Reagan and Thatcher: The Difficult Relationship

Richard Aldous's dual biography of Reagan and Thatcher dispels the myth of their 'special relationship', reveals the depth of their disagreement and shows how, confronted by the USSR, they struggled to overcome their differences.

Richard Aldous

History

Hutchinson

For decades, historians have perpetuated the myth of a "Churchillian" relationship between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, citing their longtime alliance as an example of the "special" bond between the U.S. and Britain. But, as Richard Aldous argues in this penetrating dual biography, "Reagan and Thatcher" clashed repeatedly - over the Falklands war, the invasion of Grenada, and SDI and nuclear weapons - while carefully cultivating a harmonious image for the public and the media. With the stakes enormously high, these political titans struggled to work together to confront the greatest threat of their time: the USSR. Brilliantly reconstructing some of their most dramatic encounters, Aldous draws on recently declassified documents and extensive oral history to dismantle the popular conception of Reagan-Thatcher diplomacy. His startling conclusion - that the weakest link in the Atlantic Alliance of the 1980s was the association between the two principal actors - will mark an important contribution to our understanding of the 20th century.

Reagan & Thatcher

Random House Export

Tunes of Glory: The Life of Malcolm Sargent

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Pimlico

Tony Ryan: Ireland's Aviator

Tony Ryan was one of the greatest Irishmen of the twentieth century. Ingenious, driven and sometimes reckless, his sheer spirit and adventurousness made him Ireland's Aviator. Born in a railwayman's cottage in County Tipperary he rose to enormous success. Ryan set up the airline leasing company, Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), which quickly became the largest such enterprise in the world. But it famously crashed and burned and Ryan lost almost everything. What remained was a little airline called Ryanair which was chronically loss making. Ryan set about turning Ryanair around, putting in one of his assistants, Michael O'Leary, to help knock it into shape. The rest is history. Richard Aldous gives an irresistible insight into the machinations of the man who epitomised what it means to be an entrepreneur. 'Fascinating' The Sunday Times 'Masterful' The Sunday Independent 'Reveals the warts as well as the successes of the Tipperary native' Irish Independent 'The Original Celtic Tiger' The Sunday Independent

Business & Money

Industries

Gill Books

Gladstone and Disraeli were the fiercest political rivals of the modern age. Their intense hatred was ideological and deeply personal. Victorian Britain ruled the oceans and vast territories 'on which the sun never set'. The vitriolic duel between Gladstone and Disraeli was nothing less than a battle to lead the richest and most powerful nation on earth. To Disraeli, his antagonist was an 'unprincipled maniac' characterised by an 'extraordinary mixture of envy, vindictiveness, hypocrisy and superstition'. For Gladstone, his rival was 'The Grand Corrupter' whose destruction he plotted 'day and night, week by week, month by month'. Victorians were electrified by the confrontation. No wonder that when Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass" appeared in 1871, so many readers recognised the great adversaries as the warring lion and unicorn 'fighting for the crown'. Richard Aldous gives us the first modern telling of this dramatic story of an intense and momentous rivalry. His vivid narrative style - at turns powerful, witty, stirring and theatrical - breathes new life into a familiar, half-remembered tale that is pivotal in Britain's island history. "The Lion and the Unicorn" is a brilliant rethinking of the Gladstone and Disraeli story for a new generation. Richard Aldous confirms a perennial truth: in politics, everything is personal.

The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli

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Books by Richard Aldous