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Margaret Thatcher
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The Downing Street Years Hardcover – January 1, 1993

by Margaret Thatcher (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 369 ratings
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The first volume of memoirs by Margaret Thatcher frankly recalls the former British prime minister's dealings with U.S. presidents, the Falkland War, and her election victories in 1983 and 1987. 150,000 first printing. $150,000 ad/promo. Tour.
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  1. Print length
    912 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    HarperCollins
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1993
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 2.25 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0060170565
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0060170561
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Fans of Britain's first woman prime minister may have already purchased this fact-filled but ultimately self-serving memoir. Key events of Thatcher's 11-year reign--the alliance with Reagan, the Falklands/Malvinas War, the 1984-1985 miners' strike, conflict within the European Community, and so on--are described in exhaustive detail. There is little attempt to provide a balanced or subtle portrait of a controversial administration. Although, for the most part, the book's prose style is rather pedantic, Thatcher's unique personality nevertheless shines through. The gist of her approach is conveyed in the chapter titles--"The World Turned Right Side Up," "Disarming the Left," "No Time To Go Wobbly." Yet even Thatcher's harshest critics will find this book informative and revealing. The book contains over 50 photographs, some in color. A second volume, devoted to her life prior to the 1979 election that brought her to No. 10 Downing Street, is promised. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/93.
- Kent Worcester, Social Science Research Council, New York
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Iron Lady tells all. Well, not exactly all; her memoirs reveal little of her personal life and, chronologically, cover only those years during which she was prime minister. Her book has already caused a stir in the U.K. and will be read with great enthusiasm on this side of the Atlantic not only by people involved in government, but also by general readers keen on foreign affairs. The first woman prime minister of Britain was never known for sugarcoating, and her remembrance of her 11-year tenure at No. 10 Downing Street is defined not only by its wealth of details about her activities as head of the government, but also by her unequivocal opinions about world-important events she participated in and history-changing individuals she encountered. Would we expect anything else but outspokenness from Thatcher as she reviews, analyzes, explains, and defends her policies and procedures, domestic and foreign, during her controversial presiding over Britain's disestablishment of socialism and resurgence as a world power? Highlights of her recollections include her comments on the Falklands War ("The significance . . . was enormous, both for Britain's self-confidence and for [its] standing in the world") and the reunification of Germany ("Germany is . . . by its very nature a destabilizing rather than a stabilizing force in Europe"). One has to admire her for her honesty, integrity, and stick-to-her-guns attitude. Brad Hooper

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; First Edition (January 1, 1993)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 912 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060170565
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060170561
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.35 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 2.25 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 369 ratings

About the author

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Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

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Margaret Thatcher (1925 - 2013) rose to become the first woman to lead a major Western democracy. She won three successive general elections and served as prime minister for more than eleven years, from 1979 to 1990, a record unmatched in the twentieth century.

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Top reviews from the United States

James Swigart
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary
Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2023
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Want to know everything about leading a global power with unique attributes for a prolonged period of time? Read this book.

The book covers Thatcher’s time as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Thatcher’s prose is highly readable and painstakingly detailed. She writes in depth about the Falklands War; problems with unions and union leaders including reprehensible violence perpetrated by unions during strikes; relationships with her Cabinet members; removals from and additions to her Cabinet; international relations in general; the release of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe; relations with other European nations including the Soviet Bloc, the United States, other countries important to England, and leaders of those nations; national defense including nuclear weapons; political campaigns; leaders of other countries with whom she dealt with great emphasis on Soviet, American, German, and French leaders; fiscal policy; monetary policy; specialized taxation and other financial issues; European circumstances affecting England; the demise of communism; European Summits she participated in; the IRA and its attempt to assassinate her; how prime minister elections are held and how prime minister candidates are chosen; and anything else important to her.

If you read this book and don’t learn an incredible amount, you either have great knowledge of how Britain’s political system worked, the European political landscape during the 80s, and the issues she faced during her tenure as prime minister or you are a moron. If you pay attention while reading you’ll be constantly entertained and educated.

The book is way dense and, at times, extremely technical. Where possible Thatcher injects humor and anecdotes. Some topics are incredibly serious and any levity during such stretches would be disgustingly inappropriate. Lady Thatcher was the master of propriety.

Experts have consistently ranked her in the top 5 of all UK prime ministers. She was even ranked in the top 5 in a ranking including UK prime ministers for the past 300+ years. She served for 11 1/2 years. Great Britain’s three most recent prime ministers besides the man who just took the job each lasted less than three years and two months. One of the incompetents only lasted 50 days. Because of the nature of the UK’s political system, it’s easier for UK political leaders to force the prime minister to resign than it is for America’s political leaders to force the president to resign.

I’ve read much political biography. Though not as well written as Caro’s, Morris’, or McCullough’s books, for an autobiography written by a non-writer it’s very good. She makes grammatical mistakes and at times forgets transitional words. These pathetic mistakes are her editor’s fault and detract from the reading experience.

A must for any serious student of politics. Essential for someone curious about how a strong smart, and principled person very successfully overcame huge challenges.
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Terry Gouette
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Seller
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2024
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Item was as described and a fair value.
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Mike Powers
4.0 out of 5 stars "The Downing Street Years:" "Men in lifeboats, woman at the helm!"
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2016
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Of all the political leaders elected to office in the western democracies during the last one-third of the twentieth century, Margaret Thatcher stands among those in the first rank. Elected Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1979, an office she continuously held for 11 years, Thatcher, not always affectionately known as “The Iron Lady,” exerted tremendous influence not only upon her nation but upon the world at large.

“The Downing Street Years” is quite a book. First published in 1993, it's the first volume of her memoirs, which covers her time in office as Britain’s Prime Minister (1979-1990). (A later volume chronicles her early life and career.) It’s very well written, meticulously detailed, and filled with colorful anecdotes about her family and the people who worked for her and helped her shape British history for a decade. It’s also a book that tends to be long-winded and very politically partisan for long stretches.

I lived in Britain from 1983 through 1989, and saw first-hand how Thatcher operated, how she spoke, and how she and the government she led ran the country. Thatcher’s claims in “The Downing Street Years” are accurate – up to a point. She never delves particularly deeply into some of the less visible but nevertheless important problems that continued plaguing Britain under her tenure. While the nation’s overall economy did improve, unemployment remained stubbornly high. The disparity between the rich and poor grew, as did the economic gap between the prosperous southern England and the much poorer Midlands, northern England, Scotland, and Wales. Racial tensions within the nation simmered, then flared into open violence.

“The Downing Street Years” is a difficult book to evaluate. I enjoyed most of it, especially when Thatcher narrates events with a coldly dispassionate eye - like her account of the Falklands War, and, surprisingly, her powerful narrative of how the Conservative party’s “elder statesmen” engineered a vote to oust her from office in November 1990.

At these times, her writing is brilliant, as are her fascinating, witty, and often acerbic anecdotes regarding her friends, family, and colleagues. However, there are other sections of the book where Thatcher takes off on long, pedantic flights of overblown partisan rhetoric – as if she were somehow trying to impress her readers with her command of history, politics, and sociology. I discovered that the best thing to do with those passages is to skim them, and then move on to more interesting sections of the book.

“The Downing Street Years” is a highly partisan memoir by a very capable but also controversial author. Bearing in mind that memoir writers usually make lousy historians, I can only recommend this book with reservations.
2 people found this helpful
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Brendan Carl Clarke
5.0 out of 5 stars Super Margeret
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2012
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I didn't like her at all when I was young (and ignorant). Well not to worry. We are all ignorant compared to our later years. I have learned to appreciate her opinions, her actions and her spirit. Her courage is incomparable. Her fight against the spread of the socialist plague will be a huge point in her favour for the rest of time. She fought for the free market and for the equal chances of those willing to fight for their own future. Once again... Good old Margeret. That movie did her no justice at all. This book is Margeret at her best. She talks with incredible clarity about the events in which she was able to shine. And shine she did. Yes, the book is long. There are so many stories to tell in this great career that you can pick and choose what you want to read about. Later as you become interested in Another earth shattering historical event of the seventies and eighties, you have the Thatcher account of what went on. This book is great. It has kept me busy for a long time. I didn't read it cover to cover in one shot. I kept going back to it. Thatcher will never be boring. I can always say that I lived through the Thatcher years, that I saw her drive past, that I reviewed her book. If you are not one of these individuals, already pre-contaminated against her, this book is a great presentation of 1980's politics. I really like it.
8 people found this helpful
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R.Chavan
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book. Must read.
Reviewed in India on September 7, 2018
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Great book, because of Mrs Thatcher only, the England economy survived. Major steps taken includes Privatisation and free economy.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on April 18, 2016
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Great quality
One person found this helpful
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Clarice
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, who shows well what convictions she had to change society, for wrong or right...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2015
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I gave it 5 stars, because it's Magaret's OWN book. I sure could have read many other books but I want to see Things from her point of view. It is about 800 pages long and normally I read one book at the time, but in this case I won't. because it's so long. But, i bought the book of plain curiosity, and I DO adore Maggie's stubborness and strength, which says a lot about integrity. Well - I DO agree her reluctance to privatize the Royal Mail is justified, but still time will only tell if privatizing Railways, mines etc done still good, despite our disagreement(most people)...This book is not emotional. Many facts in it, and she explains her own convictions, and this could only be done in this book. Worth Reading! Even just to get to know who she was, and what set of beliefs made her try and change the society the way she tried.
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IlVendicatore
5.0 out of 5 stars La Bibbia per i liberali !!
Reviewed in Italy on April 23, 2013
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Assieme a Winston Churchill, la signora Thatcher è stata senza dubbio il più grande primo ministro britannico del secolo scorso.

Questa sua avvincente autobiografia tratta degli undici anni da lei passati alla guida del Regno Unito, anni di tensioni, lotte e grandi cambiamenti economici e sociali, anni in cui la Gran Bretagna è passata, dopo la "cura Thatcher" fatta di privatizzazioni, liberalizzazioni ed attacchi frontali alle corporazioni ed ai sindacati più ideologizzati ed agguerriti d'Europa, dalla condizione di grande malato del Vecchio Continente a quella di nazione moderna, efficiente e capace di stare sul libero mercato.

I due capitoli migliori sono senza dubbio quelli sulla vittoriosa guerra delle Falklands e sullo scontro campale avvenuto col sindacato marxista dei minatori statali, piegato dal primo ministro dopo un anno e mezzo di sciopero selvaggio nel 1984/85.

Imperdibile!
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S. Waisbrod
5.0 out of 5 stars The Champion of Freedom
Reviewed in Germany on January 16, 2012
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Amazing Book of a great lady!! This book is great written, shows us those difficult days of the 80s and how she with her good friend Reagen saved us from Communism and Socialism !! 5 Stars
One person found this helpful
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