Yes, Prime Minister (5)
Yet again it's been TWO years since my last Prime Minister reading update. The ‘good’ news is that I’ve added a further four books to the list. The less good news is that they are ALL on Winston Churchill. Although he is arguably the most iconic PM in the last 100 years it’s not really helping my larger project of reading about Prime Ministers through time. So, some additional effort will be made going forward to expand my range – at least a little bit! I do actually have a few books about Churchill’s successor Clement Attlee, and I’ll try to read at least ONE of those next year. I also have a more general book about PM’s which might help me focus a bit more. But here’s my updated list so far:
Harold Macmillan (10th January 1957 – 18th October 1963)
An English Affair – Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo by Richard Davenport-Hines
Winston S. Churchill (10th May 1940 – 26th July 1945) (26th October 1951 – 5th April 1955)
Churchill’s Cold War – How the Iron Curtain Speech Shaped the Post War World by Phillip White
Churchill & Orwell – The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E Ricks
How Churchill Waged War – The Most Challenging Decisions of the Second World War by Allen Packwood
Churchill and the King – The Wartime Alliance of Winston Churchill and George VI by Kenneth Weisbrode
Darkest Hour – How Churchill Brought Us Back from the Brink by Anthony McCarten
Franklin and Winston – An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship by Jon Meacham
Young Titan – The Making of Winston Churchill by Michael Shelden
Churchill’s First War – Young Winston and the Fight against the Taliban by Con Couchlin.
Neville Chamberlin (28th May 1937 – 10th May 1940)
Chamberlain and the Lost Peace by John Charmley
Munich – The 1938 Appeasement Crisis by David Faber
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (22nd January 1828 – 16th November 1830) (17th November 1834 – 9th December 1834)
Wellington by S G P Ward
Spencer Perceval (4th October 1809 – 11th May 1812)
The Assassination of the Prime Minister – John Bellingham and the Murder of Spencer Perceval by David C Hanrahan
5 comments:
Be difficult for the modern PMs....some of them weren't in office long enough to do anything!
I haven't been reading much this week -- close death in the family -- but the funeral was yesterday and we're moving on. Found something you might get a kick out of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOgxaTs0rng
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-g2Ah3VfnU
New channel for me but I am so going to be binging next week.
I'm sorry for your loss.
My Indie shop had a biography of Liz Truss. They had quite a few copies (when I asked about it) and had featured a few in the Comedy section.
The occupancy range it quite wide - from over a decade to just a few weeks. Its only very recently that we had 'fixed' terms but even then a PM is just one vote of confidence away of being rejected - even without a General Election. It does keep them on their toes a bit! Hopefully I can get at least a few more PMs under my belt. Harold Wilson certainly interests me... and maybe even Ted Heath... [muses]
That's quite a selection. Which book would you recommend to read first???
On Churchill? I'd recommend 'Young Titan – The Making of Winston Churchill' by Michael Shelden for his earlier life and 'Churchill & Orwell – The Fight for Freedom' by Thomas E Ricks for some very interesting insights into Churchill's motivations. I have a few more about him in a stack but any more will be waiting till next year (and after I read up on a *different* PM first!) [lol]
Interesting. I've just put them on my wishlist. Thanks.
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