There Is No Alternative Why Margaret Thatcher Matters

by Berlinski, Claire

• ISBN13: 9780465031214
• ISBN10: 0465031218
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-11-08
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

Great Britain in the 1970s appeared to be in terminal decline--ungovernable, an economic train wreck, and rapidly headed for global irrelevance. Three decades later, it is the richest and most influential country in Europe, and Margaret Thatcher is the reason. The preternaturally determined Thatcher rose from nothing, seized control of Britain's Conservative party, and took a sledgehammer to the nation's postwar socialist consensus. She proved that socialism could be reversed, inspiring a global free-market revolution. Simultaneously exploiting every politically useful aspect of her femininity and defying every conventional expectation of women in power, Thatcher crushed her enemies with a calculated ruthlessness that stunned the British public and without doubt caused immense collateral damage. Ultimately, however, Claire Berlinski agrees with Thatcher: There was no alternative. Berlinski explains what Thatcher did, why it matters, and how she got away with it in this vivid and immensely readable portrait of one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.

Author Biography

Claire Berlinski holds a doctorate in international relations from Balliol College at Oxford University. She is a contributing editor of City Journal and Ricochet, and her work has appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, and National Review. She is the author of two works of fiction, Loose Lips and Lion Eyes, and one other work of nonfiction, Menace in Europe. She lives in Istanbul.

Table of Contents

A Note on Style and Sources	p. xiii
Preface to the 2011 Edition	p. xv
Preface to the Previous Edition	p. xxiii
The Shrine of Mother Margaret	p. 1
La Pasionaria of Middle-Class Privilege	p. 15
"I Hate Communists"	p. 47
Diva, Matron, Housewife, Shrew	p. 71
The Sledgehammer	p. 113
For Strategic Sheep Purposes	p. 157
Coal and Iron	p. 183
Miners Is Miners	p. 237
The Triumvirate	p. 263
No! No! No!	p. 307
Conclusion: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters	p. 343
Epilogue	p. 361
Photograph Acknowledgments	p. 364
Acknowledgments	p. 365
A Guide to Further Reading	p. 369
Index	p. 373
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