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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove) | 921 THATCHE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In her international bestseller The Downing Street Years, Margaret Thatcher provides an acclaimed account of her years as England's Prime Minister. The second volume of her memoirs looks back at her pre-Downing Street life--from her childhood through her years at Oxford to her early political career. Photos.
Author Notes
Margaret Thatcher born October 13, 1925, died on April 8, 2013.
Margaret Thatcher was known as Britian's "Iron Lady." She was the the first woman ever to serve as Prime Minister of Great Britain; she served from 1979 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party, the longest-running prime minister of the 20th Century. During her time as prime minister, she focused on the characteristics of moral absolutism, nationalism, and the rights of the individual versus that of the state --- declaring, "There is no such thing as society" in 1987. Thatcher had a close working relationship with U.S. President Reagan, with whom she shared similar conservative views. Many saw her as the British counterpart to American "Reaganomics."
Thatcher was born Margaret Hilda Roberts Oct. 13, 1925 in Grantham, England. She attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she studied chemistry. In 1953, she practiced law as a tax attorney. In 1959 she was elected to Britain's House of Commons --- she was its youngest female member. In 1970, when the Conservatives took power, she was made Britain's secretary of state for education and science. In 1975, she was chosen to lead the Conservatives, and she became the prime minister in 1979. In 1984, she narrowly escaped being killed when the IRA bombed her hotel during a party conference. The morning after, she convened the conference as scheduled.
Thatcher authored many books in her lifetime; In Her Own Words contains some of her greatest speeches. In Path to Power, she wrote about the influences that shaped her early life, and in The Downing Street Years she wrote about the details of her years as prime minister. In her 2002 book, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, Thatcher outlines her thoughts for political power and planning in the age of globalism.
On a personal note, she married Denis Thatcher on December 13, 1951, and their marriage lasted for nearly 52 years until his death in June 2003. In 2002 she suffered a stroke; on the morning of April 8, 2013, she had her final stroke and died in her sleep.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
Previously, the retired British prime minister wrote--and wrote pugnaciously--about her long tenure in the premiership in The Downing Street Years (1993). Now Thatcher fills in, chronologically speaking, by writing about her life prior to becoming prime minister and after she left office and does so, perhaps, even more self-righteously. Born "over the shop" (her father's grocery, that is) in 1925 in Grantham, England, Thatcher was raised in a household "practical, serious and intensely religious." Those qualities became her qualities, and by the time she got to Oxford, she recognized politics as her calling. She threw her hat into the ring early, running for Parliament when only in her twenties. By nature conservative, she was by enlistment a Conservative. The path by which she became head of that party and then prime minister is traced in typical Thatcher fashion: her narrative is opinionated, self-assured, and, as the reader has to admit, well reasoned. Expect the same heavy demand by serious readers of politics and history as the first volume garnered. (Reviewed July 1995)0060172703Brad Hooper
Library Journal Review
Following The Downing Street Years (LJ 1/94), Thatcher reflects on her youth. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
