Daring to Hope: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter, 1946-1969

Bonham Carter, Violet

ISBN 10: 0297816519 / ISBN 13: 9780297816515

Published by Orion Pub Co, 2002

About this Item

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing.

Seller Inventory # BSM.155CL

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Daring to Hope: The Diaries and Letters of Violet Bonham Carter, 1946-1969
• Publisher: Orion Pub Co
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0297816519
• ISBN 13: 9780297816515
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Lady Violet Bonham Carter, daughter of the Liberal prime minister H. H. Asquith, and herself a leading Liberal, was described by Winston Churchill in 1951 as 'one of the very best speakers, male or female'. She was also a writer of distinction, Clement Attlee praising her 1965 biography of Churchill: 'Amazing that her first book, at 78, should be so good.' Its intended sequel was never written, but here, is the raw material for a worthy successor.

'Winston has many faults but he is the one great forest tree that still stands’ she wrote in 1950. ‘When I am with him I feel the perspective of history'. That 'perspective' is vividly captured here and a galaxy of political stars comes into view - Attlee 'feeling the Atlas weight of his responsibility' as prime minister; Anthony Eden, 'accomplishing his own destruction by the suicidal blunder of Suez'; Harold Macmillan, 'How little I dreamed that he would ever blossom into "Super-Mac"'; President Kennedy, 'Above all I had the sense of greatness - in a greater degree than I have felt it about anyone since I first met Winston at the age of 19'. These are also the writings of an active politician with an international standing – an ardent campaigner for a United Europe: 'If we fail one realises suddenly that one is looking on at the suicide of a civilisation'; above all, a passionate Liberal struggling to save her party from extinction, and contemplating a deal with the Conservatives: 'But can one buy survival with dishonour?'

About the Author

Mark Pottle read modern history at the University of Sheffield and at Wolfson College, Oxford (where he is now a research fellow). He is the editor of the previous volumes of these letters & diaries.