you realise that she really was the best person for the job.
I'm not going to get into a debate about why I think she mattered, because that is what this book does. Campbell presents a concise biography of Thatcher's time in power, covering all the major points of her premiership and providing a balanced, but sympathetic view to the Iron Lady. He talks about her relationship with her cabinet ministers and manages to explain quite clearly how the strong personality which made her first two terms so successful, ultimately led to her downfall in her third. The book was extremely well researched, constantly picking apart the memoirs of those in cabinet and correcting errors or claims made in them with the true facts. It doesn't glaze over the big controversies of Thatcher's tenure as PM even looking at the big corruption scandals which again led to her eventual removal from office.
The analysis of her relationships with other world leaders was also a very interesting aspect of the book. The Reagan / Thatcher relationship in particular shows how close these two on both a personal and professional level. They had an unflinching respect for each other, yet when Thatcher disagreed, she didn't make an exception for Reagan and step aside, Campbell manages to show quite clearly that when the Lady had a view, she would hold her ground simply until she won the argument. This did not mean that the was unmoveable. As Campbell displays in the book, Thatcher would merely argue as a way of informing her side, and although a lot of her colleagues found it both frightening and tiring, arguing with the Iron Lady simply managed to grant her more information on a particular argument.
A wonderful book that gives an immensely detailed account of both Thatcher as a person and Thatcher as a politician. Usually perceived as a cruel and uncaring woman by the mainstream press and even the younger generations, she is given a human dimension which we only really saw on that moment she was exited from Number 10. We are given a more colourful picture of "Maggie" with which any reader can gain the important information required to make an informed view on her. Some may read this and have their view that she was the worst thing to happen to this country reinforced. Others, like myself, may read this and have their admiration for her grow as you realise that she really was the best person for the job.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thorough and very readable
Campbell's book is extraordinarily well researched and is an excellent corrective to the extensive hagiography that passes as biography and analysis. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. P. I. Browne
Illuminating
I was only fourteen when Mrs Thatcher came to power so I didn't know anything of her career before then, apart frm her axing free school milk and even that i didn't really know... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Roger O. Thornhill
The complete account of Margaret Thatcher
Having read Margaret Thatcher Vol.1, I was really interested to see how Campbell would deal with her time as Prime Minister. Read more
Published 16 months ago by The West Wing
Demolishing the mythology surrounding the Iron Lady.
Margaret Thatcher continues to cast a formidable shadow over British politics. A truly historic figure, she remains as embedded in our national contentiousness and political... Read more
Published on 18 April 2010 by Mr. Adam G. White
Will the real Margaret Thatcher ... ?
Mrs Thatcher once told a TV interviewer that one of her girlhood ambitions had been to become an actress. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2009 by hbw
Fascinating insight
I read this along with her autobiographies, and of course this is far less biased! It reveals fascinating background information about her postmaster father who was also a local... Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2007 by Peter Jones
Good quality biography
A well written and informative account of Margaret Thatcher's rise to power. I found it to be an interesting and enjoyable read but not a top quality biogrpahy for a couple of... Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2005 by Stephen Smyth
Engaging biography and history
This well-researched book covers the life of Margaret Thatcher from her birth and her childhood in Grantham to her election as Prime Minister in 1979. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2004 by Pieter
A non-partisan biogrpahy of a VERY partisan person...
John Campbell has produced an extremely insightful biography, and although it is the first volume, contains some of the best analysis about Thatcher ever written. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2003 by Jimbo
More interesting than you'd think
The ability to contrast past quotes and positions with the eventual reality of Thatcher is more interesting than you'd think.
Published on 9 July 2001
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > 1901 Onwards
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain
- Books > Biography > Political > Britain > Conservatism
- Books > Biography > Political > Britain > Prime Ministers
- Books > Biography > Political > Britain > Thatcher, Margaret
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Ireland
- Books > History > Political History > Democracy
- Books > History > Political History > Politicians
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Government & Politics > Political Science & Ideology > Conservatism
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
