While there has been intense focus on Margaret Thatcher as a personality, what her government actually did is often overlooked now. In telling the story of Thatcherism (rather than Thatcher), Vinen begins before 1979, with a discussion of Enoch Powell and the Conservative Party in opposition; he deals in detail with the events of Thatcher's term in office, notably the Falklands War and the Miners' Strike; and he pays particular attention to the ministers in the Thatcher government.

Vinen, Richard

London ; New York: Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster Audio

Simon & Schuster Ltd

Simon & Schuster UK

Scribner UK

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

PS, 2009

Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-381) and index.

It will, in May 2009, be thirty years since Margaret Thatcher entered Downing Street. Thatcher was the longest serving prime minister of the twentieth-century and her period in government coincided with extraordinary changes in British society and in Britain's place in the world. Thatcher's image permeates, not just discussion of recent British history, but also films and novels -- there has even been a musical based on her career. Curiously, the emphasis on Thatcher as a kind of cultural icon has often gone with a declining interest in the details of what her government did. This book tells the story of Thatcherism for a generation with no personal memories of the 1980s -- as well as for those who want to revisit the polemics of their youth. It aims to describe Thatcherism in a way that is both detached and engaging. Most of all, it seeks to rescue Margaret Thatcher from being seen as John the Baptist for Tony Blair. It stresses that Thatcherism was not a timeless phenomenon that can be traced back into the nineteenth century or transported forward into the twenty-first. It was rooted in the 1970s and 1980s -- a time when the Soviet empire seemed to be expanding and when the British economy seemed to be on its deathbed. Anyone who wants a flavour of the times should recall that Margaret Thatcher received her first ever letter from Ronald Reagan on the day that Saigon fell to the Viet Cong

x, 403 pages ; 24 cm
A fascinating, colourful account of the Thatcher decade from the acclaimed modern historian, Richard Vinen
Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-381) and index
Thatcher before Thatcherism, 1925-75 -- Thatcherism before Thatcher? Enoch Powell -- Becoming leader -- Opposition, 1975-9 -- Primitive politics, 1979-83 -- Unexpected victory : the Falklands -- Victory foretold : the miners -- Serious money, 1983-8 -- Divided kingdom? -- Europe -- The fall

2023-06-28