Margaret Thatcher - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1472909208 ISBN 13: 9781472909206

Publisher: GARDNERS VI BOOKS AMS006, 2014

Synopsis

As Britain's first woman Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher brought about the biggest social and political revolution in the nation's post-war history. She achieved this largely by the driving force of her personality - a subject of endless speculation among both her friends and her foes. Jonathan Aitken has an insider's view of Margaret Thatcher's story. He is well qualified to explore her strong and sometimes difficult personality during half a century of political dramas. From first meeting her when she was a junior shadow minister in the mid 1960s, during her time as leader of the Opposition when he was a close family friend, and as a Member of Parliament throughout her years in power, Aitken had a ring side seat at many private and public spectacles in the Margaret Thatcher saga. From his unique vantage point, Aitken brings new light to many crucial episodes of Thatcherism. They include her ousting of Ted Heath, her battles with her Cabinet, the Falklands War, the Miners' Strike, her relationships with world leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and the build up to the Shakespearian coup inside the Conservative Party which brought about her downfall. Drawing on his own diaries, and a wealth of extensive research including some ninety interviews which range from international statesmen like Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger and Lord Carrington to many of her No.10 private secretaries and personal friends, Jonathan Aitken's Margaret Thatcher - Power and Personality breaks new ground as a fresh and fascinating portrait of the most influential political leader of post-war Britain.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Aitken, a former MP and cabinet minister, is the author of 14 books including his award winning biography of President Richard Nixon.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The fact that Thatcher’s funeral procession was greeted with more cheers than protest, though the reverse was expected, attests to the mixed emotions she elicited in life. She was the only woman to serve as prime minister of Britain and the longest-serving PM in the twentieth century, such a hard-edged conservative that she was known as the Iron Lady. Aitken, a former member of Parliament, served for a time with Thatcher but also dated her daughter and knew the PM on a more personal level. That mixture of professional and personal relationships with Thatcher affords him a close-up, long-term perspective on one of the most powerful women in recent history, with a hand in major economic and geopolitical changes. Drawing on archival material, interviews, and personal knowledge, Aitken chronicles the “metamorphosis from humble beginnings to grandeur; from humility to hubris; from a realistic courage in fighting her corner to a reckless Ride of the Valkyries.” He chronicles her strict childhood, marriage, political rise, and relationships with figures including Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. A woman of steely discipline and determination, powerful on the international stage, she eventually ran afoul of local politics in a dispute within her party. Aitken admits to a complex admiration of Thatcher, having seen her at her best and her worst, in this thoroughly insightful and compelling look at a remarkable world figure. --Vanessa Bush

Edition details

• Publisher: GARDNERS VI BOOKS AMS006
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1472909208
• ISBN 13: 9781472909206
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 784