- 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)
The Importance of Being Awkward
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £5.95
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Importance of Being Awkward: The Autobiography of Tam Dalyell for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £5.95, 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
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'utterly engrossing memoir...Tam Dalyell is a titan of thrawnness, and I hope he makes a nuisance of himself for many years more.' --The Herald
'The Importance of Being Awkward is the extraordinary memoirs of who else? the Old Etonian serial rebel, Tam Dalyell. String-pulling, name-dropping, opinionated in every line, an innocence bolstered by immense self-confidence, this is a maddening book, but also a riveting read, detailing Dalyell's many campaigns, often lonely, often lasting for decades, sometimes triumphantly vindicated years later. Scottish devolution, which he vigorously opposed: right or wrong? Kosovo, Iraq, the Falklands, Afghanistan, Libya, he opposed those interventions too. An admirable career.' --The Guardian
'A story of principle and persistence from a politician whose like we shall surely not see again, at least in the ranks of any of the mainstream parties.' --Journal of the Law Society of Scotland
'Charting the campaigns that have shaped his by turns heroic and cussed years in Westminster,' --The Herald
'A story of principle and persistence from a politician whose like we shall surely not see again, at least in the ranks of any of the mainstream parties.' --Journal of the Law Society of Scotland
'The Importance of Being Awkward is the extraordinary memoirs of who else? the Old Etonian serial rebel, Tam Dalyell. String-pulling, name-dropping, opinionated in every line, an innocence bolstered by immense self-confidence, this is a maddening book, but also a riveting read, detailing Dalyell's many campaigns, often lonely, often lasting for decades, sometimes triumphantly vindicated years later. Scottish devolution, which he vigorously opposed: right or wrong? Kosovo, Iraq, the Falklands, Afghanistan, Libya, he opposed those interventions too. An admirable career.' --The Guardian
'A story of principle and persistence from a politician whose like we shall surely not see again, at least in the ranks of any of the mainstream parties.' --Journal of the Law Society of Scotland
'Charting the campaigns that have shaped his by turns heroic and cussed years in Westminster,' --The Herald
'A story of principle and persistence from a politician whose like we shall surely not see again, at least in the ranks of any of the mainstream parties.' --Journal of the Law Society of Scotland
Product Description
'A fine political memoir, at once pugnacious and wise' - Harry Reid, The Herald. 'I recently read Tam Dalyell's memoirs, The Importance of Being Awkward. What a magnificent pain-in-the-neck that man could be! Wrong? Often? Brilliantly vindicated years later? Ditto. Stubborn and conceited? Sometimes. Unpopular with successive governments? You bet. Re-elected 12 times despite all that? Yes.' Michael White, The Guardian. When veteran Labour MP Tam Dalyell retired as Father of the House in 2005, the Commons lost not only one of its most colourful and outspoken politicians, but also one of its most deeply principled members. In a parliamentary career that spanned 43 years and the administrations of eight Prime Ministers (from Macmillan to Blair), Dalyell was never a stranger to controversy. His vehemently independent and firmly-held views might have denied him a career on the front bench, but have ensured that his name has seldom been out of the headlines. An outspoken critic of both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, he famously harried the former over the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands conflict, and argued fiercely against the Gulf War of 1990 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He also spoke out against military action in Kosovo, and has been a leading figure in the attempt to uncover the truth about the Lockerbie bombing. In this memoir, based on personal papers as well as official documents - many of them only recently declassified - he looks back over a lifetime of dedicated service as MP for West Lothian and Linlithgow and talks of his family connections to the area: the Dalyells have lived at the historic House of the Binns, near Linlithgow, for almost 400 years. Insightful, witty and urbane, this is a fascinating book which offers a unique perspective on many of the key moments in Britain's political life over the last fifty years.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I had high hopes for Sir Tam Dalyell's Bt. autobiography. Renowned as one of the late-20th Centuries great parliamentarians (like Tony Benn or Edward Heath), my hope was that Sir Tam's reflections on his life story would off some insight into both the man and his life both in and outside Parliament. However, what we have is a text in desperate need of both a good proof-reader and editor.
The first part of the book, looking at Sir Tam's antecedents as Baronets and residents of the House of the Binns (his ancestral seat) is both self-indulgent and uninformative, mainly because Sir Tams writes as though he were authoring a `who's who' guide. Too many times we are treated to sentences which run along the lines of `Sir X, who was my tutor/ doctor/ cook and who would later become distinguished Professor/ House Master/ Surgeon to the Monarch etc.' (Many of these descriptions are up to a paragraph long, meaning that the book becomes more of a biographical dictionary than an memoir and loses much of the sense of the narrative). It would be fair to say that not many people will have had the opportunity in their lives to have met so many august personages and with his constant name dropping (like confetti at a wedding) it gets rather tiresome after a while.
At other times we are expected to have a working knowledge of the Scottish nobility, e.g. we are informed that Mr X is one of the Caithness X's, as though this is famous family, known to all. This style may be Sir Tam's own, he was after all brought up as a member of the Scots nobility in pre-war Scotland, however, a good editor would have been able to iron out these stylistic problems, as well as cutting back on the name-dropping/ mini-biographies, as mentioned above.
Another problem with Sir Tam's book is the tone of his writing - there is far too much descriptive memoir, but little or no reflection or regret. Sadly this means that Sir Tam comes across as being self-satisfied rather than as someone who is reflecting on a life well lived. For such an evidently intelligent man, this is quite a let-down and for a book whose retail price is £25, unforgiveable. Whereas Sir Tam may have been a great Parliamentarians of our age, he will not be remembered as a great writer of autobiography, as say Tony Benn or Stephen Fry have been and I fear his book will rapidly be relegated to the remainder book shops/ second-hand book shops of Westminster.
The first part of the book, looking at Sir Tam's antecedents as Baronets and residents of the House of the Binns (his ancestral seat) is both self-indulgent and uninformative, mainly because Sir Tams writes as though he were authoring a `who's who' guide. Too many times we are treated to sentences which run along the lines of `Sir X, who was my tutor/ doctor/ cook and who would later become distinguished Professor/ House Master/ Surgeon to the Monarch etc.' (Many of these descriptions are up to a paragraph long, meaning that the book becomes more of a biographical dictionary than an memoir and loses much of the sense of the narrative). It would be fair to say that not many people will have had the opportunity in their lives to have met so many august personages and with his constant name dropping (like confetti at a wedding) it gets rather tiresome after a while.
At other times we are expected to have a working knowledge of the Scottish nobility, e.g. we are informed that Mr X is one of the Caithness X's, as though this is famous family, known to all. This style may be Sir Tam's own, he was after all brought up as a member of the Scots nobility in pre-war Scotland, however, a good editor would have been able to iron out these stylistic problems, as well as cutting back on the name-dropping/ mini-biographies, as mentioned above.
Another problem with Sir Tam's book is the tone of his writing - there is far too much descriptive memoir, but little or no reflection or regret. Sadly this means that Sir Tam comes across as being self-satisfied rather than as someone who is reflecting on a life well lived. For such an evidently intelligent man, this is quite a let-down and for a book whose retail price is £25, unforgiveable. Whereas Sir Tam may have been a great Parliamentarians of our age, he will not be remembered as a great writer of autobiography, as say Tony Benn or Stephen Fry have been and I fear his book will rapidly be relegated to the remainder book shops/ second-hand book shops of Westminster.
Format:Hardcover
Tam Dalyell's autobiography is imbued with the author's self satisfaction and his lack of modesty. He implies that he was always right, and that the causes he took up were the correct ones. But the reader should put aside any irritation that the author may arouse. This is a readable and enjoyable book, full of insights into the politics and recent history of Britain and Scotland.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Tam Dalyell obviously has a very retentive memory and the ability to describe parliamentary activities in the most fascinating way. He provides a detailed insight into how a backbencher can prove more effective than a minister in government and his book is both informative and entertaining.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
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.
|
