PublishedQuercus, September 2016 |
ISBN9781780879895 |
FormatHardcover, 688 pages |
Dimensions24cm × 16.1cm × 6cm |
Clement Attlee was a slightly-built, bald, pipe-smoking and unassuming man who presided over the radical administration of 1945-51 and is sometimes referred to as Britain's greatest peace-time Prime Minster. His cocooned suburban childhood and standing at university as 'the man who couldn't quite' were unlikely preparations for such a figure.
Attlee was often underestimated: he fooled those who compared him unfavourably to his rival, Churchill and undercut their doubt with dry wit and proof of his steady and insightful leadership. Yet his life deserves a place alongside the Churchill legend. It is difficult to think of another individual who can better tell the story of how Britain changed from the high imperialism of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee of 1887, through two world wars, the great depression, nuclear age and the Cold War, and the transition from empire into commonwealth.
This book will pierce the reticence of Attlee and explore the intellectual foundations and core beliefs of one of the most important figures in twentieth-century British history (arguably the most important); and that he remains underappreciated, rather than simply underestimated. It will reveal a public servant and patriotic socialist, who never lost sight of the national interest and whose view of humanity and belief in solidarity was grafted onto the Union Jack.
