洋書 Foreign book専門店

First published in 1997, and after the tremendous success of her memoirs "The Downing Street Years" and "The Path to Power", gathers fifty-nine of the Iron Lady's speeches, from her years as leader of the opposition, to her years as prime minister, to the time she stepped down in 1990, and through 1996.

Edited by Robin Harris, her trusted aide and adviser, a member of the prime minister's Policy Unit, director of the the Conservative Research Department, and a regular contributor to British, European and American publications. Neither the brief introductions to each speech nor the footnotes are ever verbose--providing backgrounds which only help in setting out its context.

Divided into The Opposition Years, The First Parliament, The Second Parliament, The Third Parliament, and After Downing Street, it is a most impressive selection from among Lady Thatcher's vast collection of speeches hitherto--the ones marking the most dramatic events of her time (the party conferences in opposition, the brief statement as she entered 10 Downing Street, after the Brighton bombing, amid the Falklands crisis, the Libya debate, the Gulf Crisis, and the speeches to The European Union and The House of Lords--intensely revealing her character and unshakeable beliefs.

The impression one gets is of one who is not merely stubborn--she passionately stands on her principles, unwavering in the face of even the most vehement opposition, and never shy to explain WHY. One who, whether in opposition, in power or after, did not merely go where the wind was already blowing--she moulded the Conservative Party to her convictions, inspired even the initially-oblivious, convinced the sceptical, led the opposed, woke Britain from its self-doubt and decline, leading it to a renewed role in international affairs that lives to this day. And while she is said to have put intense effort into the drafting and polishing of each of her speeches, it is the genuine belief she had in, and her thorough mastery of every subject she spoke of or against (whether it was the Conservative Party, or Britain, or European affairs, or the partnership with America) that renders each speech most effective, if not at times breathtakingly moving.

Whether in admiration of Margaret Thatcher, or from a desire to study The Tories, or Britain, or great speeches, this is one book deserving of a place in one's study.