God and Mrs Thatcher by Eliza Filby
This wide-ranging and extensively researched book, which draws on previously undiscovered archives, interviews and memoirs, offers a radical new perspective on the interrelationship between religion and politics in Britain's secular age, revealing how Britain created Margaret Thatcher and, ultimately, how Margaret Thatcher recreated Britain. Few people are aware that Margaret Thatcher was a devout Christian or that she was a preacher before she was a politician. As a child, she would sit in the pews listening to her lay-preacher father, Alf Roberts, hammer home sermons on the Protestant work ethic, God-given liberty and the sanctity of the individual. As her father's archives reveal, it was in the pulpit of Finkin Street's Wesleyan Chapel in Grantham where Thatcherism was born. When Thatcher recited the prayer of St Francis of Assisi on the steps of No 10, it signaled a new era of conviction politics. Thatcher's rise coincided with the rebirth of the Christian right in Britain committed to wresting the moral mantel from socialism and elevating the market as the true godly path.One institution which did not share this outlook, however, was the Church of England which doggedly defended the Christian origins of Britain's social democracy and condemned the selfish individualism and rampant materialism being let loose in the name of enterprise culture. Margaret Thatcher may have set out to reinvigorate the nation with the non-conformist values of her father, but in the end she created a country that was not more Christian, but more secular; and not more devout, but entirely consumed by a new religion: capitalism. In upholding the sanctity of the individual, Thatcherism inadvertently signaled the death of Christian Britain.
[A] thoroughly researched and thoughtful studyJohn Campbell, The Independent A fascinating new book. Standpoint This book brings refreshment. It is a welcome and rare. The Spectator There have been plenty of biographies of Thatcher but no other writer has taken quite such an imaginative approach. The Tablet Filby carefully teases out the core creeds of this force of political nature. Church Times
Dr Eliza Filby is an academic, writer and businesswoman. Born on the night of the Brixton riots in south London, she is, by default, one of Thatcher's children. She regularly appears in the media, acting as a historical commentator for BBC News, Sky News and Radio 4 and has written for the Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, Standpoint and The Tablet. God and Mrs Thatcher is her first book. She lives in London.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781849547857 |
| ISBN 10 | 1849547858 |
| Title | God and Mrs Thatcher |
| Author | Eliza Filby |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Biteback Publishing |
| Year published | 2015-02-20 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |