Supermac

The Life of Harold Macmillan

By: D R Thorpe

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Paperback | 15 September 2011 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
912 Pages

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23.2 x 15.5 x 5.2

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Supermac is a truly important political biography, of significance to everyone interested in the history of the 20th century. Packed with new revelations about Macmillan's private life as well as key events including the 'Tolstoy' controversy, the Suez Crisis, You've Never Had It So Good, the Winds of Change and the Profumo Scandal.

Great-grandson of a crofter and son-in-law of a Duke, Harold Macmillan (1894-1986) was both complex as a person and influential as a politican. Marked by terrible experiences in the trenches in the First World War and by his work as an MP during the Depression, he was a Tory rebel - an outspoken backbencher, opposing the economic policies of the 1930s and the appeasement policies of his own government.

Churchill gave him responsibility during the Second World War with executive command as 'Viceroy of the Mediterranean'. After the War, in opposition, Macmillan was one of the principal reformers of the Conservatives, and after 1951, back in government, served in several important posts before becoming Prime Minister after the Suez Crisis.

Supermac examines key events including the controversy over the Cossacks repatriation, the Suez Crisis, You've Never Had It So Good, the Winds of Change, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Profumo Scandal. The culmination of thirty-five years of research into this period by one of our most respected historians, this book gives an unforgettable portrait of a turbulent age.

Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.

Industry Reviews

This is how D.R. Thorpe tells the story, eloquently and elegantly, as he does everything in this exemplary biography, which complements if it does not entirely supplant Alistair Horne's two-volume official Life; Horne is better on the military, Thorpe on the political and personal. At every juncture Thorpe presents the evidence in a scrupulous and equable style -- Ferdinand Mount * London Review of Books *
A spellbinding insight into the fascinating character of one of the most remarkable politicians of the twentieth century * Evening Standard *
DR Thorpe is one of our finest historians, and this is one of his finest books: painstaking, detailed, but always readable. You come as close as you can to understanding Macmillan from these pages * Observer *
This humane, elegantly written, exhaustively researched biography is the best yet of Macmillan, and indeed one of the best of any postwar prime minister -- David Kynaston * Guardian *
Superb biography...Thorpe has three qualities that make him a first-rate biographer and they are all evident here. He is a phenomenal scholar and has left almost no primary source untapped for this book. He is the master of the anecdote, in which the book abounds and which as a result makes it a joy to read...But best of all, Thorpe writes beautifully... he understands that in writing the life of a politician, it is not all about politics -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph *

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Industry & Industrial Studies Media, Entertainment, Information & Communication Industries Publishing Industry & Book Trade Politics & Government Political Structure & Processes Political Leaders & Leadership Biographies & True Stories Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies History Regional & National History

European History British & Irish History Earliest Times to Present Day 20th Century History from 1900 to 2000 Miscellaneous Items

List of Illustrations	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
Prelude	p. 3
Voices in the Air, 1894-1940
Working Class Ancestry	p. 9
Distant Prospects, 1894-1910	p. 17
Sent Down by the Kaiser, 1910-1914	p. 31
To Arms, 1914-1918	p. 46
ADC and Son-in-Law, 1919-1923	p. 60
The Cleverest of the Coming Men, 1923-1929	p. 73
Ebbs and Flows, 1929-193 5	p. 89
Democracy Can Do Better, 1935-1940	p. 119
An Insider at Last, 1940-1951
On the Other Side of the Fence, 1940-1942	p. 147
At One Strategic Point, 1942-1943	p. 164
So Many Hollow Factions, 1943-1945	p. 183
Conspiracy at Klagenfurt?, May 1945	p. 207
The Possibilities of Defeat, 1945	p. 232
The Wooden Horse of Peace, 1945-1950	p. 243
One More Heave, 1950-1951	p. 260
Believing in the Future, 1951-1957
Setting the People Free, 1951-1954	p. 273
Captain of the Praetorian Guard, 19 5 4-1955	p. 288
Nearer to the Centre, 1955	p. 300
View from a Treasury Window, 1955-1956	p. 320
The Economic Consequences of Colonel Nasser, 1956-1957 332	p. 332
Top of the Greasy Pole, 1957-1986
Rebuilding, 1957	p. 371
Local Difficulties and Wider Visions, 1958	p. 399
Porpoises in the North Sea, 1959	p. 423
Return to Africa, i960	p. 451
Turning Points, 1960-1961	p. 463
Seeing Beyond the Trees, 1961	p. 490
Searching for a Role, 1961-1962	p. 499
Opening Pandora's Box, 1962-1963	p. 526
Guided Democracy, October 1963	p. 551
Leaving the Green Room, 1963-1986	p. 582
Environmetn	p. 613
The Memorandum for the Queen,18 October 1963	p. 621
The Memorandum for Mrs Thatcher,20 August 1980	p. 627
	p. 63 5
Notes	p. 661
Acknowledgements	p. 813
Abbreviations	p. 821
Index	p. 825
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Supermac

The Life of Harold Macmillan

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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