Maggie

by Brenda Maddox

Who is Margaret Thatcher? Her influence on politics is well documented - not least by Lady Thatcher herself. This book takes a different angle, presenting the personal story of the woman who has been described as "the most significant Englishwoman since Elizabeth I". Combining research undertaken by the production company Brook Lapping for the ITV series "Maggie" with her own analysis, Brenda Maddox traces the life of the grocer's daughter from Grantham who became the most successful Conservative Prime Minister of the 20th century. Unprecedented access to people who have known her throughout her life - some of whom have never spoken before - enables the author to paint a fully rounded portrait of a woman who is still both vilified and adored. What kind of person was she that she could overcome her background, the snobbery of Oxford University and then of the Conservative Party? Brenda Maddox shows how the Iron Lady created herself, with the strong assistance of both parents and her husband. Through the eyes of her contemporaries, we begin to understand this extraordinary woman, whose shadow still falls across British life.

Genres: History, Biography, British Literature

Hardcover

First published April 8, 2003

About the author

Born in Brockton, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1932, Brenda Lee Power Murphy graduated from Harvard University (class of 1953) with a degree in English literature and also studied at the London School of Economics. She was a book reviewer for The Observer, The Times, New Statesman, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and regularly contributed to BBC Radio 4 as a critic and commentator. Her biographies of Elizabeth Taylor, D.H. Lawrence, Nora Joyce, W.B. Yeats, and Rosalind Franklin have been widely acclaimed. She received the Los Angeles Times Biography Award, the Silver PEN Award, the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, and the Whitbread Biography Prize.

Maddox was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999.

Maddox lived in London and spent time at her cottage near Brecon, Wales, where she and her husband, Sir John Maddox (d. 2009), were actively involved within the local community. She was vice-president of the Hay-on-Wye Festival of Literature, a member of the Editorial Board of British Journalism Review, and a past chairman of the Broadcasting Press Guild. Maddox had two children and two stepchildren.

Her biography of the scientist James Watson was published in 2016.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Artuur Gysenbergs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brenda Maddox, een eersteklas biografe, neemt je mee in het levensverhaal van Margaret Thatcher, de allereerste vrouwelijke premier van het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Van haar jeugdjaren in het provinciale Grantham tot haar opmars als "Iron Lady" op het wereldtoneel... dit is niet zomaar een droge politieke biografie, maar een levendig portret van de vrouw achter de macht, met veel aandacht voor haar huwelijk, haar select clubje getrouwen, en vooral haar onverzettelijke karakter en imago als de eeuwige workaholic.

[Mara Miniaci · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF - The beginning of the book was very promising, but when the political side of her life was being dragged out at a certain point, it got boring really fast.. Really disappointing when the purpose of the book is to show the woman behind the Iron Lady..

[Firuza Karimova · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite book on Margaret Thatcher

[K1m0no · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tsjah, als je van biografieën, Engelse geschiedenis en interessante politieke figuren houdt dan is dit gewoon heel fijn om te lezen.