Michael Manley: the biography

by Godfrey Smith

A biography of Michael Manley, Jamaica's fourth Prime Minister and leader of the People's National Party.

433 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Godfrey Smith (b.1926) was educated at Oxford, where he became President of the Union. He wrote five novels, one of which, The Business of Loving, was a Book Society Choice. Editor of The Sunday times Magazine from 1965 to 1972, he was later a director of The Sunday Times.

Reviews

[Adam Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Godfrey Smith draws upon many sources to paint a rich, three dimensional picture of one of the twentieth century’s most influential Caribbean leaders. Michael Manley is Jamaica’s fourth Prime Minister - and one of its most polarizing. Michael was a man whose rhetorical gifts and vision for a just world that uplifted and instilled pride in black and brown people won him the adoration of the Third World and, at various points, the ire of the American political class (literally, every heated conversation Michael ever had with an American political figure began with, ‘And Manley gave this one speach in Cuba…’).

While Michael was unable to truly transform Jamaica along the lines of his egalitarian vision and was frustrated by both an overestimation of his ability to deliver and his misfortune of preaching socialism in the Cold War-era Caribbean, his efforts to fight apartheid in South Africa and Rhodesia and bring a voice to the struggles of colonized and oppressed persons abroad make him both a fascinating and surprisingly relevant figure today.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kingston, Jamaica from 1972-74 then staying on for two years running a small hotel in Montego Bay I saw first hand Michael Manley’s attempts to bring social justice and change to the working class of Jamaica.
It was an exciting time, as for the first time in Jamaica’s history, a fair-skinned member of the upper class worked to teach the poor of the island that they had the same rights as everyone else in the country.
Mr. Smith, using copious notes from interviews of Michael’s family members, political allies and enemies, foreign officials and publications of period has woven the clearest story of the man and the myth. This is the Michael I remember and admired.
Sparing no details of his faults and his strengths, he delivers the unvarnished truth about the man who tried to do so much, for so many and asked so little for himself.
Michael was a leader for the oppressed, not just in Jamaica, but in most of the third world countries and the non-aligned movement. He was buffeted by international happenings that he had no control over, but never gave up his idealism and his hope for the masses.
Godfrey Smith does an outstanding job of telling Michael’s story.

[Gorfo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a great history of Jamaica's colorful fourth Prime Minister- Michael Manley. While at times flowery and overwritten, the author, Godfrey Smith, nevertheless does a fantastic job of painting a comprehensive picture of all aspects of Manley's life, both personal and political. Smith uses newspapers, Manley's relatives, friends, enemies, and the private collections of the Manley himself to write this book. Altogether this compounds a powerful and rich source base which Smith weaves together seamlessly.