eBooks de Biografías, página 13 de 948

The son of a meat market porter and an office cleaner, Peter Cruddas left Shoreditch Comprehensive School at the age of fifteen with no qualifications and a part-time job as a milkman. Today hes Lord Cruddas of Shoreditch, the founder of a 1.5 billion financial trading company and a distinguished philanthropist, giving to over 200 charities through his foundation, which helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.Fed up with Labours economic mismanagement, Cruddas began his foray into politics, becoming a key Conservative Party donor. But after being elevated to treasurer in 2011, he fell victim to a Sunday Times sting in which he was falsely accused of breaking the law on party donations. With unflinching honesty, he reveals the full story of his successful libel battle and opens a Pandoras box of profound wider questions about newspaper dark arts and the power of the British press over the judicial system.Refusing to be scared off from the political world, Cruddas co-founded the winning Vote Leave campaign. Here, he gives a detailed insider view of the real reasons behind the victory and contemplates how Britain can now thrive outside the EU.Filled with heartbreak and elation, this is the extraordinary story of Cruddass epic rise from an east London council estate to a Mayfair mansion and includes plenty of tips for budding billionaires.

"This book offers an account of where Carrie came from, what she wants, what makes her tick and, most important, the influence she has on our PM. There are too many sources for [it] to be dismissed as a hatchet job There is plenty in this volume that deserves to be taken seriously." James Hanning, UnHerd"Well researched and insightful By writing First Lady, Michael Ashcroft has done us a favour This book tells us a lot about the way Britain under Boris Johnson is being run." Kathy Gyngell, The Conservative Woman"[The] explosive book that has set Westminster alight." Mail on SundayCarrie Johnson is not only the consort of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson; she is also considered by some to be the second most powerful unelected woman in Britain after the Queen. Since she moved into Downing Street in July 2019, questions have been raised about her perceived influence, her apparent desire to control events, and the number of her associates who have been appointed to positions of standing in the government machine. So, are these concerns justified?In this carefully researched unauthorised biography, Michael Ashcroft charts the extraordinary ascent of Mrs Johnson, speaking to multiple sources who have been close to her and to Boris Johnson in recent years to produce a fascinating portrait of a woman who is still under the age of thirty-five.The book scrutinises Mrs Johnsons colourful family, her attempt to become a professional actress, and her early decision to work in politics. Long before she moved into No. 10, Mrs Johnson made a name for herself as a Conservative Party press aide before becoming a special adviser to two Cabinet ministers and eventually director of communications at Conservative campaign headquarters. Aside from politics, she is also the mother of two young children and campaigns in the fields of the environment and animal welfare.Carrie Johnson is without doubt a very modern prime ministerial spouse. This examination of her career and life offers the electorate the chance to assess exactly what role she plays in Boris Johnsons unpredictable administration and why that matters.

George Orwell once said that the British love a really good murder. He might have added that the only thing the British love more than a good murder is a really good scandal, and best of all are the sexual and political scandals that take place behind the gilded doors of Britains royal palaces. From Edward IIs intimate relationship with Piers Gaveston to Prince Harry and Meghan Markles dramatic exit from the royal family, the royal residences have seen it all.This glorious romp of a book contains new information on well-known and not-so-well-known scandals, including those that have only recently been revealed through the release of previously secret official papers. Exploring surviving palaces such as Kensington as well as longvanished residences including Whitehall, Scandals of the Royal Palaces is the first in-depth look at the bad behaviour of not just the royals themselves but also palace officials, courtiers, household servants and hangerson.Delving into the bitter hatreds that generations of King Georges nursed for their eldest sons, Queen Victorias opiumfuelled rages and Edward VIIs near-miss perjury conviction, royal expert Tom Quinn reveals that scandal and the royal family have always been bedfellows. And if the behaviour of todays royals is anything to go by, the glittering palaces will continue to house intriguing, embarrassing and outrageous scandals for centuries to come.

A Daily Mail Political Book of the Year"Michael Cockerell is the master" Laura Kuenssberg"A triumph" Alan Johnson"My political book of the year" Iain Dale"The master chronicler of our political age" Nick Robinson"Endlessly compelling" Emily Maitlis"Excellent" New European"Riveting" Tony Rennell, Daily Mail Book of the Year"The David Attenborough of the political animal kingdom" Rory Bremner"Richly entertaining" Steve Richards"Brimming with priceless indiscretions" Mail on Sunday"The Holbein of the televisual political portrait" Professor Peter Hennessy***Our political leaders spend their careers spinning their images and polishing their achievements; Michael Cockerell has spent his professional life stripping off the gloss. Over fifty years, he has gained unrivalled access to the secret chambers of Westminster and Whitehall. Here, he reveals in illuminating and often hilarious stories what our top politicians are really like behind the mask.Drawing on his unique experience of having filmed all the past ten Prime Ministers, Cockerell tells how he manages to lull some of the wariest people in the land into candour, and shows how questions of sex are never far from the surface in Westminster. Amongst much else, he recounts: how Margaret Thatcher flirted with him on screen but attacked him by name in the Commons; how Tony Blair said he would willingly pay the blood price in Iraq; how David Cameron learned from Enoch Powell always to make a big speech on a full bladder and how Boris Johnson admitted to doubts about his ability to be Prime Minister.Funny, riveting and above all revealing, Unmasking Our Leaders is an absorbing insight into half a century of British politics.

Book of the Day The Guardian"Well-researched well-written even-handed balanced." Baroness Hoey, The Critic"Red Knight is well written and researched and, I think, pretty fair." Daniel Finkelstein, The Times"Ashcroft has done his research and he does tell us important things about Starmer." The Independent"Well-researched, fair and objective Lord Ashcrofts book is a great aid to answering questions [about Starmer] and posing a few more." TCW"Comprehensive." The Tablet"Surprisingly sympathetic." MoneyWeek***Sir Keir Starmer has played many parts during his life and career. He went from schoolboy socialist to radical lawyer before surprising many by joining the establishment, becoming Director of Public Prosecutions, accepting a knighthood and then, in 2015, standing successfully for Parliament. At Westminster, he was swiftly elevated to the shadow Cabinet, and in April 2020 he became the leader of the Labour Party.Michael Ashcrofts new book goes in search of the man who wants to be Prime Minister and reveals previously unknown details about him which help to explain what makes him tick.Starmer was the architect of Labours second-referendum Brexit policy, which was considered a major factor in its worst electoral defeat for nearly a century. Is he the man to bring back Labours lost voters? Is he the voice of competence and moderation who can put his party back on the political map? Or is he just a member of the metropolitan elite who is prepared to say and do whatever it takes to win favour?This meticulous examination of his life offers voters the chance to answer these vital questions.

Katharine Campbells father Sholto Douglas was the hero of her childhood, an unconventional senior commander in the Royal Air Force described as a gloriously contentious character. Following childhood abandonment and poverty, Sholto rose through the ranks of the fledgling RAF in the First World War before taking on a crucial role in the Second as head of Fighter Command and going on to serve as Military Governor in Germany in the wars devastating aftermath.But when Katharine was five years old, he began to be stolen away by strange night-time wanderings and daytime distress including vivid flashbacks to his time signing death warrants in post-war Germany. The doctors called it dementia, but decades later, Katharine started researching her fathers story and realised that she had observed the undiagnosed consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder.PTSD is a hot topic today. Were aware of the front-line soldier suffering from shell-shock but what about the senior officer giving the orders, who may be carrying hidden wounds accumulated over many years? We dont expect our military leaders to have PTSD, nor is it something they often recognise or acknowledge in themselves, yet this secret burden likely affects a surprising number of those making important tactical decisions. A thought-provoking insight into the damage done by military conflict, Behold the Dark Gray Man is the story of a daughters search to understand the impact of war upon one of its most charismatic senior commanders.

Three years ago, Rishi Sunak was an unknown junior minister in the Department of Local Government. By the age of thirty-nine, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, grappling with the gravest economic crisis in modern history. Michael Ashcrofts new book charts Sunaks ascent from his parents Southampton pharmacy to Oxford University, the City of London, Silicon Valley and the top of British politics. It is the tale of a super-bright and hard-grafting son of immigrant parents who marries an Indian heiress and makes a fortune of his own; a polished urban southerner who wins over the voters of rural North Yorkshire and a cautious, fiscally conservative financier who becomes the biggest-spending Chancellor in history. Sunak was unexpectedly promoted to the Treasurys top job in February 2020, with a brief to spread investment and opportunity as part of Boris Johnsons levelling up agenda. Within weeks, the coronavirus had sent Britain into lockdown, with thousands of firms in peril and millions of jobs on the line. As health workers battled to save lives, it was down to Sunak to save livelihoods. This is the story of how he tore up the rulebook and went for broke.

The men and women who created todays liberal, democratic, globalised world order may now have left public office, but they have not retired. So, what are they doing, and how does it affect the rest of us? In The Ex Men, Giles Edwards sets out to answer that question, uncovering the many ways in which former Presidents and Prime Ministers continue to affect global public life.From running international organisations to monitoring elections, advising companies and charities and giving hundred-thousand-dollar speeches, Giles takes us inside this often-hidden world. He has interviewed more than twenty former leaders, from Presidents overthrown in coups to winners of Nobel Prizes. He has spent time at their clubs and resorts, spoken to the people who work with them, and to the organisations and individuals who hire them.

Die kraftvolle und inspirierende Autobiografie der ehemaligen First Lady der USAMichelle Obama ist eine der uberzeugendsten und beeindruckendsten Frauen der Gegenwart. Als erste afro-amerikanische First Lady der USA trug sie mageblich dazu bei, das gastfreundlichste und offenste Weie Haus zu schaffen, das es je gab. Sie wurde zu einer energischen Fursprecherin fur die Rechte von Frauen und Madchen in der ganzen Welt, setzte sich fur einen dringend notwendigen gesellschaftlichen Wandel hin zu einem gesunderen und aktiveren Leben ein und starkte auerdem ihrem Ehemann den Rucken, wahrend dieser die USA durch einige der schmerzlichsten Momente des Landes fuhrte. Ganz nebenbei zeigte sie uns noch ein paar lassige Dance-Moves, glanzte beim "Carpool Karaoke" und schaffte es obendrein auch, zwei bodenstandige Tochter zu erziehen mitten im gnadenlosen Blitzlichtgewitter der Medien.In diesem Buch erzahlt sie nun erstmals ihre Geschichte in ihren eigenen Worten und auf ihre ganz eigene Art. Sie nimmt uns mit in ihre Welt und berichtet von all den Erfahrungen, die sie zu der starken Frau gemacht haben, die sie heute ist. Warmherzig, weise und unverblumt erzahlt sie von ihrer Kindheit an der Chicagoer South Side, von den Jahren als Anwaltin und leitende Angestellte, von der nicht immer einfachen Zeit als berufstatige Mutter sowie von ihrem Leben an Baracks Seite und dem Leben ihrer Familie im Weien Haus. Gnadenlos ehrlich und voller Esprit schreibt sie sowohl uber groe Erfolge als auch uber bittere Enttauschungen, den privaten wie den offentlichen. Dieses Buch ist mehr als eine Autobiografie. Es enthalt die ungewohnlich intimen Erinnerungen einer Frau mit Herz und Substanz, deren Geschichte uns zeigt, wie wichtig es ist, seiner eigenen Stimme zu folgen.

In Humphrey Carpenters own words, This is the story of the longest-ever literary party, which went on in Montparnasse, on the Left Bank, throughout the 1920s.This book, to continue to quote Carpenter himself, is chiefly a collage of Left-Bank expatriate life as it was experienced by the Hemingway generation - "The Lost Generation", as Gertrude Stein named it in a famous remark to Hemingway.There are brief portraits of Gertrude Stein, Natalie Clifford Barney and Sylvia Beach, who moved to Paris before the First World War and provided vital introductions for the exiles of the 1920s. The main narrative, however, concerns the years 1921 to 1928 because these saw the arrival and departure of Hemingway and most of his Paris associates.He is a compelling guide, catching the kind of idiosyncratic detail or incident that holds the readers attention and maintains a cracking pace. Anyone wanting an introduction to the constellation of talent that made the Left Bank in Paris during the Twenties a second Greenwich Village would find this a useful and inspiring book.Times Educational Supplement

John Griggs four volume life of Lloyd George is one of the great political biographies. This, the final volume, opens with Lloyd Georges succession to the Premiership in December 1916, when Britain faced starvation and defeat through the German U-boat campaign, its allies France, Russia and Italy were tottering, the Liberal Party was bitterly divided and unrest in Ireland was growing. Worst of all, military chiefs regarded themselves as at least the equals of the government. To resolve these crises required ruthlessness, political genius and leadership of the highest order. In this thrilling book we see one of Britains most resourceful Prime Ministers in brilliant action, steering his country to victory.It is a tragedy John Grigg didnt live to complete his magnum opus but what exists is a masterpiece. Faber Finds is reissuing the four volumes: The Young Lloyd George, Lloyd George: The Peoples Champion 1902-1911, Lloyd George: From Peace to War 1912-1916, Lloyd George: War Leader 1916-1918.With the volume, Grigg crowns the edifice of one of the great biographies of our time. Anthony Howard - Sunday TimesA fitting climax to a path-breaking study. John Campbell, Independent, Books of the YearSuperb... the fullest account we shall ever have of Lloyd Georges career as a wartime Prime Minister. It is a fascinating story and is told with panache, vigour, clarity and impartiality by a great biographer... brings out as never before the brilliance of Lloyd Georges finest hour. Robert Blake, Evening StandardA major publishing event... Grigg mingles factual precision, high-interest value and judgements which are mostly as wise as they are forthright. Roy Jenkins, Sunday Telegraph, Books of the YearGripping... essential... This wonderful biography, clear and authoritative, every page a lesson in how to write narrative history, well up to its preceding volumes, recreates both a time of acute national danger and an extraordinary man. Max Egremont, Financial Times

Rufus Isaacs was in his day the first commoner to rise to the rank of marquess since the Duke of Wellington. Born into a lively Jewish family, he left school aged 14, yet made his name as a brilliant QC before being elected to the Commons as a Liberal in 1904. Smeared during the Marconi scandal of 1913 he survived to be appointed Lord Chief Justice, and elevated to the peerage in 1914. He would go on to be Ambassador to the United States, Viceroy of India, and Foreign Secretary. For this major work, first published in 1982, Denis Judd drew upon private papers in order to place Rufus Isaacs complex career in perspective and so provide an overdue reassessment of one of the most outstanding public figures of the twentieth century.Excellent. A.J.P. Taylor, ObserverA lucid and revealing book Geoffrey Moorhouse, TimesThe best biography [of Lord Reading] to have appeared so far. Robert Blake, Evening Standard

Last updated in 2001, John Rentouls acclaimed Tony Blair: Prime Minister returns with an extensive new assessment of Blairs premiership after 9/11 - from the Iraq war and relations with Gordon Brown to his departure from Downing Street and political afterlife. Well written, thoroughly researched and informed by the balanced and subtle insights of a skilled journalist... Especially good on the influences that have shaped Mr Blair.EconomistUtterly scrupulous in presenting the [] information... [W]hen Rentoul occasionally presents his own judgements, they can rarely be faulted. Peter Oborne, Sunday ExpressWritten with care, thought... and a fine understanding of political nuances. Ben PimlottAn extraordinary achievement, flashing with a peculiarly devastating form of sympathy. Craig Brown, Mail on SundayWith further updates, this biography will almost certainly become the definitive one. Rachel Sylvester, Daily Telegraph

He proclaimed himself a genius and raged against the slightest criticism from fellow scholars; he was a Marxist who despised the Idiot People; he could be generous and affectionate yet hurled insults at his friends; he inveighed against Puritanism but was himself in many ways a Puritan: A. L. Rowse was a man of many contradictions.In this clear-sighted and absorbing biography, Richard Ollard examines the many sides of Rowses Protean personality to reveal a man who, whatever he was responding to - public affairs, the arts, natural beauty or events in his personal life - did so with tremendous energy and passion.An urbane study of the celebrated historian. Antonia Fraser, Daily MailStrikes a perfect balance between the Jekyll Rowse and the Hyde Rowse. Bevis Hillier, SpectatorExcellent. Katherine Duncan-Jones, TLS

I agree with Lord David [Cecil] that Melbourne as a friend or relative must have been one of the most delightful, wise and entertaining of men, but in public life I believe him also to have been ambitious, cynical and almost wholly without political principle. He was, in short, much less of a carefree amateur, much more of a politician. Philip Ziegler, from his PrefaceFirst published in 1976, Philip Zieglers Melbourne drew on hitherto unused material and made an unprecedently searching assessment of the eminent Whig statesman of the 1830s/40s. It is extraordinary enough that Queen Victorias first Prime Minister should have been dragged through the courts by an aggrieved husband not once but twice. Yet Melbournes problematic personal life is only one reason why Ziegler, even-handed and scrupulous, was compelled to test the validity of Victorias famous final judgement that Melbourne was not a good or firm minister.

This richly enjoyable biography of the great Victorian novelist reminds us how truly revolutionary was George Eliot... [Ashton] provides luminously sane readings of the marvellous novels. A.N. Wilson, Evening StandardExcellent... Ashton cites Eliots achievement in a literary landscape which moves from Scott and George Sand to Dickens, Tennyson and Browning... a fluent, vivid book... it makes one thrill again to the breadth of Eliots genius and the passionate, vulnerable nature that accompanied her wide-ranging mind. Jenny Uglow, Independent on SundayAn extremely impressive work... the George Eliot who emerges from Professor Ashtons book is a remarkable woman of exceptional integrity whose life expresses the spirit of the Victorian age, even as it goes against the very grain of it. Susie Boyt, Sunday Express

The great Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky (1839-1888) made an indelible contribution to the worlds atlases, and its store of zoological and botanical knowledge, as a consequence of his four arduous and dangerous expeditions through the Central Asia of Western Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan and Northern Tibet. Donald Rayfields biography of Przhevalsky - first published in 1976 and drawing on the exporers diaries, letters, and published works - tells the thrilling story of the explorers groundbreaking journeys, undertaken in an age of extreme political sensitivity between Russia, China and Britain. A rich portrait emerges of an extraordinary Byronic character who was ill-suited to civilisation but much at home with the loneliness and hardship of the nomadic life. A rigorous army officer and a phenomenal shot, gifted also with a photographic memory, Przhevalsky became one of the most widely-admired men in Russia, and Rayfield adroitly explores the grounds of his reputation.

[Edward] FitzGerald (1809-1883) won a small piece of immortality with his translation-adaptation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam... but in every other way he seems to have successfully avoided fulfilment. A godless Epicurean, he lived in permanent virginity, never pressing his homosexual desires beyond a number of sentimental crushes... The son of a fabulously rich heiress, he rarely travelled... Though he had many friends he also had a perverse penchant for alienating them... [Robert Bernard] Martin argues that FitzGeralds greatest achievement, outside the Rubaiyat, is his letters, which certainly have grace and a wistful charm.Kirkus ReviewThere is [] something sad about the life of this loving and never quite satisfied man... Mr. Martins biography is splendid reading, and it is a real credit to it that he makes us feel the sadness.New York Times

Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856-1941) was a scholar and socialist who found his métier on the cusp of the twentieth century, as a war correspondent who would go on to chronicle the major wars and civil conflicts of his time, from South Africa and Russia to India and the Balkans. Reporting from the Western Front in 1918 he was wounded at the Dardanelles. Nevinsons work was marked by a strong sense of conscience and underscored by activism: directing relief work in Macedonia and Albania, campaigning against the dreadful mistreatment of bonded labourers in Portuguese Angola, and supporting female suffrage in Britain. (He would marry the suffragette Evelyn Sharp.) Nevinson wrote three volumes of autobiography: Changes and Chances (1923), More Changes, More Chances (1925), and Last Changes, Last Chances (1928). Fire of Life, first published in 1935, is an expert abridgement of this trilogy.

Sir Richard Grenville (1542-1591), English sea captain and explorer, became a legendary figure in the resistance to the Spanish Armada, dying as a result of wounds sustained at the helm of the galleon Revenge in the Battle of Flores: a fight in which he struggled against overwhelming odds.First published in 1937, Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge was A.L. Rowses first full-length historical monograph. There is no doubt that Mr Rowses book will establish itself as the standard biography of Grenville, and he deserves our unstinting thanks for the patient research that he has put into it. J.E. Neale, Sunday TimesMagnificent... I was delighted, too, by the masterful descriptions of the Elizabethan era and the brilliant figures of that age. Lloyd George, in a letter to A.L. Rowse