Amazon.com: There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters: Claire Berlinski: Books

Review

General Brent Scowcroft, author of America and the World
“Claire Berlinski's insight into Margaret Thatcher's character makes this book fascinating, and her intellectual seriousness and rigor make it compelling. It is a perfect marriage of author and subject: Berlinski's Thatcher is painfully real and human, yet simultaneously larger-than-life.”

Peter Schweizer, author of Reagan’s War
"Finally the Iron Lady gets her due. Claire Berlinski brilliantly lays out how Margaret Thatcher's strength and conviction changed the world. Without a Prime Minister Thatcher there might not have been a President Ronald Reagan. And Berlinski reminds us how the whole world would benefit from a new Thatcher today."

The Scotsman
“Berlinski shows commitment and energy as an author… Her encounters with Neil Kinnock are tactical masterpieces, where she draws the Welsh windbag out and then deflates his woolly thinking with as much cool, perhaps cruel, precision as Thatcher herself did.”

Washington Times
“Fresh, original and extremely well-written”

National Review
“Brisk, engrossing, insightful, often charming… a splendid book.”

Wall Street Journal
“A pleasure to read… As an interviewer, Ms. Berlinski is subtle and dogged.”

Globe and Mail
"Claire Berlinski has written a much better book about her than one of those door-stop biographies that are now the destiny of almost every public figure.... The book is all the better for being a work of synthesis as well as analysis. Without being hagiography, it is about as powerful a defence of Thatcher's record as is likely ever to be written."

Human Events
“[an] excellent look back at Margaret Thatcher’s significance”

World Affairs
“Berlinski has crawled through the archives and interviewed many of the principals of the Thatcher era, and part of the story she tells is about the crawling and the interviewing. She begins with an intuition that Thatcher was a figure of lasting worldwide importance and, more narrowly, one who clearly saw the challenges of her day. She ends with conclusions to the same effect. She makes her journey from hunch to sober appraisal ours as well, leading us back through a fresh look at the issues and personalities as she asks the pertinent and the impertinent questions and challenges the assumptions of the players and their own conclusions about what happened and why.”

American Conservative
“…[E]ntertaining… Berlinski often expresses herself with verve…Berlinski’s account of the case for free markets is—as a primer for the non-economist—lucid and lively… She’s colorful—thanks in part to some enjoyable inside track from Charles Powell—about Thatcher’s relationships with Gorbachev and Reagan.”

Financial Times
“Idiosyncratic and interesting…Berlinski’s judgments are thoughtful, particularly her central insight that what underlay Lady Thatcher’s hatred of socialism was not only that she found it economically inefficient, or that communist regimes had drenched the world in blood, but that she believed it was morally corrupting.”

Claremont Review of Books
“Berlinski, who has written insightfully about the threat of Islamic fundamentalism…shows now how capable statesmanship can redirect history’s seemingly irreversible tide.”

Power Line
“The lesson of Berlinski's timely book is that capable statesmanship can redirect history's seemingly irreversible tide.”

Newt Gingrich, Washington Times
“I strongly recommend ‘There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters,’ by Claire Berlinski… Mrs. Thatcher clearly understood that the great threat of socialism was moral and not economic. Socialism is bad because it destroys freedom. It destroys self-reliance, destroys individual initiative, and transfers power from the citizen to the politician and the bureaucrat. Every American who wants to know how dangerous it is for the government to have such enormous influence over AIG, Citibank, Chrysler, etc. should read Ms. Berlinski's study of Mrs. Thatcher. The evils of socialism and the virtues of freedom will be the central choice for Americans in 2010 and 2012, and Mrs. Thatcher will be our tutor in that argument.”

Product Description

Great Britain in the 1970s appeared to be in terminal decline—ungovernable, an economic train wreck, and rapidly headed for global irrelevance. Three decades later, it is the richest and most influential country in Europe, and Margaret Thatcher is the reason. The preternaturally determined Thatcher rose from nothing, seized control of Britain’s Conservative party, and took a sledgehammer to the nation’s postwar socialist consensus. She proved that socialism could be reversed, inspiring a global free-market revolution. Simultaneously exploiting every politically useful aspect of her femininity and defying every conventional expectation of women in power, Thatcher crushed her enemies with a calculated ruthlessness that stunned the British public and without doubt caused immense collateral damage.

Ultimately, however, Claire Berlinski agrees with Thatcher: There was no alternative. Berlinski explains what Thatcher did, why it matters, and how she got away with it in this vivid and immensely readable portrait of one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Basic Books; illustrated edition edition (September 29, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0465002315
ISBN-13: 978-0465002313
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.7 x 1.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,700 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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#1 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > U.K. Prime Ministers > Thatcher, Margaret
#6 in	Books > History > Europe > England > 19th Century
#10 in	Books > History > Europe > England > 20th Century

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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
secret state, sheep purposes, flying pickets

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Margaret Thatcher, Soviet Union, Prime Minister, Miners Is Miners, House of Commons, The Sledgehammer, United States, Labour Party, Cold War, Conservative Party, The Downing Street Years, Arthur Scargill, Nigel Lawson, Charles Powell, Geoffrey Howe, Neil Kinnock, John Hoskyns, Hate Communists, Second World War, Bernard Ingham, Alan Clark, National Union of Mineworkers, Stepping Stones, Sir Bernard, Ronald Reagan

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	91% buy the item featured on this page: There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters 4.6 out of 5 stars (11) $21.24
	3% buy The Reagan I Knew 3.1 out of 5 stars (17) $10.00
	2% buy Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage 4.6 out of 5 stars (5) $12.00
	2% buy The Downing Street Years 4.6 out of 5 stars (8)

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Biography of Iron Lady, October 17, 2008

By	Eric D. Barnes "Inmate" (Kinston, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ms. Berlinski has written an excellent biography of one of the 20th Century's most important and intriguing political figures. She focuses on five main themes: the struggles of Great Britain in the 1970's prior to her election; the Falklands' conflict; Thatcher's relationship with (male) politicians; the miner's strike and her political downfall. The author uses transcripts of interviews she conducted with former cabinet officials, advisors and political adversaries of Mrs. Thatcher. The book is also footnoted, so that the reader can get more information from the sources used.

Not only were there interviews with politicians and government officials, but there were also interviews with people affected by Mrs. Thatcher's policies. For example, the author interviews wealthy Britons in the banking and restaurant businesses who have profited greatly from England's economic resurgence. Moreover, she interviews three former coal miners who lost their job when Thatcher defeated the union and basically ended Britain's inefficient coal industry.

From this biography, I was able to understand why Thatcher matters. She resurrected the pride of Great Britain, which had struggled with socialism, strikes and inefficiency for decades. Britain's economy is now the largest in Europe. Moreover, she restored Britain's standing in the world by reclaiming the Falkland Islands and along with the US, helping to defeat communism.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a timely read (unfortunately), December 11, 2008

By	K. reilly "reillykat2" (reston, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Thatcher fought against the trade unions that had paralyzed Great Britain in the 1970's. Trade unions sought to get their way through strikes. Garbage remained uncollected, the coal miners attempted to seize control of the coal supply, etc. This book gives details behind this struggle against trade unions, which Thatcher ultimately won. Her victory resurrected the economy of Great Britain. As the US creeps ever closer to the situation that prevailed in 1970's Great Britain, one could do worse than read this book and get some insight into how it can be stopped.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely fascinating look at Mrs. Thatcher, March 15, 2009

By	Kurt A. Johnson (Marseilles, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

In this fascinating book, author Dr. Claire Berlinski puts Margaret Thatcher under the microscope. Starting with a quick examination of her youthful experiences, she then moves onto an in-depth study of Mrs. Thatcher as she moved through her political career. The author quotes extensively from people whom she worked with, and against. She explains what Margaret Thatcher did and why, and examined what it tells about Mrs. Thatcher the woman.

I must say that I found this to be an absolutely fascinating look at Mrs. Thatcher. I think that the author did a great job of really giving the reader an understanding of what made the Iron Lady tick - what she thought of women, socialism, supporters and detractors. In many ways this is a biography of the great woman, but it is so much more than that.

So, let me just say that if you want to really understand Margaret Thatcher, then you really must get this excellent book. I highly recommend it!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I hate communists
This book is a striking review of Margaret Thatcher's service as the British Prime Minister. What stands out is her firm convictions about liberty, the free market, the role of... Read more

Published 8 hours ago by WordSmith

5.0 out of 5 stars Filled in the blanks
Berlinski's well-researched book is written in an enticing style that really holds the reader's attention. Read more

Published 5 months ago by David Oakley

1.0 out of 5 stars a "must miss"!
"Bloviating gas bag" is a term that more than one Labour Party member used to describe Margaret Thatcher. I think that Claire Berlinski was trying to be Thatcher... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Scott Jeffe

5.0 out of 5 stars First Introduction to Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher has long been on my list of historical figures to study. I am so glad that this book was my introduction to her! Read more

Published 6 months ago by Jenn Vermeulen

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, Thatcher DOES indeed still matter
Anyone interested in the future of conservatism ought to read this well-written book. Thatcher is both loved and loathed, and both for good reason. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Christopher Barat

5.0 out of 5 stars Maggy
Excellent read too bad she wasn't in U.S. politics she truly was the Iron Lady!!!!!

Published 6 months ago by Kathleen Powell

5.0 out of 5 stars England Revitalized By An Iron Lady's Iron Will
This somewhat chatty book does an excellent job of capturing England's malaise that brought Thatcher to power when the social engineering failures became clear to all. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Chuck Brooks

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
This book came highly recommended to me. I give it as a gift. The recipient is very pleased with it.

Published 7 months ago by Frank Cantoya

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