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Neville Chamberlain, the Conservative Prime Minister who pursued the doomed policy of appeasing Hitler, is one of the most reinterpreted of modern British Prime Ministers. Infamous on account of his declaration of having achieved 'peace for our time', Neville Chamberlain has often been portrayed as a social reformer out of sync with the times in which he lived. In this new biography, Nick Smart offers a picture conditioned more by the opinions of contemporaries than by hindsight, examining Chamberlain's life, career, achievements and failures. Stressing that the system in which Chamberlain found himself operating had more impact on the historical developments than anything he did personally, Smart describes a man who was hardworking but ultimately out of his depth, destined to be remembered in history as the fall-guy to Winston Churchill's hero. Presenting Chamberlain's life and politics in a nuanced way, Nick Smart's biography is a must read for anyone interested in British politics and its impact on the international stage. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)941.084092History and Geography Europe British Isles Historical periods of British Isles 1837- Period of Victoria and House of Windsor 1936-1945LC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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Nick Smart is having none of this. His biography of Chamberlain is a scathing assessment of an unpleasant man. In it he describes the course of Chamberlain's life, from his childhood to his failed sisal plantation in the Bahamas, then back to Birmingham for greater success in business and politics. The Chamberlain that he details is vain and self-pitying, with an unjustifiably high opinion of his own abilities. Much of his eventual success is due to his family name, though Smart gives him due credit for his organizational and party-building skills. Yet Chamberlain's gifts did not extend to character judgment, and Smart makes a convincing argument that his practice of personal diplomacy, as anticipatory of future practice as it was, was based on a self-regard that deprived him of the support of the Foreign Office and the politicians who led it.
Much of what makes Smart's argument so persuasive is its consistency, as his description of Chamberlain's flawed character in the early chapters bears fruit when discussing his failings in the political arena. Occasionally the repetitiveness of Smart's negative description can be grating, but overall this is a lively and engaging study of one of the most controversial British prime ministers of the twentieth, one who deserves at least our understanding if not our sympathy. ( )