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    Political Biographies

    Nothing Like A Dame - The Scandals of Shirley Porter by Andrew Hosken is a gem and very relevant to now

    Jeffrey Archer - Stranger Than Fiction by Michael Crick

    No-One Left To Lie To, on Bill Clinton, the last good book by Christopher Hitchens

    Hitler, two volumes, by Ian Kershaw

    #2
    I read 'Hitler: A Study in Tyranny' by Alan Bullock a couple of years ago, about 28 years after it was recommended to me at university. I was astonished by the detail and the research that must have gone into it, given how soon it was published after WW2, and it must have made for a disturbing read at the time. Or maybe people were still too familiar with him to be horrified at the phenomenon.

    'Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth' by Gitta Sereny is also a careful, compelling study, though it's one of several Speer-related books that's come in for heavy criticism as being too lenient by the author of a new biography on Speer that's just come out here in Germany by Magnus Brechtken. But it costs €40 and is 600 pages long, and I'm not sure I'm that arsed to tackle that just yet.

    I also loved Ben Pimlott's biography of Harold Wilson. Hadn't heard of the Jeffrey Archer book - will seek that one out.

    Comment


      #3
      Oh, this thread has saved me from starting my own based only on a half baked thought.

      How much are political (and historical biographies) nowadays written as a response to or rather because of marxist history theory?

      Please ignore if nonsense.

      Comment


        #4
        Sereny's Into That Darkness is also essential. On Speer's knowledge, I think this is crucial

        https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...r.kateconnolly

        I think Marxists would avoid biographies because they see history as made by material forces.

        Comment


          #5
          Well that was my starting point. And marxist history and archaeology isn't reserved for marxists, it's a way of looking at the past. I suspect I'm making to big a leap but when people like Johnson write about Churchill are they writing about churchill or are they writing a history that doesn't have to take into account the developments in history theory over the past x years?

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            #6
            I would say so. Biography has its own rules and is very different as a tradition than, say, E.P. Thompson writing a history of the working class.

            Francis Wheen is a Marxist but his biographies are conventional; I had meant to include his biography of Tom Driberg in the OP.

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              #7
              I'm not sure Wheen really is a Marxist, but his biography of Marx is very enjoyable - humanises the man in a warts and all way

              Comment


                #8
                Wheen is more influenced by Marx than by anyone else. He accepts Marx's diagnosis of capitalism and alienation but rejects his historical predictions. His book on Marx does not offer any criticism of Marx the theorist so in that sense is a partisan work, albeit humane, warm and funny.

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