'Nicklaus Thomas- Symonds does a warts and all job and is interesting on Bevan's English-speaking Welshness.' - Denis MacShane; 'Thomas-Symonds distances himself both from the Nyolatry of early biographer Michael Foot and the castigation of right-wing successors whose chief objection to Bevan is that he was a socialist. He offers a genuine understanding of Bevan's political philosophy, of how his democratic socialism differed from the state-imposed model of the communists who were his sparring partners in his home town of Tredegar...[Bevan] is well served by this closely argued political biography.' - Jad Adams; 'Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds has written a well received biography of Attlee, and has now turned his skills to Nye. He steers a middle course between two previous biographies, the intimate and personal hagiography of Michael Foot, and the more critical one by John Campbell.' - Keith Simpson; '...deftly examining the structural circumstances in which Bevan operated...offers a convincing account of how Bevan threw the leadership away...his scholarship offers an unrivalled perspective on Bevan's life and political career adding much to the historiography on post war Labour politics.' - Patrick Diamond, TLS; '[a] fine new portrait.' - Belfast Telegraph; 'Thomas-Symonds gives a convincing revisionist account' - Owen Hatherley, London Review of Books; 'Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds' contribution to the scholarship is certainly both well-timed and necessary... Thomas-Symonds' examination of Bevan provides a new insight into a figure who has come to be regarded as one of the heroes of Labour-past to many on the political left...well written and accessible throughout... Unquestionably the best biography yet.' - Calum White, LSE Review of Books; 'magisterial' - David Marquand, New Statesman; '[a] lucid, well-researched biography... This is a warts and all biography, written by an Oxford academic, but mercifully free of academic jargon. It offers a balanced assessment of a complicated man.' - Chris Mullin, Observer; 'magisterial' David Marquand, New Statesman; '[a] lucid, well-researched biography...offers a balanced assessment of a complicated man.' Chris Mullin, Observer;'[Bevan] is well served by this closely argued political biography.' Jad Adams, Independent;'an unrivalled perspective on Bevan's life and political career.' Patrick Diamond, Times Literary Supplement; 'lucid...informative and balanced' Roger Morgan, Times Higher Education
