Margaret Thatcher: Iron Lady v. 2

Margaret Thatcher continues to cast a formidable shadow over British politics. A truly historic figure, she remains as embedded in our national contentiousness and political discourse as ever - an astonishing achievement for a politician that has been out of national office for two decades.

Despite her status, the mythology and partisan posturing surrounding this most powerful of British Prime Ministers renders all too many commentators and biographers completely unreliable and unable to truly illuminate thinking about a politician who not only led one of the most transformative governments in modern British history, but who also became an international figure of major significance at the apex of the Cold War. It's difficult to think of a public figure who is more deserving of a exhaustive, balanced and compelling biography - and John Campbell has delivered exactly that in his outstanding account of the Thatcher premiership, "Margaret Thatcher: Iron Lady, V.2".

The most immediately striking aspect of Campbell's biography is it's extensiveness. From Thatcher's election victory of 1979, through to her downfall at the hands of her own party in 1990, Campbell delivers a thorough assessment of the leader and her character, her policies and the political and historical context within which she operated and came to dominate. His accounts of the Falklands conflict, the highly controversial monetarist economic policies of Mrs. Thatcher's first administration and her notoriously adversarial relationship with the European Union are the most rigorous and non-partisan you are ever likely to find. His sources are impeccable, and he is shrewd in his refusal to take the accounts of politicians at face value, always probing further and consulting alternative reports to get behind self-serving rhetoric and closer to the truth. And yet this relentless attention to detail and commitment to fairness and balance does not diminish the entertainment value of the book, as would undoubtedly be the case in the hands of a less talented writer. Far from it, this is an exhilarating narrative of high politics of the most dramatic order.

In this eminently readable and entertaining biography, Campbell's greatest success is that he has, through exhaustive research and a fair-minded prose, finally demolished both the bitter (and deliberately misleading) rancor directed at Thatcher by the Left, and the heroic (and at times overblown) mythology awarded to her by her most loyal supporters on the Right. For the most important British politician of the post-war period, this is long overdue and very welcome indeed.

An Excellent Biography!! (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book is the best biography of Mrs. Thatcher I've ever read, it's brilliantly written, well researched and very informative. It covers, in detail Maggie's childhood, early education, first years in politics, and the events leading up to 1979 when she became Britain's first (and to date only) female prime minister.
Persinally, I found this book more interesting and easier to read that Maggie's own memoirs even though they are still very good reads.
If you are unfamilar with the Iron Lady and her politics, this is a good place to start reading about them.
I am now going to buy John Campbell's part 2 of this impressive work.
Recommended!

Will the real Margaret Thatcher ... ? (1/1 people found this helpful)

Mrs Thatcher once told a TV interviewer that one of her girlhood ambitions had been to become an actress. As Campbell shows, there's no evidence to support this claim, although, paradoxically, it may be the best clue we have to understanding the "real" Margaret Thatcher.

Grocer's daughter, schoolgirl, scientist, lawyer, Tory lady, politician, tigress, milk-snatcher, iron lady, housewife-superstar or, as, many Americans thought, "quite a dame". Will the real Margaret Thatcher, please stand up?

Like his subject, Campbell has done his homework and stuck closely to his brief. No stone is left unturned, no claim unquestioned and no fact unverified. The result is a detailed and well-balanced account of Margaret Roberts' journey from the now legendary corner shop in Grantham to steps of Number 10.

The focus is very much on Mrs Thatcher herself. Current events, politicians and family are only mentioned inasmuch as they affect her personal and political development. Whilst this gives the book a strong narrative feel, it assumes some background knowledge of post war Britain. Readers who weren't around at the time or are unfamiliar with that era's politics may find that some of the minor players merge into an amorphous mass of men in grey suits (although, come to think of it ...)

A good solid five-star read.

A superb portrait of Thatcher's early years (1/1 people found this helpful)

Few prime ministers loom as large in the British historical imagination as does Margaret Thatcher. Idolized by her supporters and demonized by her detractors, her historical image is as much myth as it is reality, one created in part by Thatcher's own efforts to shape her public profile in politically appealing terms. One of the great achievements of John Campbell in his excellent first volume of his biography of Thatcher is his success in separating the myths from the story of her life and assessing their contribution to defining her image.

This Campbell does starting with the image from the subtitle, that of 'the grocer's daughter'. He skillfully deconstructs this legend, noting that Margaret Roberts's upbringing was neither as humble nor as idyllic as she made it seem and that her father, Alfred was not the hero she would later make him out to be. What emerges instead is a hard-working and determined young woman who pursued politics from a young age. Her career was facilitated greatly by her marriage to Denis Thatcher, who provided emotional and financial support that was indispensable to her rise in politics.

Thatcher's work ethic and drive soon won her office in Edward Heath's cabinet as Secretary of State for Education. Here she gained firsthand exposure to the Whitehall bureaucracy for the first time, an experience that left her less than impressed. Yet even after Heath's defeat in the two successive elections of 1974, his position appeared secure enough to make a challenge to his leadership of the Conservative Party seem foolhardy, and Thatcher's challenge came after more prominent Tory leaders passed on the opportunity. Yet her campaign tapped a deep vein of resentment, and she triumphed against all expectations.

Throughout this, Campbell notes the fortuitous confluence of events that aided her rise. This was best illustrated by her assumption of the Conservative Party leadership at the moment when an opening for her ideology emerged with the breakdown of the democratic socialist consensus. With unemployment swelling to levels not seen since the 1930s, Thatcher was able to exploit the inability of the Labour government to grapple with the problem. The book ends with the Conservative victory in the 1979 general election and Thatcher embarking on her transformative 11-year premiership, the subject of his next volume.

Impressively researched and absorbingly written, Campbell's book is a triumph of the biographical art. He succeeds in presenting a judicious portrait of Thatcher, one that approaches her with skepticism yet never fails to giver her her due. It is the indispensable starting point for understanding this complex and controversial figure, one that is unlikely to be bettered for its description of Thatcher's early years and their role in her political legend.

Fascinating insight (0/0 people found this helpful)

I read this along with her autobiographies, and of course this is far less biased! It reveals fascinating background information about her postmaster father who was also a local councillor. Campbell suggests realistic reasons behind Thatcher's motives and drive, without delving into unecessary pychobabble.

Anyone with any interest in British politics or history will enjoy this book: it is written in an easy going style, but it is extrememly thorough and thoughtful.

Margaret Thatcher: Iron Lady v. 2

John Campbell

Editorial Review:

Reader Reviews:

Demolishing the mythology surrounding the Iron Lady. (0/0 people found this helpful)

An Excellent Biography!! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Will the real Margaret Thatcher ... ? (1/1 people found this helpful)

A superb portrait of Thatcher's early years (1/1 people found this helpful)

Fascinating insight (0/0 people found this helpful)

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