Events, Dear Boy, Events: A Political Diary of Britain from Woolf to Campbell: A Political Diary of Britain 1921-2010

Ruth Winstone

ISBN 10: 1846684323 ISBN 13: 9781846684326

Casa editrice: Profile Books, 2012

Riassunto

Ruth Winstone retells Britain's history through the great diarists of the last century, drawing back the curtain on the lives of political classes, their doubts, ambitions, and emotions. She moves deftly among those in the thick of it, showing the elation, anger, doubts, jealousy, joys and fears of those such as Nicolson, Cooper, Channon, Macmillan, Castle, Clark, Benn, Campbell, Mullin and Ashdown as they record their own and the nation's triumphs and disasters. To this potent mix she adds the mordant perceptions of observers like Virginia Woolf, Cecil Beaton, Peter Hall and Roy Strong, and the vivid records of everyday life found in the diaries of otherwise ordinary men and women. Events, Dear Boy, Events reveals Britain's recent past in the words of the actors who were shaping the events of the day. This is living real-time history.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

'A patchwork quilt ... providing in total a remarkably clear and coherent portrait of 90 stressful years ... almost every page contains something unmissable' -- Spectator

'A clever book' -- Daily Mail

'This collection is a delight from beginning to end. There's a gem on almost every page. Such a volume is a great idea, hugely enhanced by Ruth Winstone s brilliant eye' -- Peter Hennessy

'A compellingly seductive narrative ... Political history has never been so palatable' -- David Kynaston

'A vivid and vital chronicle of our recent political past ... it is an enthralling read, full of old friends and new acquaintances, and there is no other book like it' -- David Cannadine

'A fascinating and original series of insights into modern Britain' -- Kenneth O. Morgan

'Dipping into Events, Dear Boy, Events and matching one's own recollections of an ''Event'', especially one in which one was a participant, with those of bystanders at the same event is an almost surreal experience. Perhaps the greatest value of the book is not what it tells readers about the ''Events'' but what it tells about those who witnessed and wrote about them.' -- Lord Tebbit

'Fascinating' -- Financial Times

'These gems provide instant, private thoughts to changing events. A book like this one that Ms Winstone has so carefully curated may be the last of its kind; tweets and blogs are steadily taking over. More folk are writing as a result. But diaries are different. Full of stories, sneers, passions and dreams, they make a greater mark on history than a tweet' -- Economist

'An unusual story of British political history' Independent on Sunday

'A multi-dimensional view of British history' Total Politics

'Nine decades of history exquisitely told' Sunday Times

'Irresistibly readable' Independent

'There is much to enjoy in this book'Guardian

'This wonderful book relates the 20th century's follies and perceptions through selections from British diarists' --Independent

Descrizione del libro:

Brings twentieth-century British politics vividly to life and reveals perspectives on the tumultuous events it sought to control, the changes it resisted and the reforms it brought into being.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Profile Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1846684323
• ISBN 13: 9781846684326
• Rilegatura: Diario
• Numero di pagine: 640