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Book about The Thatcher Years

21 replies

AcornAutumn · 20/11/2020 18:28

I was a tot when MT came to power.

Does anyone have any book recommendations to cover this period?

Thank you.

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WitchesSpelleas · 20/11/2020 19:15

Are you seeking fiction, non-fiction or both?

AcornAutumn · 20/11/2020 19:56

Non fiction please

More a history book really.

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ageingdisgracefully · 20/11/2020 19:57

I'm reading the Thatcher biography by Charles Moore. Enjoying it.

WitchesSpelleas · 20/11/2020 20:27

Her memoirs 'The Downing Street Years' are a weighty read but interesting - the sort of book you take a bit at a time.

For a lighter read 'The Iron Lady' by John Campbell although this covers her early life as well as her time in power.

Haven't read the Charles Moore but will add it to my reading list. (I'm the opposite of a Thatcherite but I enjoy books about politics).

AcornAutumn · 20/11/2020 21:44

Thanks everyone

The Iron Lady looks like the right one for me.

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ageingdisgracefully · 21/11/2020 08:04

@witchesSpelleas: sorry to derail a bit but have you read Tom Bower's books? I really enjoy them-they can be a tad gossipy and salacious but very readable. I've just finished "Boris" and hoping to start on Gordon Brown soon.

Sadik · 21/11/2020 14:16

When the Lights Went Out by Andy Beckett is an excellent book about the 70s covering MT's rise to power - I'd think it would make excellent reading for context.

TheScoresOnTheDoors · 21/11/2020 14:23

Who Dares Wins by Dominic Sandwood is really good. There's a whole series starting in the late 50s. I like the mix in them between chapters on Politics and Foreign Affairs but then loads on cultural stuff - so in the most recent one which starts in 1979 there's stuff on computer games, Bothams ashes etc. I was born in the late 1980s so all this recent history is not something I lived through or knew much about.

Butterer · 21/11/2020 14:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CountFosco · 21/11/2020 16:03

Alan Clark's diaries would be an interesting and entertaining read, bit of a period piece now but probably all the better for it. Tony Benn's diaries cover the same period from the other side of the house.

BalloonSlayer · 21/11/2020 16:10

John O'Farrell's Things Can Only Get better was an absolute nostalgia-fest for me, it summed up exactly what it was like to be young in Thatcher's Britain. Even though I didn't know much about politics, we all hated Thatcher! Grin

It's clearly an anti-Thatcher, anti-conservative book, but it really does sum up the zeitgeist for me like nothing else. Also second When the Lights Went Out as a great book, but it is more about earlier times which I don't remember so well.

TinkersRucksack · 21/11/2020 16:48

I suggest Dominic Sandbrook too, I've enjoyed all his books.

Also Alwyn Turners' 'rejoice! Rejoice!'

AcornAutumn · 21/11/2020 17:22

Thanks for all the suggestions

I went to a book event with Alan Clark!

Tom Bower does look quite cheesy and sensationalist, sorry.

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WitchesSpelleas · 22/11/2020 09:56

@ageingdisgracefully Ooh, no, I haven't but they sound like something I'd enjoy. Thanks for the recommendation!

AcornAutumn · 22/11/2020 10:05

@Butterer

]] I wasn't keen on it, but it's relevant I think?
I have issues with Barr. See Feminist board!
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SJaneS49 · 24/11/2020 15:58

For a very satirical look at the Thatcher years, try What a Carve Up by Jonathan Coe. It’s a really good read and lampoons all that was wrong about those years!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_a_Carve_Up!_(novel)

cariadlet · 27/11/2020 05:35

@BalloonSlayer Totally agree with what you said about Things Can Only Get Better. I was a teen in the 80s and remember going on CND demos with my mum and have strong memories of what a massive thing the Miners' strike was. I could identify with a lot in the book.

Oreservoir · 27/11/2020 06:06

I had a very good old (in years) friend in the late 80's.
Her sister was the nanny to the Thatcher twins and there was another sister who lived in Devon.
When the nanny died Mrs Thatcher hadn't long been pm.
Old friend and her sister were sorting out her possessions and found all the letters sent by the Thatchers to the nanny over many years.
They did the honourable thing and returned them to the Thatchers.
One interesting fact. After Mrs Thatcher gave birth she was allowed home before her babies. When the twins were big enough to go home the nanny was sent to collect them.
Sums Mrs Thatcher up for me.

Standrewsschool · 01/12/2020 18:12

Blinded by the Light is a film set in the 80s based on a true light account. May not be about Thatcher specifically, but I thought the film gave a good impression of what the 80s felt like.

Standrewsschool · 01/12/2020 18:13

tv series

Also not a book, but this series is quite good also.

NomadNoMore · 02/12/2020 13:35

@Standrewsschool also Pride!

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