Margaret Thatcher

October 15, 2013
An admiring biography of the Iron Lady by a former "Tory back-bencher" who played a role in her government. Admiring it is, but Aitken's (Pride and Perjury: An Autobiography, 2003, etc.) life of Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) is not entirely uncritical, even if he finds reasons to excuse behavior that left "bullied colleagues, derided officials, ignored communities and neglected family members" in its wake. Thatcher, writes the author, was ambitious from the very start, running into trouble with a headmistress for having had the upstart hubris to declare that she was aiming for a career in the Indian Foreign Service, since it was a fast track to political fame back home. Alas for Thatcher, India got away from Britain before she could hitch her wagon to it, and so she had to slog it out with the rest of the back bench. Mainly, Aitken writes with the exquisite carefulness of the true believer: "Although Denis's proposal was accepted by Margaret with the full consent of her parents, the engagement was kept secret for another five weeks for political reasons." Those political reasons, it seems, were so profound that they occasioned this doubly passive construction. In the tightest of controversies, Aitken accords Thatcher some responsibility for bad faith but places more on others: Breaking the unions in the early 1980s was mostly the fault of militant union leaders, even if Thatcher could have done better; the Falklands War was mostly the fault of the Argentines, even if her "stubbornness...and her inexperience in foreign affairs" had something to do with the mess. But mostly, Aitken is deferential and even a little star-struck, especially in the presence of Ronald Reagan, he of "good looks, good humour and good conservative views." More than serviceable, but best for readers of conservative views themselves. Others will want to turn to more critical commentators.

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Starred review from October 15, 2013
The fact that Thatcher's funeral procession was greeted with more cheers than protest, though the reverse was expected, attests to the mixed emotions she elicited in life. She was the only woman to serve as prime minister of Britain and the longest-serving PM in the twentieth century, such a hard-edged conservative that she was known as the Iron Lady. Aitken, a former member of Parliament, served for a time with Thatcher but also dated her daughter and knew the PM on a more personal level. That mixture of professional and personal relationships with Thatcher affords him a close-up, long-term perspective on one of the most powerful women in recent history, with a hand in major economic and geopolitical changes. Drawing on archival material, interviews, and personal knowledge, Aitken chronicles the metamorphosis from humble beginnings to grandeur; from humility to hubris; from a realistic courage in fighting her corner to a reckless Ride of the Valkyries. He chronicles her strict childhood, marriage, political rise, and relationships with figures including Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. A woman of steely discipline and determination, powerful on the international stage, she eventually ran afoul of local politics in a dispute within her party. Aitken admits to a complex admiration of Thatcher, having seen her at her best and her worst, in this thoroughly insightful and compelling look at a remarkable world figure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)