When Harold Macmillan became prime minister in 1957, Britain had reached a critical point in its contemporary history. There was still evidence of Britain's status as a great power, yet the previous year's humiliation at Suez had undermined its credibility. By taking key areas of overseas policy - summitry, the Middle East, defence, Empire, and Europe - this volume looks at Macmillan's attempts to establish a new foreign policy agenda after Suez. Based on research in public and private archives in Britain, America and Germany, Harold Macmillan and Britain's World Role offers a critical reappraisal of British foreign policy between 1957 and 1963, addressing how successfully Macmillan answered his own key question: 'Why should the UK stay in the big game?'

C. Douglas Dillon – heir to a vast investment banking fortune, and one of the richest men in America during his political career – was a Republican who served in a Democratic administration and became one of the greatest modern treasury secretaries. He believed in bipartisanship and public duty, a sensibility that has all but faded from the current political climate. With exclusive access to the family’s archive, in The Dillon Era Richard Aldous sets fresh eyes on a well-documented period in recent American history, unfolding a deeply influential but somewhat overlooked political career. In 1953 President Eisenhower appointed Dillon as ambassador to Paris, and he promoted him to second in command in the State Department in 1958. Tapped by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson for treasury secretary to reassure Wall Street that the nation’s finances were in safe hands, Dillon would become one of President Kennedy’s closest advisors, and perhaps the only cabinet member who was a personal friend. His impact on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations was immense, not least in delivering the most comprehensive income tax cuts the nation had ever seen. Overseas he worked to sustain political cooperation as the Bretton Woods system threatened to unravel. By the time he left office in 1965, the Washington Post recognized Dillon as “by far the best Secretary of the Treasury of the postwar period,” and European Economic Community president Walter Hallstein hailed a new “Dillon era.” Dillon advocated for evolution and reform over radicalism, and he placed the national interest above party interest. The Dillon Era throws new light on the postwar period, identifying Dillon as a pivotal figure in American policymaking during these crucial years of the Cold War.

When Harold Macmillan became prime minister in 1957, Britain had reached a critical point in its contemporary history. There was still evidence of Britain's status as a great power, yet the previous year's humiliation at Suez had undermined its credibility. By taking key areas of overseas policy - summitry, the Middle East, defence, Empire, and Europe - this volume looks at Macmillan's attempts to establish a new foreign policy agenda after Suez. Based on research in public and private archives in Britain, America and Germany, Harold Macmillan and Britain's World Role offers a critical reappraisal of British foreign policy between 1957 and 1963, addressing how successfully Macmillan answered his own key question: 'Why should the UK stay in the big game?'

In this authorised biography of one of the most remarkable Irishmen of the twentieth century, Richard Aldous is independent in his judgements and frank in his examination of his subject's shortcomings and eccentricities. But most of all, he writes with verve and pace.

Tony Ryan was born in a railwayman's cottage and rose to enormous success, overseeing the spectacular making of two business fortunes and the dramatic losing of one. After an early spell in Aer Lingus, he set up an airline leasing company, Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), which had its headquarters in Shannon and quickly became the largest such enterprise in the world. Ryan was a hard taskmaster and the company reflected his ferocious work ethic. Yet, despite a stellar board of directors, a botched and poorly timed Initial Public Offering in the 1990s saw GPA crash and burn. Ryan lost almost everything.

What remained was a little airline that was chronically loss making. Ryan set about turning Ryanair around, putting in one of his assistants, Michael O'Leary, to help knock it into shape. The rest is history. Ryan remade his fortune, lived lavishly and elegantly, was a generous patron of the arts, and in every respect larger than life.

His spirit is one that Ireland needs more than ever today. As the nation strives for its own recovery, it can find inspiration in the story of how one of its most famous sons rose and fell, and then rose again. Not one to stand still or lament mistakes, Tony Ryan's determination never to give up is the real lesson of this story. He was in so many ways Ireland's Aviator.

Arthur Schlesinger Jr (1917-2007), known today as the architect of John F. Kennedy's presidential legacy-and the myth of Camelot-blazed an extraordinary path from Harvard University to war-time London to the West Wing. The son of a pioneering historian-and a two-time Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner in his own right-Schlesinger redefined the art of presidential biography. A Thousand Days, remains influential and has cemented Schlesinger's place as one of the nation's greatest political image-makers. In this vivid account, Richard Aldous draws on oral history, rarely seen archival documents and the official Schlesinger papers to craft a portrait of a brilliant and controversial historian who framed America's rise to global empirialism.

Great Irish Speeches contains 50 of the most stirring and memorable speeches in Irish history. From the political oratories of Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera to emotive addresses by the nation's celebrated poets, writers and musicians, all of the included speeches have had a remarkable impact on the course of Irish and world history. Each speech is preceded by an introduction, which places the address in context and underlines its historical significance, as well as an iconic photograph of the speaker. Presented chronologically, the collection provides tremendous insight into Irish history. Includes the following speeches: Eamon de Valera 'That Ireland which we dreamed of', Eamon de Valera 'The abuse of a people who have done him no wrong', John F. Kennedy 'Ireland's hour has come', Jack Lynch 'The Irish government can no longer stand by' Liam Cosgrave 'Mongrel foxes', Charles J. Haughey 'We are living away beyond our means' Joe Connolly 'People of Galway - we love you', John Hume 'Sit down and negotiate our future with us', Mary Robinson 'Come dance with me in Ireland' Maire Geoghegan-Quinn 'A necessary development of human rights' Seamus Heaney 'The achievement of Irish poets', David Trimble 'A cold house for Catholics' Joe Higgins 'Ansbacher Man', Gerry Adams 'Now there is an alternative', Ian Paisley 'A Northern Ireland in which all can live together in peace', Bertie Ahern 'This is what Ireland can give to the world'.

'Engaging and highly entertaining' Sunday Times The dramatic confrontation between the two 'mighty opposites' of the Victorian age, brilliantly recreated by a talented young historian. Gladstone and Disraeli were the fiercest political rivals of the modern age. Their intense hatred was ideological and deeply personal. Victorian Britain ruled the oceans and vast territories 'on which the sun never set'. The vitriolic duel between Gladstone and Disraeli was nothing less than a battle to lead the richest and most powerful nation on earth. To Disraeli, his antagonist was an 'unprincipled maniac' characterised by an 'extraordinary mixture of envy, vindictiveness, hypocrisy and superstition'. For Gladstone, his rival was 'The Grand Corrupter' whose destruction he plotted 'day and night, week by week, month by month'. Victorians were electrified by the confrontation. No wonder that when Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass appeared in 1871, so many readers recognised the great adversaries as the warring lion and unicorn 'fighting for the crown'. Richard Aldous gives us the first modern telling of this dramatic story of an intense and momentous rivalry. His vivid narrative style - at turns powerful, witty, stirring and theatrical - breathes new life into a familiar, half-remembered tale that is pivotal in Britain's island history. The Lion and the Unicorn is a brilliant rethinking of the Gladstone and Disraeli story for a new generation. Richard Aldous confirms a perennial truth: in politics, everything is personal.

William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli were the fiercest political rivals of the nineteenth century. Their intense mutual hatred was both ideologically driven and deeply personal. Their vitriolic duels, carried out over decades, lend profound insight into the social and political currents that dominated Victorian England. To Disraeli a legendary dandy descended from Sephardic Jews his antagonist was an "unprincipled maniac" characterized by an "extraordinary mixture of envy, vindictiveness, hypocrisy, and superstition." For the conservative aristocrat Gladstone, his rival was "the Grand Corrupter," whose destruction he plotted "day and night, week by week, month by month." In the tradition of Roy Jenkins and A. N. Wilson, Richard Aldous has written an outstanding political biography, giving us the first dual portrait of this intense and momentous rivalry. Aldous's vivid narrative style by turns powerful, witty, and stirring brings new life to the Gladstone and Disraeli story and confirms a perennial truth: in politics, everything is personal.