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Title: The Collected Speeches of Margaret Thatcher by Margaret Thatcher, Robin Harris ISBN: 0-06-018734-4 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: January, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A rhetorical tour de force
Comment: Ever since reading the Downing Street Years, Margaret Thatcher has been an inspiration to me. More than anyone, it is she who the idea of freedom into action. This collection of her speeches doesn't disappoint. It is illuminating, particularly in the years from 1975 to 1979 when she speaks as Leader of the Opposition. These tracts reveal a deep philosophical understanding of the workings (and the virtues) of the free markets and of its inherent superiority over the collectivist cancer. They are worthy of Adam Smith, even Ayn Rand. Naturally, ideas give way to actual policies once she becomes Prime Minister. Nonetheless, her speeches from 1979 to 1990 provide a us with a useful guide to these tumultuous years of profound reform. After 1990, freed from the shackles of Government, she speeks eloquently, deflating the European federalists and the neo-statists on the Left who have changed their stripes but not their ravenous appetite for new, more ingenious methods of social control.
Rating: 5
Summary: Margaret Thatcher's greatest speeches
Comment: This book is a collection of Margaret Thatcher's greatest speeches during her political career. They reveal Margaret Thatcher's true convictions over and over again--belief in free enterprise, capitalism, lower taxes, less government, a strong defense and fiercely fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union.
Margaret Thatcher's speeches are always full of wisdom on whatever the subject is. She brings a powerful grasp of knowledge and understanding of any and all topics. Readers will find her speeches educational and exciting to read. Margaret Thatcher is a gifted debater. She brings a unique viewpoint to many debates that are a dynamic and refreshing alternative to the rusty old arguments pro and con. In addition, Margaret Thatcher always makes very clear what her stands are on issues. The reader will be left in no doubt what her position is on a subject.
This book deserves a five-star rating because it is a compilation of great speeches from the greatest political figure of the Twentieth Century. Readers will find Margaret Thatcher's speeches exciting to read, uplifting and enlightening.
Rating: 3
Summary: For serious politicos/students only...
Comment: There was once a time when orations and speeches of major players cast the mold for society and its subsequent historical frame. In the era of soundbites, that is far from true today. Speeches tend to be ignored save for the soundbites, and if the major points cannot be put into bulleted forms for display in the blue box above the newsanchor's shoulder, then often it will be ignored.
I wasn't sure if this book of speeches was intended to be the third of a three-volume set of Margaret Thatcher's autobiography. I bought it, having worked in Parliament during her time and having taken a degree in the field. But as I re-read the speeches, they were often far less remarkable in print than I remember (those which I do remember, that is). And as for speeches delivered on the floor of the House of Commons, there is no way any verbatim transcript can convey the mood and atmosphere of the House -- Hansard recounting was often dry and dull when what I would remember would be uproarious.
I found myself actually longing for a bulleted-point summary of each speech so that I could more easily find the important bits. The life Thatcher is able to give to her words fall flat on a printed page removed in time from the events surounding the speeches.
This book will be invaluable to that very small number who make a special study of political communications. I cannot imagine this book being of any wider interest, as the interesting bits will be found in the more interesting biographical volumes. I've not noticed this volume being remaindered to a large extent, which means the publishing house which miscalculated the demand for Thatcher's second volume 'The Path to Power' realised the blunder in time to make this volume remain an expensive one to be had.
Thus, you've got to really want it. And, in my opinion, unless you're a British political scholar, you won't.
Please do not misunderstand me in this appraisal. Thatcher is a brilliant speaker. However, few politicians are gifted with circumstances that lend themselves to timeless speeches; the relatively few instances where the actually speeches will be relevant for the overall history of Thatcher's period have those necessary pieces already incorporated into the other history texts.
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Title: The Downing Street Years by Margaret Thatcher ISBN: 0060170565 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: November, 1993 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Statecraft : Strategies for a Changing World by Margaret Thatcher ISBN: 0060959126 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Path to Power by Margaret Thatcher ISBN: 0002550504 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: January, 1995 |
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