Charles Moore was born in 1965 and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read history. He joined the staff of The Daily Telegraph in 1979, the year Margaret Thatcher came to power, and as a political columnist in the 1980s, he covered several years of Thatcher’s first and second governments. From 1984 to 1990 he was editor of The Spectator; from 1992 to 1995, editor of The Sunday Telegraph; and from 1995 to 2003, editor of The Daily Telegraph, for which he is still a regular columnist. He lives in Sussex.
“A masterpiece of clear and intelligent writing…Margaret Thatcher:
From Grantham to the Falklands is already one of the great
classic political biographies.” –John O’Sullivan, The Weekly
Standard
“It’s an incredible level of access….Margaret Thatcher: From
Grantham to the Falklands is the first of two volumes, and it
presents a remarkable and richly detailed portrait.” –Craig
Fehrman, Boston Globe
“Thatcher was a remarkable politician and Moore does justice to her
distinctive qualities.” –David Runciman, London Review of
Books
“Moore presents us with enough new material to offer a fresh, even
vulnerable person behind the mythology…Moore’s writing is often
elegant and vivid, particularly when he escapes the burden of
authorized biographer by turning to commentary on Thatcher’s
behavior and decisions.” –Jane Merrick, TheIndependent
“Charles Moore gives a unique insight into his iconic
subject…Startling.” –Richard Preston, The
Telegraph
“A notable landmark…meticulously researched and gracefully
expounded…It is not the only biography to appear so opportunely,
but Moore writes with greater freedom, insight, and
objectivity…Both ideologically and personally, we now have a better
understanding of the remarkable figure who became Britain’s first
woman prime minister.” –Peter
Clark, Financial Times
“Highly readable.” –Joe Murphy, London Evening
Standard
“[Moore] is not afraid to address the contradictions and tease out
the inconsistencies of his subject. Nor to be critical, sometimes
deeply so. The result is to paint a much more multidimensional
portrait of Thatcher than the caricature heroine adored by the
right or the devil incarnate loathed by the left…The prose is
intricate, elegant and laced with dry humor…immensely adds to our
knowledge and understanding of the longest-reigning prime minister
of the democratic age.” –Andrew Rawnsley, The
Observer
“Moore has produced a biography so masterly—so packed with
fascinating detail, with such a strong narrative drive, propelled
by a central character who is at the same time both very bizarre
and very conventional—that it comes as close as biography can come
to being a work of art…Friends and foes of Thatcher, and agnostics
and sceptics too, will all find plenty on which to feast. On
virtually every page there is a revelation that, had it been known
at the time, would have blasted all the rest of the news off the
front pages…This book is a triumph of diligence. Moore interviewed
315 people, and was clearly blessed with the knack of getting them
to open up. Ribald insults, gossip, political secrets, private
grievances and funny stories—many of them very, very funny—fly off
every page. But it is also a triumph of narrative art and human
understanding, at its centre a peculiar force of nature, never to
be repeated…one of the greatest political biographies ever
written.” –The Daily Mail
“[Moore] has discharged the first part of his commission superbly.
He has marshalled a huge range of sources, many of them new,
without letting himself be swamped… He has spoken to practically
everyone who ever had anything to do with her, and interweaves
their recollections skilfully to bring out wider themes… If the
second volume, charting her mounting hubris and eventual nemesis,
maintains this quality it will be a tremendous achievement.” –John
Campbell, TheIndependent
“The authorized, remarkably evenhanded biography of the grimly
divisive, late Iron Lady of Britain…Well balanced. We look forward
to the planned sequel.”
“Moore’s pace, his fascination, and his command of detail never
slacken. This is a masterly piece of work.” –Matthew
Parris, The Times
“Charles Moore is the perfect biographer: thorough, empathetic,
enquiring, and eloquent. This is the portrayal of a life
well-lived, explored in a book well-written.” –Sunday
Express
“A life’s work of research and interviewing.” –Independent on
Sunday
“An immensely readable account of the greatest political life of
the second half of the 20th century.” –Patrick O’Flynn, Daily
Express
“It’s hard to imagine anyone, even the most anti-Thatcherite,
finding this dull…it sparkles with insight, drama, and wit.” –Daily
Mail
“There are, of course, plenty of good books about Mrs. Thatcher.
But Moore’s is comfortably the best: indeed, with its elegant
prose, dry wit, prodigious research and careful judgments, it is
one of the best political biographies I have ever read.” –Dominic
Sandbrook, Sunday Times
“Now comes the first volume of an authorized biography that may
well turn out to be one of the great lives of modern times…It is
not often that you can say of a 900-page book that it leaves you
wanting to read more. But in this case it is true.” –The
Economist
“Good biographies, and this is an exceptionally good one, tell us
things we did not know about the life of their subject.” –New
Statesman
“This is not just a good book—it's a great one…What gives this work
the edge is not just Moore's deep knowledge of and affection for
his subject—it is the sheer amount of work he has done. The number
of interviews he has conducted is simply staggering. Yet although
huge, it quite dances along and because of his very pronounced
sense of the absurd, often makes us laugh out loud.” –A.N.
Wilson,London Evening Standard
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