Clem Attlee: Labour's Great Reformer - Softcover

Francis Beckett

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1910376051 ISBN 13: 9781910376058

Publisher: Haus Publishing Ltd, 2015

Synopsis

"In this newly revised and updated edition of his acclaimed biography of post-war Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee, Francis Beckett argues that, as the architect of the NHS and the Welfare State, he is one of only two post-war prime ministers who can claim to have changed the society in which we live (the other being Margaret Thatcher). In the years preceding World War II, polarization within British society was acute. The radicalism of the 1918 generation had spent itself in futile gestures and bitter recriminations, resulting in a minimal change in conditions for the poorest Britons. In 1945, however, the Labour government, led by Attlee, took office with the skill and the political will to translate socialist aspirations into legislation to change the way men and women lived, fundamentally, and in a sense irreversibly."

About this title

Review:

'Beckett gets near to the essence of Attlee, and does so in an easy, flowing narrative.' --Independent

'The triumph of this work is the author's success in passing on his love for his subject. By the final chapter...I too liked Attlee, whom I had previously barely known.' --The Spectator

'In this welcome updated biography, with the benefit of new material, Francis Beckett illuminates Attlee's tumultuous times, analyses his transformative deeds, and - crucially - reveals the innermost man who is recognised by historians to be Britain's greatest peacetime Prime Minister.' --Neil Kinnock

About the Author:

Francis Beckett is an author, journalist, broadcaster, playwright and contemporary historian. His seventeen books include biographies of four prime ministers, as well as of Aneurin Bevan and Laurence Olivier. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian and New Statesman.

About this edition

• Publisher: Haus Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1910376051
• ISBN 13: 9781910376058
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 198