Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #355906 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 376 pages

Synopsis
This collection of 20 political counterfactuals imagines what would have happened if Michael Portillo had kept his seat in 1997; Margaret Thatcher had resigned over the Westland affair; and if Lee Harvey Oswald had missed?

Customer Reviews

The 'what if?'s of politics
In twenty-one articles, each written by a different author, this book covers almost every 'what if?' in British 20th century political history. Different essays are of differing interest but almost all well-argued and written - from events which really did almost happen, like Callaghan calling an election in 1978, to somewhat unlikely events such as Iain Dale's friend Portillo becoming prime minister in 2001. All involve an element of going over the facts of what actually happened and then speculating on how things could easily have been different. Although some use more fantasy than others, there's a lot of factual content, as well as counter-factual.

The different authors make it difficult to generalise about the style of the book. Personally I found most of the essays readable and interesting with a few notable exceptions - Bernard Ingham's treatment of 'What if Thatcher had resigned over Westland?' disappoints, and Simon Burns' essay about 'What if Lee Harvey Oswald had missed?' is very dry.

However, by and large, if you're a political junkie, or if you're a fan of other counter-factual history books, you surely won't be disappointed. There's something for everyone, left and right alike.

Satisfying
Amazon recommended this book as something I might like as I had ordered anotherbook of counterfactual history, one by Andrew Roberts that was much-hyped at publication in the UK. The similarity is superficial: the Roberts book covers a much wider period, while this one concerns the last 75 years or so. To the extent that they can be compared, this is a much more satisfying product.

Quality Alt-Hist
'Prime Minister Portillo' is a book, primarily, for British political geeks. A huge range of 'what-ifs' of the last fifty-plus years of British politics are covered, ranging from the obvious, (What if Ted Heath had resigned in 1974?; What if the SDP-Liberal Alliance had finished second in terms of the national vote in 1983?) to the more obscure. (What if Roy Jenkins had joined the Liberal Party in 1981?)

In a genre of writing which can often descend into farce if it isn't handled intelligently, these speculative excercises are almost all, without exception, of a high standard, written fluently and by people who know their stuff; there is in most cases an impressive range of footnotes provided, almost a mini-bibliography in some cases. Only occassionally does the individual chapter writer not entirely catch the spirit of the enterprise, such as with Sir Bernard Ingham's chapter on the Westland Crisis. So too, there is a much less surer grasp of things the further we travel from recent British history, but even in these instances there is nothing that can be roundly described as sub-par. You'll like some chapters more than others, but they are nearly always well-crafted. All in all, it's an absorbing and thoughtful read.