Books by Prime Ministers of the UK

Criticism And Beauty by Arthur James Balfour

The theme of this paper is Beauty and the criticism of Beauty; aesthetic excellence and its analysis. From prehistoric times men have occupied themselves in producing works of Art: since the time of Aristotle they have spent learned energy in commenting on them. How much are we the wiser? What real insight do the commentaries give us into the qualities which produce aesthetic...

The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington by Arthur Wellesley

Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), better known as the first Duke of Wellington, was one of the most successful military figures of the early nineteenth century. After fighting in the fourth Anglo-Mysore war in India, his successes during the Peninsular War (1809-1814) and his victory at the Battle of Waterloo (1815) established his reputation as a brilliant military tactician. These...

Vivian Grey by Benjamin Disraeli

Vivian Grey follows its eponymous hero from childhood through his attempt to succeed in the world of politics. The various systems of education through which Vivian Grey passes are analysed. The final system of education is experience, which proves the most instructive and the most shattering. Vivian chooses politics as his career and the novel traces his abortive attempt to gain...

The Course of My Life by Edward Heath

Born in 1916, Edward Heath became a Conservative Member of Parliament in 1950, following a glittering Oxford and military career, and was at the heart of political life for a long time - as Chief Whip (notably during the Suez Crisis), Minister of Labour, Lord Privy Seal at the Foreign Office, Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965-75, and Prime Minister from 1970 to 1974. Since...

Courage: Eight Portraits by Gordon Brown

What is it that makes some men and women take difficult decisions and do the right thing against the odds when easier and far less dangerous alternatives are open to them? Why is it that some people - like the undercover heroes working for SOE in Occupied France or the passengers of the United 93 flight on 9/11 - have the courage to dare? Brown explores the lives of eight outstanding...

More Than A Game by John Major

The former Prime Minister examines the history of one of the great loves of his life. Throughout Major's life, one of the constant factors has been his deep love of cricket. In this sumptuously illustrated book he delves deep into the game's history, tracing its development from its rustic beginnings to the international sport we know today. Along the way he examines - and at times...

Path to Power by Margaret Thatcher

The extraordinary account of Thatcher's life up to her dramatic election as the first woman Prime Minister of England in 1979. Thatcher is the towering figure of late-twentieth-century British politics. No other prime minister of modern times has sought to change Britain and its place in the world as radically as she did. This is the story of her remarkable life in her own words. In...

New Britain by Tony Blair

After seventeen years of Conservative Party rule under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, a change in Great Britain's leadership appears imminent. In Blair's Stakeholder Nation, government works in partnership with private and voluntary sectors to harness the pawer of the market to serve the public interest. In New Britain, we read in Blair's own articulate words how to improve the...

Landmarks Of Homeric Study by William Ewart Gladstone

Gladstone, who was trained as a classicist[1] discussed the fact that Homer's works have odd use of colours, e.g., blue never appears in the work. Gladstone theorized that Homer and other Greeks were mostly colourblind and that is why colour is used the way it is in this work. Gladstone's ideas would have an impact on the debate regarding the ability of cultures to see colors when...

The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill

The first volume of Churchill's memoirs, this selection is broken into two parts. The first, "From War to War," consists of Churchill's critical observations on the settlement of World War I and its place in the causes of the Second World War. The second volume contains letters and memoranda from the British government - of which Churchill was part - as the country plunged unprepared...