Margaret Thatcher

Oct 22, 2024 3:37 AM

Author:John Campbell

Margaret Thatcher

'A fascinating account... Campbell's research is as exhaustive as it is meticulous' Observer

When Margaret Thatcher unexpectedly emerged to challenge Edward Heath for the Conservative Party leadership in 1975, the public knew her only as the archetypal Home Counties Tory Lady, more famous for her hats than for any outstanding talent: she had a rich businessman husband, sent her children to the most expensive private schools and sat in Parliament for Finchley.

Yet almost overnight she reinvented herself. Journalists who set out to discover where she came from were amazed to find that she had grown up above a grocer's shop in Grantham. Within weeks of her becoming Tory leader an entirely new image was in place, based around the now famous corner shop beside the Great North Road; the strict Methodist upbringing; and her father, who taught her the 'Victorian values' which were the foundations of her subsequent career.

In the first volume of the first full-scale biography of Margaret Thatcher since her fall from power - and the first thoroughly to explore her early life - John Campbell re-examines the mythology and suggests a more complex reality behind the idealised picture accepted by Lady Thatcher's early biographers. He portrays an ambitious and determined woman ruthlessly distancing herself from her roots, until the moment in 1975 when they suddenly became a political asset.

Reviews

The best book yet written about Lady Thatcher

—— Daily Telegraph

A winner. Whatever your views on the grocer's daughter, I defy you not to enjoy it

—— Daily Mail

'A triumph'

—— Spectator

'A superbly researched biography... unlike so many others is neither hagiography nor hatchet-job, and probably gets closer to the truth than any... magnificently told'

—— Sunday Express

'A fascinating account... Campbell's research is as exhaustive as it is meticulous'

—— Observer

'Succeeds brilliantly'

—— London Review of Books

'Searching and beautifully written'

—— Independent

As a writer for Batman and Superman, Grant Morrison is in the perfect place to analyse the rise and fall of the superhero

—— Sunday Times

Morrison makes a passionate and knowledgeable tour guide through comics' golden age

—— The Times

Whatever your views on Grant's own creative output which I find both dazzling and, on occasions, daunting, no one can deny the man's blistering intelligence and throughout his career he has never ceased from innovation. Each new project makes readers sit up and think and I imagine many of his peers have felt the same way. Similarly this 400-page history of and tribute to this medium's meta - humans will give you much to ponder, and I don't think any true fan of the genre, as I have been since five, can afford to be without its illuminating torch

—— Page 45

If this were just Morrison's story, the reminiscences of an original Scots thinker who works in a medium that silly people scorn, it would be worth your time. The sections detailing the writer's relationship with his father are especially touching. What makes this book exceptional is the history of comics that comes with the history of Morrison... As a superhero fan, I found this a diverting read. As a people fan, I found it unputdownable

—— Scotsman

Authoritative overview of the genre...detailed and thoughtful

—— Spectator

Morrison's analysis of how comic books have reflected and influenced mainstream culture is never less than intriguing, and his turn of phrase is often a joy

—— Robert Colville , Daily Telegraph

This is entertaining stuff

—— Sunday Times, Christmas Round Up

Butterworth's fascination with his subject drips from the page...this is entertaining stuff

—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday Times

An astounding story of bitter civil warfare that raged across many countries for decades. Butterworth's passionate account of the anarchist movements born in the late 19th century describes a conflict that spawned its own "war on terror"

—— Steve Burniston , Guardian

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