Attlee's Great Contemporaries: The Politics of Character

Description

In 1946, Clement Attlee came to power as Labour Prime Minister with a huge landslide majority. Under his leadership, some of the greatest reforms were initiated, not least the founding of The National Health Service. Attlee had a firm vision of a more just and equitable society, which the nation wanted. This firm vision is something that attracts Frank Field. To Field, Attlee is a hero. After retirement, Clement Attlee wrote a masterly series of profiles of his great contemporaries, many published at the time in The Observer. These are now collected together in a book for the first time. They are of extraordinary historical interest and will command an audience in their own right. In them we see how Attlee emphasised the importance of character for successful politics. To Field they epitomise the intellect and humanity of a hero of 20th Century politics, a man with profound qualities that are so poorly represented in today's politics. In a brilliant and most controversial introduction, Frank Field argues just how radical Attlee was, wishing, for example, to realign British foreign and defence policy. In his epilogue, Professor Peter Hennessy, shows the importance of Attlee in full historical perspective.

The Rt Hon Frank Field MP was formerly Minister for Welfare Reform in Tony Blair's first government. He is the author of a number of books and other publication including Neighbours from Hell (Politicos).

Article on the book in the Evening Standard. Large article by Field in The Times, 30.05.09. "Frank Field, the MP for Birkenhead whose personal integrity and moral centre mark him out as a shining light among our current crop of parliamentarians, has collected an intriguing array of writings by Attlee, the modest and clear-minded politician who took the bus to work ... Attlee's book reviews, are especially striking, precise and measured, benefitting from his proximity to the great people and events of his day." - Paul Lay, History Today - http://historytodayeditor.blogspot.com/ "The Labour MP Frank Field has gathered a selection of [Clement Attlee's] articles, from 1951 to 1966, which have never been published as an anthology before, and what sharp, witty and revealing masterpieces of concision they are ... Field has done a great service in reminding us to turn our ears to laconic little Clem. This particular quiet man, these articles show, had rather a lot to say." - Sholto Byrnes, The Sunday Independent Extract published in New Statesman, 14 May 2009. Discussion of topic, book mention, The Times. 30 May 2009. 'Beautifully written and perceptive' - The Oldie 'Frank Field has done a commendable service in bringing together this fine collection of the essays Clement Attlee published ... You'll learn a great deal from these pages ... There's real gold in this book to be found' - Tribune Mentioned in The Economist, February 2010. 'A delightful collection of articles.' -- The Spokesman 'Charming ... The idea for this book is such a good one ... The portraits are fascinating: sharp character sketches of the great figures and their life and times from an age we've forgotten.' - Austin Mitchell, House Magazine Article by David Lister, The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/david-lister/david-lister-film-can-learn-from-theatre-1765911.html Reviewed in The Tablet, August 2009. 'A charming evocation of the remarkable man that Attlee was.' - Stephen Halliday, Times Higher Education 'The editor of this nicely produced book has performed a useful service in rescuing a number of Atlee's sharper observations from obscurity.' - Anthony Howard, Church Times 'A fascinating and detailed introduction ... Frank field has done us all a great favour in publishing this book and collating many of the articles Attlee wrote about his contemporaries.' - Methodist Recorder Article by Field on Attlee, Liverpool Echo, 6 June 2009. 'Attlee's Great Contemporaries takes us back to an age when people went into politics to help the poor and strive for the common good, not to fill their pockets with taxpayers' money ... This is why Clement Attlee still matters. Indeed, let's hope that every MP has the sense to read this new book and to show their appreciation in the appropriate manner - by starting to mend our broken political system.' - Dominic Sandbrook, Daily Mail 'The reputation of the prime minister who presided over the creation of the National Health Service and the granting of independence to India has not been well served by Winston Churchill's jibe that Clement Attlee was a modest man, with a lot to be modest about ... [This book] succeeds in challenging this negative image ... When they look for a book to read during the summer recess, Labour MPs would do well to buy this collection.' - Brian MacArthur, Daily Telegraph Review in The Spectator, June 2009. 'Gathers together a selection of witty, caustic pen portraits from 1951 to 1966. A gem.' - A Total Politics essential summer read 'What pervades this collection of thoughts about politics and politicians is the impression of its author as a decent man earnestly trying to marry lofty aspirations with coolly practical measures.' - J.W.M. Thompson, Literary Review