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  • Published: 15 March 2013
  • ISBN: 9780099534099
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

Reagan and Thatcher

The Difficult Relationship




The uneasy alliance that lay at the heart of the relationship of two of the most powerful and controversial leaders of the late 20th century: Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

The uneasy alliance that lay at the heart of the relationship of two of the most powerful and controversial leaders of the late 20th century: Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

For three decades, historians have cited the long-term alliance of Reagan and Thatcher as an example of the special bond between the US and Britain.

But, as Richard Aldous argues, these political titans clashed repeatedly as they confronted the greatest threat of their time: the USSR.

Brilliantly reconstructing some of their most dramatic encounters, Aldous draws on recently declassified documents and extensive oral history to dismantle the popular conception of the Reagan-Thatcher diplomacy.

  • Published: 15 March 2013
  • ISBN: 9780099534099
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

About the author

Richard Aldous

Richard Aldous was the Head of History and Archives at University College, Dublin for 15 years. His many books include a critically acclaimed biography of Gladstone and Disraeli, and the no. 1 bestselling Great Irish Speeches. He writes for publications including the New York Times and Irish Times, and is a regular contributor to television and radio on both sides of the Atlantic. He is currently the Eugene Meyer Professor of British History and Literature at Bard College in New York.

Also by Richard Aldous

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Praise for Reagan and Thatcher

This is excellent revisionist history, giving another slant to the interaction of two political icons on the world stage.

Publishers Weekly

Vivid, fast-paced and immensely readable, Richard Aldous's new book challenges conventional wisdom and prods us to rethink the 1980s

Professor David Reynolds

An important study, based on a wealth of recently-released documents, which puts the Thatcher-Reagan friendship in a wholy new (and more sombre) light. It should be essential reading for anyone who cares about the history, the health and the future of the Anglo-American 'special relationship'

Professor David Cannadine

I can't speak for President Reagan, but I've been both praised and pulverized by Margaret Thatcher, and Richard Aldous seems to me to have captured the force of her personality. This is a valuable look behind the looking glass of public-relations politics of the special relationship.

Harold Evans

Richard Aldous’s account of the most intriguing Anglo-American double act of them all provides many surprises . . . What Aldous manages to achieve is strong research with a vivid narrative style, bringing the most dramatic moments to life

John Kampfner, Observer

A well-research, well-written and revisionist double portrait

Andrew Roberts, Wall Street Journal

Intelligent, authoritative and extremely readable

Philip Ziegler, Spectator

This gripping account of their difficult relationship reads like a thriller.

Sunday Times

Aldous deserves nothing but credit for the masterly way in which he weaves accounts from published memoirs and recently declassified US material into a pacey, almost thriller-like account of the meetings and telephone calls between these two political giants. This is a work of history that can be read at one sitting — a page-turner more than a page-folder.

Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times

It wasn't all sweetness and light between Maggie and Ronnie, as this account of their difficult relationship shows

Summer reading pick from THe Sunday Times