Diaries Volume Two: Power and the People - Couverture souple

Campbell, Alastair

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0099493462 ISBN 13 : 9780099493464

Editeur : Arrow, 2011

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

"A fascinating, candid account of recent history" (Financial Times)

"Like the Bloomsbury Group of the Twenties, the New Labour clique is churning out an apparently inexhaustible number of memoirs, diaries and memorabilia. Alastair Campbell's diaries are by far the most important record to have emerged. Nothing like them exists in British political writing. They are a product of almost monastic self-discipline. No matter how gruelling the circumstances, Campbell found time to settle down and make a daily record of events, which at the most frenetic times could extend to several thousand words . . . The account of Blair's wise and agile handling of the crisis that followed the death of Princess Diana is powerful and authentic" (Telegraph)

"Plunging into the second volume of Alastair Campbell's diaries is like opening a Samuel Richardson novel. The tone is breathless and excitable and the dramatic world of backstabbing, tittle-tattle and palace intrigue is instantly captivating. Historians will scour the book for valuable new information. Practitioners of media management will regard it as a classic" (Spectator)

"The real value of the 'complete' diaries lie in their total immersion in the fierce urgency of the present tense . . . The diaries capture what seemed to be important at the time, without knowing where it would lead or what was coming next. So, huge issues creep up without historical fanfare, as the author, at the end of a long day, has no idea how important they will seem the next day . . . Campbell is a great diarist, and precisely because he is not a stylist. His is spare, Orwellian prose, compelling by virtue of his position and his narrative grip - a favourite Campbell word. Whatever you think of Blair and the Blair years, this is what is was like at the time." (John Rentoul Independent on Sunday)

"It should be required reading for coalition MPs because, despite a sometimes exhausting level of detail, there is still no better minute-by-minute account of what life is like at No.10." (Gaby Hinsliff Guardian)

Quatrième de couverture :

'A belter' Independent

'Instantly captivating' Spectator

In this second volume of his unexpurgated diaries, Alastair Campbell gives the inside track on the big economic, social and political changes that a revitalised Labour Party brought about following its landslide election victory in 1997. One of the government's greatest triumphs, the Northern Ireland peace process, is described here in detail, from the high of the Good Friday Agreement to the deadly low of the Omagh bombing.

Tensions between the big players are never far from the surface, and difficult and unexpected events crowd in: sex scandals - Robin Cook at home, Bill Clinton abroad; party-funding scandals; and issues of judgement such as Welsh secretary Ron Davies' 'moment of madness' on Clapham Common, and the loan from Geoffrey Robinson which led to the first of Peter Mandelson's resignations from the Cabinet. Then comes tragedy: the death of Princess Diana and the extraordinary period of worldwide mourning that followed. Meanwhile Campbell paints intimate portraits of the foreign leaders who become central in Blair's life - Bill Clinton, Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac, Boris Yeltsin, Nelson Mandela, and the Chinese as they take control of Hong Kong.

Power and the People begins as Tony Blair appoints his first Cabinet, and ends as he mobilises international support against ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. And Campbell is with him every step of the way. Combining the eye of the journalist with the insight of the strategist, Campbell's diaries are candid, funny, thoroughly absorbing, and a major contribution to the history of the Blair years.

'Although there has been no shortage of memoirs from the New Labour era, this is without doubt the most authoritative. Campbell is no ordinary spin doctor.' The Times

'Alastair Campbell's diaries have the quality of Pepys ... people will be looking for insights and finding them in 100 years' time' Lord Alex Carlile

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Arrow
• Date d'édition: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0099493462
• ISBN 13: 9780099493464
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 816