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The Difficult Relationship
by Richard Aldous
For decades historians have perpetuated the myth of a "Churchillian" relationship between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, citing their longtime alliance as an example of the "special" bond between the United States and Britain. But, as Richard Aldous argues in this penetrating dual biography, Reagan and Thatcher clashed repeatedly - over the Falklands war, Grenada, and the SDI and nuclear weapons - while carefully cultivating a harmonious image for the public and the press. With the stakes enormously high, these political titans struggled to work together to confront the greatest threat of their time: the USSR.
Brilliantly reconstructing some of their most dramatic encounters, Aldous draws on recently declassified documents and extensive oral history to dismantle the popular conception of Reagan-Thatcher diplomacy. His startling conclusion - that the weakest link in the Atlantic Alliance of the 1980s was the association between the two principal actors - will mark an important contribution to our understanding of the twentieth century.
"Starred Review. This is excellent revisionist history, giving another slant to the interaction of two political icons on the world stage." - Publishers Weekly
"A revealing look at the political marriage of two titans, who, like Roosevelt and Churchill, will be forever linked in history." - Kirkus Reviews
"I can't speak for President Reagan, but I've been both praised and pulverized by Margaret Thatcher, and Richard Aldous seems to me to have captured the force of her personality... This is a valuable look behind the looking glass of public-relations politics of the special relationship." - Harold Evans, author of The American Century
"Vivid, fast-paced and immensely readable, Richard Aldous' new book challenges conventional wisdom and prods us to rethink the 1980s." - Prof. David Reynolds (Cambridge), author of America, Empire of Liberty
This information about Reagan and Thatcher was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Richard Aldous, the author of eight books, including The Lion and the Unicorn and Reagan and Thatcher, is the Eugene Meyer Professor of British History and Literature at Bard College. He lives in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
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