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Hugh Gaitskell

Philip Maynard Williams

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Description:Hugh Gaitskell's life was one of paradox. Born into a family of soldiers and empire builders, the rallied to the working-class cause in the General Strike. He was unobtrusive and made little mark at school, yet he was to enjoy a successful academic career and to develop into a highly controversial politician. He is still the only Labour front bencher to be elected leader (and potential prime minister) by a comfortable majority -- and the only one subsequently challenged for re-election. He led the Party to its worst post-war defeat, but when he died he was on the threshold of Downing Street.His aloof public image was utterly unlike his warm private personality. No politician could have been less of a dessicated calculating machine. Accused of elitism, he believed more than other public men that the voters would respond both to serious argument and to idealistic appeal. But, though a worshipper of reason, temperament led him to seek drastic solutions; he loathed trimming, and sometimes showed a reckless gambler's streak when his feelings were aroused -- for his political weaknesses sprang always from too much emotionalism rather than too little.Philip Williams's life of Gaitskell is based on a large collection of private papers, supplemented by those of other politicians, and on extensive interviewing of friends, colleagues and rivals. It is a political biography, setting him in the context of his times. Before 1951 his career throws a flood of light on the working of British government during the war and Labour's post-war reconstruction. Afterwards it illustrates the operations and traditions of the Labour Party in opposition, both in the forgotten periods of internal unity and under the strains of bitter fraternal conflict.The book provides ample material for a history of the Party i those years, and for assessing the outlook and activities of contemporary leaders such as Attlee and Morrison, Cripps and Bevan, and throws new light on those who have since risen to prominence -- Wilson and Callaghan, Crosland and Crossman, Healey, Jenkins and Michael Foot. As shadow chancellor, Gaitskell clashed with Rab Butler, and the myth of Buttskellism is dissected; as leader of the Opposition he was matched against Harold Macmillan, and the progress of their duel is charted. Gaitskell was insatiably curious, delighted in travel,and was well acquainted with the leading figures in Europe, America, Asia, and Africa: Kennedy and Khrushchev, Tito and Nehru, Nkrumah and Welensky, Adenauer and De Gaulle make their appearances. Gaitskell's intellectual development, his family life and personality are amply revealed in this fascinating account of the brief but dramatic public life of a misunderstood public figure.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Hugh Gaitskell. To get started finding Hugh Gaitskell, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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ISBN: 0192851152

Description: Hugh Gaitskell's life was one of paradox. Born into a family of soldiers and empire builders, the rallied to the working-class cause in the General Strike. He was unobtrusive and made little mark at school, yet he was to enjoy a successful academic career and to develop into a highly controversial politician. He is still the only Labour front bencher to be elected leader (and potential prime minister) by a comfortable majority -- and the only one subsequently challenged for re-election. He led the Party to its worst post-war defeat, but when he died he was on the threshold of Downing Street.His aloof public image was utterly unlike his warm private personality. No politician could have been less of a dessicated calculating machine. Accused of elitism, he believed more than other public men that the voters would respond both to serious argument and to idealistic appeal. But, though a worshipper of reason, temperament led him to seek drastic solutions; he loathed trimming, and sometimes showed a reckless gambler's streak when his feelings were aroused -- for his political weaknesses sprang always from too much emotionalism rather than too little.Philip Williams's life of Gaitskell is based on a large collection of private papers, supplemented by those of other politicians, and on extensive interviewing of friends, colleagues and rivals. It is a political biography, setting him in the context of his times. Before 1951 his career throws a flood of light on the working of British government during the war and Labour's post-war reconstruction. Afterwards it illustrates the operations and traditions of the Labour Party in opposition, both in the forgotten periods of internal unity and under the strains of bitter fraternal conflict.The book provides ample material for a history of the Party i those years, and for assessing the outlook and activities of contemporary leaders such as Attlee and Morrison, Cripps and Bevan, and throws new light on those who have since risen to prominence -- Wilson and Callaghan, Crosland and Crossman, Healey, Jenkins and Michael Foot. As shadow chancellor, Gaitskell clashed with Rab Butler, and the myth of Buttskellism is dissected; as leader of the Opposition he was matched against Harold Macmillan, and the progress of their duel is charted. Gaitskell was insatiably curious, delighted in travel,and was well acquainted with the leading figures in Europe, America, Asia, and Africa: Kennedy and Khrushchev, Tito and Nehru, Nkrumah and Welensky, Adenauer and De Gaulle make their appearances. Gaitskell's intellectual development, his family life and personality are amply revealed in this fascinating account of the brief but dramatic public life of a misunderstood public figure.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Hugh Gaitskell. To get started finding Hugh Gaitskell, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Hugh Gaitskell

Hugh Gaitskell

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