Supermac by D R Thorpe

Supermac by D R Thorpe

Great-grandson of a crofter and son-in-law of a Duke, Harold Macmillan (1894-1986) was both complex as a person and influential as a politician. Marked by terrible experiences in the trenches in the First World War and by his work as an MP during the Depression, he was a Tory rebel - an outspoken backbencher, opposing the economic policies of the 1930s and the appeasement policies of his own government. Churchill gave him responsibility during the Second World War with executive command as 'Viceroy of the Mediterrranean'. After the War, in opposition, Macmillan overhauled the Conservatives on progressive and radical lines; after 1951, in government, he served as Minister of Housing, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He became Prime Minister after the Suez Crisis, and between 1957 and 1963 presided over Great Britain's transition from the age of austerity to that of affluence. He also proved himself one of the great publishers of his generation. The culmination of 35 years of research by one of our most respected historians, Supermac gives an unforgettable portrait of a turbulent age. It is a magisterial biography destined to become a classic.

This is how DR. Thorpe tells the story, eloquently and elegantly, as he does everything in this exemplary biography, which complements if it does not entirely supplant Alistair Horne’s two-volume official Life; Horne is better on the military, Thorpe on the political and personal. At every juncture Thorpe presents the evidence in a scrupulous and equable style -- Ferdinand Mount * London Review of Books *
The best biography of a post-war British Prime Minister yet written. * Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at University of Oxford *
...meticulous and magisterial...as exciting as it is authoritative... * Mail on Sunday *
splendid and surely definitive biography...a superb biographical achievement...succinct, frank and insightful -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *
DR Thorpe is not the first to wrestle [with Macmillan] but Thorpe's account is the most intensively researched and most intimate portrait of all. Supermac has found a Superbiographer -- Paul Addison * Literary Review *

D.R. Thorpe's work on the constitutional history and politics of the 20th century has made him one of Britain's most respected historians. He has written biographies of Alec Douglas-Home, Anthony Eden, Selwyn Lloyd, Austen Chamberlain, Lord Curzon and Lord Butler. Thorpe is a senior member of Brasenose College, Oxford, and has been a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and of St Antony's College, Oxford.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780701177485
ISBN 10	0701177489
Title	Supermac
Author	D R Thorpe
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Vintage Publishing
Year published	2010-09-09
Number of pages	896
Prizes	Short-listed for Orwell Prize 2011
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable