Harold MacMillan

By: Charles Williams

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Paperback | 29 April 2010 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

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560 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
4.1 x 13.6 x 21.5

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A masterly biography of a great Conservative Prime Minister (and publisher) - Harold Macmillan (1894-1986).

Harold Macmillan was a figure of paradox. Outwardly, it was Edwardian elegance and civilised urbanity. Inwardly, it was emotional damage from his wife''s open adultery and his progressive perplexity at the onward march of time.

The First World War showed the courageous soldier. From then on, it was politics, rather than the family business of publishing, which was to be his future. Nevertheless, although he supported Churchill in the 1930s he was deemed boring - and certainly not ministerial material.

All changed with the Second World War. Appointed Minister in Residence in North Africa, Macmillan''s career flowered. After the War he became indispensable to Conservative Cabinets and as Churchill''s Minister of Housing in the early 1950s he achieved the target, against all expectations, of 300,000 houses annually. Thereafter, he was Eden''s Foreign Secretary and Chancellor but by then Macmillan had become openly ambitious. Over the Suez affair in 1956 he played a difficult - and somewhat devious - hand. Eden''s resignation left him as the clear choice of his Cabinet colleagues to become Prime Minister.

From 1957 to 1962, Macmillan was a good - some would say a great - Prime Minister. By 1962, however, his government was looking tired. The Profumo affair in 1963 was particularly damaging, and in the autumn of 1963 his health forced him to retire.

Industry Reviews

Charles Williams's thoughtful and well-informed new life...comes as a welcome treat...he captures better than any other writer the tensions between the different facets of Macmillan's personality. - Sunday Times.

Charles Williams' biography is an antidote to nostalgia...a lean compelling narrative with a more detached and critical point of view. - Literary Review.

[Williams] has produced a biography that...is a model of its kind - diligently researched, gracefully written and never short of absorbing. - Daily Telegraph.

A fine achievement, fair in tone and spare in style. This thoroughly absorbing book chronicles the tragic odyssey of an almost-great man. - Independent.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Regional & National History European History British & Irish History Earliest Times to Present Day 20th Century History from 1900 to 2000 Post War 20th Century History after 1945 Politics & Government Political Structure & Processes Political Leaders & Leadership Biographies & True Stories

Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies Literature, Poetry & Plays Non-Fiction Prose General & World History Miscellaneous Items

Preface	p. 1
Prologue
'The Old Rogue'	p. 5
'Balliol Made Me, Balliol Fed Me'	p. 20
'I Was Very Frightened'	p. 32
'I do Hope It Is Alright'	p. 47
'I Had Never Been To Tees-side'	p. 59
'Why Did You Ever Wake Me?'	p. 73
The First Act
'Very Much the Minister Nowadays'	p. 93
Greeks, Romans and Frenchmen	p. 109
'A Marriage Has Been Arranged'	p. 129
'People Get Very Peculiar After a Time'	p. 153
Waiting in the Wings
A Stranger at Home	p. 179
'This New Opportunity'	p. 191
'Shall I Ever Be Foreign Secretary?'	p. 206
Ambition	p. 224
'We Must Make Use of Israel'	p. 241
'The Last Gasp of a Declining Power'	p. 258
Centre Stage
The Tory Resurrection	p. 279
'You Almost Feel Yourself a Statesman'	p. 298
The Prime Minister	p. 318
'All the Political Domestic Mileage He Can Get'	p. 323
'The Tories Must Wake Up'	p. 336
Le Double Jeu	p. 351
Enter JFK	p. 372
'I am Ageing'	p. 387
'They Don't Really Smile'	p. 401
'We've Got To Do Something for Harold'	p. 414
'Butler Would Be Fatal'	p. 433
The Last Act
The End of the Day	p. 457
Epilogue	p. 469
Notes	p. 479
Note on Sources	p. 511
Select Bibliography	p. 512
Acknowledgements	p. 518
Index	p. 520
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Harold MacMillan

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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