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There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters | 
| Author: Claire Berlinski
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $18.45
You Save: $9.50 (34%)
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 26985
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 5.7 x 1.8
ISBN: 0465002315
Dewey Decimal Number: 941.0858092
EAN: 9780465002313
Publication Date: September 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
Excellent Biography of Iron Lady October 17, 2008
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
Ms. Berlinski has written an excellent biography of one of the 20th Century's most important and intriguing political figures. She focuses on five main themes: the struggles of Great Britain in the 1970's prior to her election; the Falklands' conflict; Thatcher's relationship with (male) politicians; the miner's strike and her political downfall. The author uses transcripts of interviews she conducted with former cabinet officials, advisors and political adversaries of Mrs. Thatcher. The book is also footnoted, so that the reader can get more information from the sources used.
Not only were there interviews with politicians and government officials, but there were also interviews with people affected by Mrs. Thatcher's policies. For example, the author interviews wealthy Britons in the banking and restaurant businesses who have profited greatly from England's economic resurgence. Moreover, she interviews three former coal miners who lost their job when Thatcher defeated the union and basically ended Britain's inefficient coal industry.
From this biography, I was able to understand why Thatcher matters. She resurrected the pride of Great Britain, which had struggled with socialism, strikes and inefficiency for decades. Britain's economy is now the largest in Europe. Moreover, she restored Britain's standing in the world by reclaiming the Falkland Islands and along with the US, helping to defeat communism.
a timely read (unfortunately) December 11, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Thatcher fought against the trade unions that had paralyzed Great Britain in the 1970's. Trade unions sought to get their way through strikes. Garbage remained uncollected, the coal miners attempted to seize control of the coal supply, etc. This book gives details behind this struggle against trade unions, which Thatcher ultimately won. Her victory resurrected the economy of Great Britain. As the US creeps ever closer to the situation that prevailed in 1970's Great Britain, one could do worse than read this book and get some insight into how it can be stopped.
Excellent December 10, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book came highly recommended to me. I give it as a gift. The recipient is very pleased with it.
England Revitalized By An Iron Lady's Iron Will December 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This somewhat chatty book does an excellent job of capturing England's malaise that brought Thatcher to power when the social engineering failures became clear to all. It succinctly catches Thatcher's rise to the top of Disraeli's greasy pole amidst the defeatism and appeasement within her own political party. Her drive, will and determination in tackling England's internal problems resulted in her place on the world stage, along with Reagan and Gorbachev. The book also provides views into the mindsets of the class-driven elite of the time, as well as the unions and their fiery leader, who for a while ruled England through the blunt power of labor strikes that paralyzed a nation. The book's ten chapters are very well researched, and the use of long transcripts from interviews of the players catches the mood and self doubts, along with the elation of successes, of the times. The vibrant and prosperous England that we know today is a result of the Thatcher's iron willed policies, reflected by no less than their wholesale adoption by her political successors.
Yes, Thatcher DOES indeed still matter December 24, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Anyone interested in the future of conservatism ought to read this well-written book. Thatcher is both loved and loathed, and both for good reason. Taking power in Britain at a time when the country was an absolute basket case, the grocer's daughter realized that extreme measures were needed in order to pull Britain off the downward path of socialism and liberate the considerable entrepreneurial energies of its people. She ultimately succeeded, but not without causing dislocations and fundamental changes that, by contrast, make Ronald Reagan's strides forward to "morning in America" look like a cakewalk. Her imperious personality only made her drastic policies seem all the more drastic. There is an important lesson to be learned here: any really profound change away from socialism and towards capitalism will make permanent enemies, so any politician who seeks to make such changes must either be able to ignore the critics or transcend them.
Berlinski interviews both allies and adversaries of Thatcher, including an interesting visit with some former miners whose lives were changed forever in the wake of the failed miners' strike of 1984. Berlinski's sympathies obviously lie with Thatcher, but she gives Thatcher's enemies a fair chance to be heard. I happen to agree with Berlinski's summation that while current geopolitical issues (radical Islamic terrorism, which Thatcher frankly failed to recognize as a big threat) may seem to have little to do with the Cold War milieu in which Thatcher operated, the eternal appeal of the secular religion of socialism (especially when it forms an "unholy alliance" of expediency with Islamic enemies of the West, as detailed by David Horowitz and others) will always make Thatcher's ideas and experiences relevant. This is a thought-provoking book with a very important message.
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