Parliament: The Biography (Volume II - Reform)

Nov 17, 2024 11:17 AM

Author:Chris Bryant

Over the last two hundred years Parliament has witnessed and effected dramatic and often turbulent change. Political parties rose – and fell. The old aristocratic order passed away. The vote was won for the working classes and, eventually, for women. The world was torn apart by two extraordinarily bloody wars. And individual politicians were cheered for their altruism or their bravery and jeered for their sexual or financial misdemeanours.

This second volume of Chris Bryant’s majestic Parliament: The Biography has a cast of characters that includes some of British history’s most famous names: the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, Gladstone, Disraeli, Lloyd George, Churchill and Thatcher. Its recurring theme is reform and innovation, but it also lays bare obsessive respect for the past and a dedication to evolution rather than revolution, which has left us with a fudged constitution still perilously dependent on custom, convention and gentlemen’s agreements.

This is riveting, flawlessly researched and accessible popular history for anyone with an interest in why modern Britain is the nation it is today.

Reviews

Impressive

—— Independent

A sweeping history of Britain's political system... One of the most thoughtful accounts I have read

—— Francis Beckett , BBC History

Parliament is a very good read, with interesting anecdotes and observations enriched by the fact the author is an MP

—— Total Politics

An entertaining read

—— The Mail on Sunday

Exquisite...Barely a page goes by without something fascinating on it, betraying Light's skill in winkling out the most relevant or moving aspects of her antecedents' lives, which echo through the generations.

—— the Independent on Sunday

[A] short and beautifully written meditation on family and mobility.

—— the Independent

Intellectually sound and relevant...a refreshingly modern way of thinking about our past.

—— New Statesman

Light [is skilled] in probing dark corners of her ancestry and exposing their historical meaning...packed with humanity.

—— Sunday Times

Beautifully written and exhaustively researched, Alison Light makes her family speak for England.

—— Jerry White, author of London in the Eighteenth Century

A remarkable achievement...should become a classic.

—— Margaret Drabble

Immersive, engrossing

—— Laura Miller , Slate

Written with such passion . . . will fascinate and inform anyone who is interested in Victorian ways of life

—— Dr Ian Mortimer, author of 'The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England' on 'How to Be a Victorian'

If we ever have a female Doctor Who, I shall forward Ruth Goodman's name for consideration, not least because the historian has already done so much time travelling

—— The Times

Wonderful, informative, startling . . . Goodman's unique selling proposition as a historian is that she walks the walk of her time period, even when that walk involves hard labor in a corset and a hoop skirt

—— New York Times (on 'How to be a Victorian')

Meticulously researched

—— Big Issue in the North

A ground-breaking book, richly nuanced with titbits of information, insight and understanding

—— Daily Mail (on 'Singled Out')

Remarkably perceptive and well-researched . . . Virginia Nicholson has produced another extraordinarily interesting work, sensitive, intelligent and well-written

—— Sunday Telegraph (on 'Singled Out')

An inspiring book, lovingly researched, well-written and humane . . . the period is beautifully caught

—— Economist (on 'Singled Out')

The popular image is of a world where women wore little frilled pinafores with immaculately coiffed hair and happy smiles as they dusted, swept and baked . . . But Nicholson's book reveals a much darker side of life

—— Telegraph, Best Non-Fiction Books of 2015

Gripping, constantly surprising: a page-turner. We hear at first hand the life stories of women from different walks of life, from factory workers to debs. Each story draws you right in and it's always a wrench to move on

—— Country Life

A sparkling and fascinating account

—— David E. Hoffman

Well-paced narrative...of great relevance today, when such conflicts seem (but only seem) to have disappeared.

—— Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky

Immensely compelling

—— Fred Hiatt , The Pat Banker

Meticulously researched

—— Duncan White , Irish Independent

The true strength of this meticulously researched book is the placing of the revelations into the context of a compelling human drama

—— Weekly Telegraph

Engrossing

—— Andrew Lynch , Sunday Business Post

[An] outstanding treasure of literature

—— Market Oracle

Impeccably researched, and moving, this book breaks new ground

—— 5 stars , Sunday Telegraph

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