Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144240 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-12
• Format: Audiobook
• Binding: Audio CD

Synopsis
This collection of Margaret Thatcher's words contains extracts from her speeches over four decades and lasts for more than two and a half hours. The first CD contains more than 30 extracts, including "The Lady's Not for Turning", "No No No" and "Where there is discord...". The second CD contains longer extracts from three speeches, including her famous No Confidence Debate Speech in November 1990 when she famously declared "I'm enjoying this, I'm enjoying this...". The package includes a 16 page booklet explaining the context to each speech.

Customer Reviews

TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
This is suitable to all listeners, regardless of age, political leaning, nationality or religion. The Lady talks incredibly well and is often entertaining. One thoroughly surprising aspect of these tapes is the amount of events that punctuated her time at number ten. There are great insights into the miners' strike, the Falkland Conflict, hyperinflation and a transition of power to John Major - a wholly different political animal. She's no Andrew Marr, but she really is a stunning political force who was quite simply without rival during her day - hence the power vacuum she left behind.

Educational, historically interesting and entertaining. Highly recommended.

For serious politicos/students only...
There was once a time when orations and speeches of major players cast the mold for society and its subsequent historical frame. In the era of soundbites, that is far from true today. Speeches tend to be ignored save for the soundbites, and if the major points cannot be put into bulleted forms for display in the blue box above the newsanchor's shoulder, then often it will be ignored.

I wasn't sure if this book of speeches was intended to be the third of a three-volume set of Margaret Thatcher's autobiography. I bought it, having worked in Parliament during her time and having taken a degree in the field. But as I re-read the speeches, they were often far less remarkable in print than I remember (those which I do remember, that is). And as for speeches delivered on the floor of the House of Commons, there is no way any verbatim transcript can convey the mood and atmosphere of the House -- Hansard recounting was often dry and dull when what I would remember would be uproarious.

I found myself actually longing for a bulleted-point summary of each speech so that I could more easily find the important bits. The life Thatcher is able to give to her words fall flat on a printed page removed in time from the events surounding the speeches.

This book will be invaluable to that very small number who make a special study of political communications. I cannot imagine this book being of any wider interest, as the interesting bits will be found in the more interesting biographical volumes. I've not noticed this volume being remaindered to a large extent, which means the publishing house which miscalculated the demand for Thatcher's second volume 'The Path to Power' realised the blunder in time to make this volume remain an expensive one to be had.

Please do not misunderstand me in this appraisal. Thatcher is a brilliant speaker. However, few politicians are gifted with circumstances that lend themselves to timeless speeches; the relatively few instances where the actually speeches will be relevant for the overall history of Thatcher's period have those necessary pieces already incorporated into the other history texts.

beyond admirable and impressive; often BREATHTAKINGLY MOVING
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First published in 1997, gathers fifty-nine of the Iron Lady's speeches, from her years as leader of the opposition, to her years as prime minister, to the time she stepped down in 1990, and through 1996.

Edited by Robin Harris, her trusted aide and adviser, a member of the prime minister's Policy Unit, director of the the Conservative Research Department, and a regular contributor to British, European and American publications. Neither the brief introductions to each speech nor the footnotes are ever verbose--providing backgrounds which only help in setting out its context.

Divided into The Opposition Years, The First Parliament, The Second Parliament, The Third Parliament, and After Downing Street, it is a most impressive selection from among Lady Thatcher's vast collection of speeches hitherto--the ones marking the most dramatic events of her time (the party conferences in opposition, the brief statement as she entered 10 Downing Street, after the IRA bombing, amid the Falklands crisis, the Libya debate, the Gulf Crisis, and the speeches to The European Union and The House of Lords)--intensely revealing her character and unshakeable beliefs.

Whether in admiration of Margaret Thatcher, or from a desire to study The Tories, or Britain, or great speeches, this is one book deserving of a place in one's study.
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