Margaret Thatcher: The Autobiography

I give Margaret Thatcher substantial credit from saving Britain from what seemed in the early 1970s like an inexorable decline, but I found her own account of why and how she did it quite disappointing.First of all, the book, although a somewhat shortened version of her previously published two volumes, is a hard read. Unless one is deeply into the minutiae of contemporary British politics, I think most would find it difficult to read every word, or even every page. I found myself skimming some and even skipping chapters here and there. I say this as one who loved a relatively recent biography of William Pitt..Second, even in her own voice, Thatcher turns out to be a person hard to like. Her "Iron Lady" qualities are certainly admirable, but one just doesn't like her. Perhaps it's because, even in retrospect, she never shows a moment of self-doubt. This quality stood her well in leading the country out of the morass it was in, but one might expect that, once all that was over and she could look back, she might have felt -- and shared with her readers -- the doubts she must have had along the way. Maybe she never had any. But if so, then it must be a first, and her account barely seems that of a real human being. There is also almost a total lack of humor in her. Again, maybe this is just the way she was, but it doesn't make her account very enjoyable. Finally, given the brilliance of her repartee at Prime Minister's Question Time, during interviews, and almost anytime she was on her feet, I had expected some of the same biting rhetoric in the book, or at least quoted in the book. There is very little. "The lady's not for turning," "Don't go wobbly," -- that's about it.Because of my admiration of what Thatcher did for Britain, I bought this book shortly after her death. I read the reviews of some of the biographies that had come out, but none seemed particularly special. I wish I'd waited for one that was.

I must admit, as a conservative, I've always found Margaret Thatcher an exciting individual, and I suppose that high regard for her may color my review.Starting from the beginning and carrying on from her campaign to first join Parliament through her time as Leader of the Opposition and eventually Prime Minister, this autobiography truly covers it all. Margaret Thatcher was one of the most powerful voices in the West during the final decades of the Soviet Union and one of the key figures in returning to true free-market policies. Her clear-headedness shines as she explains every aspect of her time in politics and her motivations for her particular policies.Anyone with an interest in the right wing politics of the late 20th century simply must read this book. No other figure had the lengthy influence on the world stage that Thatcher did.All that being said, the writing can be a bit dry. But it is an autobiography of a politician -- one shouldn't expect much else.

I will avoid AUTObiographies in the future. I'm sure Maggie was a wonderful PM. Book is a bit too self-serving. Will stick with BIOgraphies in the future, for more unbiased coverage.

Great autobiography of a major political leader of the 21st century. It also makes you realize how the common thoughts of the time prior to her arrival were so wrong. We tend to forget what Britain prior to her arrival was. Nationalisation was rampant trade unions were causing caos and intervention was widespread on both sides of the political spectrum.Could this be what awaits Britain (and i purposely write Britain and not UK) again......?Anybody who is interested in history of our recent past should rad it.

I liked learning more about MT and the way she influenced Politics in Britain and worldwide. I had not fully known about all the good she did. e.g. The Miners strike. Housing for the disadvantaged. The increases is assistance for the elderly. And the part she played in The Falklands, and the influence she had in ending the Cold War. Also she was a very gutsy outspoken lady, who would take on anybody.I just got a bit bogged down in the politics. Perhaps the book was overlong.

It was fun to read something in Lady Thatcher's own words. I could envision her sitting there, writing page upon page. However, you have to have a rather strong love of politics to read this book as it is heavy on jargon. I would have liked her to have incorporated a little more personalality, but I learned that she was a very private person and didn't like people knowing too much. The one thing I did enjoy is finding what a marvelous mind she has. She wrote with excellent diction and explained things well.

It's slightly self-serving but why not - she was the strongest and, arguably, the hardest working leader in the world for a portion of the late 20th century. Her ideas and principles resonate to this hour. Her attitude and her performance and results are in striking contrast to America's current White House crew. This is the autobiography of a genuine leader who discovered how to face and deal with crisis.Readers will be amused noting the differences between this and HRC's recent faux autobiography.

I haven't finished this book yet. It is slow reading--a thick book with small print. But I love the read. Thatcher is someone I admired over the years, and her writing makes for easy reading. I wasn't aware that she had come from such a conservative home and that her religious upbringing (which she seems to have espoused her entire life) was as conservative as her politics. I highly recommend this book. Added later: I'm halfway through the book now. There are chapters which detail British politics that I didn't understand fully--also sort of heavy reading. You can pace through these more quickly. She was quite the lady!

Dalla scrittura traspare la visione di una leader che aveva le idee chiare, nessuna ambiguità. Tuttavia è un'autobiografia politica: non ci si aspetti di trovare aneddoti sulla sua vita privata.

Perhaps no other Prime Minister, bar Tony Blair, is quite so polarising as Thatcher. But her reforms shaped the Britain we know today, from privatisation to the drive to limit the power of the trade unions who held the country to ransom in the ‘70s. She was a transformational force, whatever you think of her legacy — and of course many are bitterly opposed to the changes that took place while she was in office, for 11.5 years. Her memoir is a detailed account of her early life and her rise to the top of the Conservative Party, only to be felled by some of her erstwhile supporters amid the backlash over the community charge, and tensions over Europe. She was ahead of her time on a range of issues from Europe to the risk of another autocracy replacing the Soviet regime after its demise. She believed there was still much to do when she was ousted in the early days of the Gulf War. The weakness of the book is the heavy focus on policy and chronology to the detriment of any real insight into her personal life. Her life was politics, basically, and we get very little idea of the impact on her family, beyond the importance of her husband Denis: a stabilising influence without whom she might never have attained high office. The book gets bogged down in extraneous detail. But Thatcher’s tone is unmistakable throughout - a directness and even dark humour that helps to temper some of the heavy-going prose. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Britain of 2022, and the philosophy of a leader who left her mark firmly on government, and on the country she loved.

Thatcher is a divisive individual. Loathe and loved in almost equal measure, it’s impossible not to acknowledge how she influenced and shaped both domestic and world politics for a generation. Her legacy, good and bad, lives on and I felt it time to read her account of her personal and political life.This volume brings together The Downing Street Years and The Path to Power into a single volume. Thatcher was always articulate and her written word has the same vibrancy as much of her speech. I think it’s interesting to balance her account of some events with those of others present and in this context, some of the autobiographies of her contemporaries and Cabinet members have perhaps a rather different slant.It’s clear that she was a very driven individual. Self belief is necessary to lead and she played a key role on a world stage. One which has not been matched since and it’s easy to forget how far she influenced Russian politics and glasnost. The book is littered with snippets and it’s an intriguing social account of times within memory for many of us. It’s sad to think of how her final years were spent; robbed of intellect and there was no follow up to this account. Didn’t agree with much of her political views, but this is an engaging and rewarding read.

I can think of no valid reason to want to read a biography when there's an autobiography unless of course one has already read it.

She did the business, you cant say that about many politicians at all