0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945

Buy Now

Tony Benn - A Political Life (Hardcover) Loot Price: R2,114
Discovery Miles 21 140
Tony Benn - A Political Life (Hardcover): David Powell

Tony Benn - A Political Life (Hardcover)

David Powell

 (sign in to rate)
Loot Price R2,114 Discovery Miles 21 140 | Repayment Terms: R198 pm x 12*

Bookmark and Share

Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days

This is a succinct and highly readable biography of one of the most interesting political figures of the later 20th century. It is prefaced with a foreword by Benn himself and appended with an interview given by him, while the project as a whole has clearly enjoyed his cooperation. As one might expect in such circumstances, the result is a largely favourable account and as such is likely to arouse some of the controversy which Benn has always attracted. Although there is no doubt where Powell's sympathies lie, he has done a fine job in analyzing the nature of Benn's political philosophy and in demonstrating the consistent commitment to causes which has characterised his life. In an age which appears to have sacrificed principle for public image and replaced debate with spin, it is refreshing to reflect upon a career which exemplifies what we are in danger of losing in British politics. In describing the significant events with which Benn has been involved, from his struggle to renounce his title through his 11 years in office to his bid for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in 1981 and his campaigns on behalf of the miners, CND and many others, it is difficult not to admire a man who has stuck to his beliefs, always championed the rights and opportunities of working people, and remains the undiminished voice of socialism in this country. (Kirkus UK)
For much of his half-century career in the House of Commons, Tony Benn has been the most loved and loathed man in British politics. He has been idolized by the left, and reviled with equal measure by the Westminster establishment, not least by New Labour. Once tipped to lead the Labour Party, Benn's growing disillusionment with what he regarded as the democratic deficit infecting politics, reinforced his resolve to continue playing the role he valued most, as a good House of Commons Man.David Powell's fascinating new biography traces Tony Benn's extraordinary fifty year political career from the day he first entered the House in 1950. He argues that Benn's commitment to the House of Commons was fortified by his experiences during the thirty months when he fought to renounce his peerage and remain an MP; then during the twelve years he spent in government, and finally during the two decades he spent on the back benches, having been defeated in the bruising campaign for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. Each was to provide him with an insight into the workings of power and cumulatively they were to convince him of the charade that passed for democracy not only in Westminster and in the Labour Party, but in the European Union and in the wider in the global context, with democratic ideals subordinated to the political and economic power of the United States. Benn has always a controversial figure. He was widely caricatured as Bogey Benn by the Tories during the 1970s and was more recently anathematised by Tony Blair as the man who almost knocked the Labour party over the edge of the cliff into extinction. Nonetheless many of the policies he championed, and for which he was widely belittled, have since entered the statute books. Indeed, if history is a chronicle of ironies, there can have been little more ironic than when, following Benn's valedictory speech in the Commons in 2001, a Tory backbencher commended him to fellow MPs as Britain's greatest living Parliamentarian.

General

Imprint: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Release date: October 2001
First published: November 2001
Authors: David Powell
Dimensions: 234 x 156 x 23mm (L x W x T)
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 208
ISBN-13: 978-0-8264-5699-1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Categories: Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Historical, political & military
Books > Humanities > History > British & Irish history > General
Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945
Books > History > British & Irish history > General
Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945
Books > Biography > Historical, political & military
Promotions
LSN: 0-8264-5699-5
Barcode: 9780826456991

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!

You might also like..

Crossroads - I Live Where I Like
Koni Benson Paperback R240 R188 Discovery Miles 1 880
A Promised Land
Barack Obama Hardcover  (6)
R795 R621 Discovery Miles 6 210
Becoming
Michelle Obama Hardcover  (6)
R760 R642 Discovery Miles 6 420
Cilka's Journey
Heather Morris Paperback  (4)
R440 R372 Discovery Miles 3 720
Hidden Figures - The Untold Story of the…
Margot Lee Shetterly Paperback  (2)
R330 R251 Discovery Miles 2 510
Becoming
Michelle Obama CD  (1)
R567 R431 Discovery Miles 4 310
Mandela - The Authorised Biography
Anthony Sampson Paperback  (1)
R310 R254 Discovery Miles 2 540
Renegades - Born In The USA
Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen Hardcover  (1)
R1,102 R908 Discovery Miles 9 080
People's War - New Light On The Struggle…
Anthea Jeffery Paperback  (1)
R320 R262 Discovery Miles 2 620
American Sniper - The Autobiography Of…
Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, … Paperback  (3)
R323 R266 Discovery Miles 2 660
Queen Of Our Times - The Life Of…
Robert Hardman Hardcover R608 Discovery Miles 6 080
Shadows in the sand - A Koevoet…
Sisingi Kamongo, Leon Bezuidenhout Paperback R255 R199 Discovery Miles 1 990

See more

Partners