Book about The Thatcher Years

[AcornAutumn]

I was a tot when MT came to power.

Does anyone have any book recommendations to cover this period?

Thank you.

Are you seeking fiction, non-fiction or both?

Non fiction please

More a history book really.

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

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).

Thanks everyone

The Iron Lady looks like the right one for me.

@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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

Also Alwyn Turners' 'rejoice! Rejoice!'

Thanks for all the suggestions

I went to a book event with Alan Clark!

Tom Bower does look quite cheesy and sensationalist, sorry.

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

@Butterer

]] I wasn't keen on it, but it's relevant I think?

I have issues with Barr. See Feminist board!

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)

@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.

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.

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.

tv series

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

@Standrewsschool also Pride!