The Path to Power [Audio Cassette]

Margaret Thatcher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

In a prequel to The Downing Street Years, Thatcher describes her childhood, Oxford education, early entry into politics, and rise to power in Parliament, sharing insights into the influences that shaped her life and political career. Read by Lady Margaret Thatcher.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Following The Downing Street Years (LJ 1/94), Thatcher reflects on her youth.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Previously, the retired British prime minister wrote--and wrote pugnaciously--about her long tenure in the premiership in The Downing Street Years (1993). Now Thatcher fills in, chronologically speaking, by writing about her life prior to becoming prime minister and after she left office and does so, perhaps, even more self-righteously. Born "over the shop" (her father's grocery, that is) in 1925 in Grantham, England, Thatcher was raised in a household "practical, serious and intensely religious." Those qualities became her qualities, and by the time she got to Oxford, she recognized politics as her calling. She threw her hat into the ring early, running for Parliament when only in her twenties. By nature conservative, she was by enlistment a Conservative. The path by which she became head of that party and then prime minister is traced in typical Thatcher fashion: her narrative is opinionated, self-assured, and, as the reader has to admit, well reasoned. Expect the same heavy demand by serious readers of politics and history as the first volume garnered. Brad Hooper --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Harper Audio (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0694515485
• ISBN-13: 978-0694515486
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Books on Cassette > Biographies & Memoirs > General
  • #18 in Books > Books on Cassette > Nonfiction > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A road less travelled..., May 27, 2003

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Path to Power Hb (Hardcover)

In this book, the prequel to her more successful (and essentially more interesting) volume entitled 'The Downing Street Years', Margaret Thatcher gives us a glimpse into her life, and the events and people who shaped her, basically, who made her who she is.

You'll learn about her time at university, her early days in politics from a personal standpoint (for instance, she used to do her own ironing to press dresses immediately before going out, as she couldn't afford to have them pressed, and other small details like this abound), early days in the government and then leading up to the time in opposition prior to the elections of 1979.

Thatcher also adds a postscript to this book, completed after the account of her time as Prime Minister, in which she gives her prescriptions for a better Britain and Europe (in some ways, she might agree that her stance on the Eurocurrency is a la Nancy Reagan, i.e., 'Just say No!'). She has a few swipes at John Major, the man she helped into power, perhaps hoping to be able to be an active and effective agent from behind the scenes. Major retaliates a bit in his own autobiography.

In all, unless you're REALLY into British politics or Thatcher personally, this book could be easily missed. Read 'The Downing Street Years', and, as I've seen you can often pick this book up for some bargain-bin price, buy it so as to have the set. And you might peruse a chapter here and there.

It does have a good style of writing, but goes on quite a bit. Historians will appreciate it, but I often wonder if politicians think that most will actually read through all this material, considering they are invariably written when the author is off the centre stage?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Decent Memoir, August 31, 2005

By 

Robert Fishman (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Path to Power Hb (Hardcover)

A Decent Memoir, June 28, 2004

This was a decent read, though I think that Lady Thatcher hastily wrote it as a prequel to the more celebrated "Downing Street Years." That being said, it was interesting to read about her rise from backbencher to Conservative Party leader. In grabbing the reigns of Tory leadership, she toppled a mindset that accepted Britain's economic decline as being part of "the natural order of things." She also offers insights on the European and international scenes during the middle to late 1970s. On this, she criticized the idea of detente as being a recipe for disaster. The memoir ends with Britain's so-called Winter of Discontent, which propelled her into Downing Street.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conviction and Backbone: No Wonder She was Iron, March 20, 2006

By 

M. R. Estante "book reader" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Path to Power Hb (Hardcover)

Just how did the grocer's daughter end up on No. 10 Downing Street? Grit, conviction, and her famous steel backbone combined with an razor sharp wit to boot. Lady Thatcher rivals Sir Winston Churchill as being one of the greatest international leaders of the 20th century. This is her own account of the path she took to topple decades of Labour Party Socialism that crippled Britain. But what do you expect from someone who would let nothing stop her? At 17 the young Margaret Roberts was refused recommendation by her headmistress to receive a scholarship to Oxford University. The reason was that she did not complete three years of Latin. Margaret went directly to the Admissions office and challenged the entrance exam. She crammed three years of Latin into three months and sat as an independent. Margaret aced the test and studied chemistry at Oxford before becoming a tax lawyer and politician. Thatcher stood up to the coal miners, stood up to the unions, and stood up for Britain. She earned the title Iron Lady by taking a stand and never bending in the name of popularity. Her wrath was to the debilitating social welfare state what Churchill's "Bulldog defiance" was to the Axis powers during WW2.