Charles James Fox and William Pitt the Younger were the two political giants of their day - the greatest of orators, and the fiercest of rivals. But did the two men have anything in common? Each was a younger son of distinguished fathers, who themselves had been bitter rivals for power a generation earlier, and each came to prominence at a very young age. Temperamentally, however, they could hardly have been more different. Fox was genial, tolerant, gregarious, self-indulgent, rash, a reck...

Benjamin Disraeli and William Ewart Gladstone are without doubt the two most iconic figures of nineteenth century British politics. Their distinctly different personalities and policies led to 28 years of bitter political rivalry. Between 1853 and Disraeli's death in 1881, the two leaders repeatedly succeeded each other in Westminster, first as Chancellors of the Exchequer and later as Prime Ministers, with Disraeli leading the Conservatives and Gladstone the Liberals.For the first...

Dick Leonard’s Modern British Prime Ministers from Balfour to Johnson surveys the lives and careers of all the 24 Prime Ministers from Arthur Balfour to Boris Johnson in succinct, informative and entertaining chapters.Bringing to life the political achievements and personal idiosyncrasies of Britain's rulers over the 20th and 21st centuries, the author recounts the circumstances which took them to the pinnacle of British political life, probes their political and personal ...

Written by experts, this long-established and definitive guide to the workings of the European Union provides comprehensive, straightforward and readable coverage of this sometimes misunderstood and complex institution.This fully revised second edition explains not only what happens but why, analysing the EU’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities for it to be more effective. With the EU’s very existence under pressure due to Euroscepticism, continued crises with migra...

Dick Leonard’s British Prime Ministers from Walpole to Salisbury: The 18th and 19th Centuriessurveys the lives and careers of all the 32 Prime Ministers from Sir Robert Walpole (1721–42) to Archibald Philip Primrose, fifth Earl of Rosebery (1894–95), in 32 succinct, informative and entertaining chapters.Bringing to life the political achievements and personal idiosyncrasies of Britain's rulers over the 18th and 19th centuries, the author recounts the circumstances which to...

‘A riveting account of the pre-First World War years . . . The Age of Decadence is an enormously impressive and enjoyable read.’ Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times‘A magnificent account of a less than magnificent epoch.’ Jonathan Meades, Literary ReviewThe folk-memory of Britain in the years before the Great War is of a powerful, contented, orderly and thriving country. She commanded a vast empire. She bestrode inter...

THE GREEN FLAG stands as the most comprehensive and illuminating history of Irish Nationalism yet published. For many years available as three separate volumes (THE MOST DISTRESSFUL COUNTRY, THE BOLD FENIAN MEN and OURSELVES ALONE), this outstanding history is now available as a single volume.

Benjamin Disraeli was the most gifted parliamentarian of the nineteenth century and a superb orator, writer and wit - but how much do we really know about the man behind the words?'As Douglas Hurd and Edward Young point out in their splendidly written, finely judged and thoroughly persuasive book, a vast chasm yawned between the real Disraeli and his posthumous reinvention' Dominic Sandbrook, SUNDAY TIMES'Not only, they tell us in this vigorously debunking ...

Daniel O'Connell, often referred to as The Liberator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century. One of the most remarkable historical figures in Irish history, he campaigned for Catholic Emancipation, including the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, and repeal of the Act of Union which combined Great Britain and Ireland. Famous in his day as the most feared lawyer in Ireland, O'Connell tormented judges, terrorised opposing barristers, and w...

Definitive, concise, and very interesting... From William Shakespeare to Winston Churchill, the Very Interesting People series provides authoritative bite-sized biographies of Britain's most fascinating historical figures - people whose influence and importance have stood the test of time. Each book in the series is based upon the biographical entry from the world-famous Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The Very Interesting People series includes the following titles: 1.William Sha...

First published in 1964, Asquith was one of the most crucial and controversial of modern Prime Ministers. He was opposed with a bitterness and a violence that English politicians have not subsequently known, yet he enjoyed eight and a half years of unbroken power, and for at least the first six years of these he presided with an easy authority over the most talented government of this century. The issues which he confronted were momentous – Peers v. People, Ireland, and the Great ...

First published in 1966, Robert Blake's biography of Disraeli is one of the supreme political biographies of the last hundred years.An outsider, a nationalist, a European, a Romantic and a Tory - Disraeli's story is an extraordinary one. Born in 1804, the grandson of an immigrant Italian Jew, he became leader of the Conservative Party and was twice Prime Minister. Famous for the 1867 Reform Act, his purchasing of the Suez Canal and his diplomatic triumphs at the Congress of Berlin,...