Product Description

As the meaning of Thatcher' legacy becomes relevant once more, this funny and opinionated book gives an important and unconventional new perspective on the Iron Lady. In this important new biography, journalist and author Claire Berlinski re-examines the life and legacy of one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of the twentieth century, Margaret Thatcher. This is no insider's memoir. Although Berlinski lived in the UK for the latter half of the Thatcher era, she did not know and hasn't met the former Prime Minister. She has created her portrait from biographies, from historical archives, and, most importantly, from speaking to people who did know her, including key figures like Bernard Ingham and Neil Kinnock. And her conversations with them are pointed and often hilarious.Claire Berlinksi's aim is to offer a portrait of a woman whose influence extends far beyond Great Britain, and far beyond her moment of power. Her victories brought bitter costs in human misery and social discord and her legacy is mixed and in some ways disturbing but ultimately, argues Claire Berlinski, we should be on her side. "There is No Alternative" is not some moist hagiographic portrayal. Berlinski's aim is to convey a full textured portrait of the woman and her legacy, her flaws and missteps as well as her triumphs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #392306 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Review
"(Claire) Berlinski shows commitment and energy as an author, beside an ability to wheedle great men into telling her things they might not have vouchsafed to anybody else... Her encounters with Neil Kinnock are tactical masterpieces, where she draws the Welsh windbag out and then deflates his woolly thinking with as much cool, perhaps cruel, precision as Thatcher herself did."

--Scotland on Sunday, October 19, 2009

Review
'Berlinski...adopts some interesting style by reproducing interviews with some major players and observers of Thatcher's time. It gives a good insight into the person and her background.'

Review
'(O)ften entertaining and sometimes illuminating... Berlinski's assessment of Lady Thatcher's economic record is balanced..an idiosyncratic and interesting contribution.'