Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee: Winner of the Orwell Prize

The Gallons Of Ink Spilled On Winston Churchill - And The Huge Appetite For Books About Him - Have Created Something Of An Imbalance In Our Understanding Of Twentieth-century Britain. Not Only Does Clement Attlee's Life Deserve To Have A Rightful Place Alongside The Churchill Legend. It Is Also More Emblematic, And More Representative, Of Britain In His Time. It Is Difficult To Think Of Another Individual Through Whom One Can Better Tell The Story Of How Britain Changed From The High Imperialism Of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Of 1897, Through Two World Wars, The Great Depression, The Nuclear Age And The Cold War, And The Transition From Empire Into Commonwealth. The Story Of Attlee Is Also Much More Dramatic Than He Himself Ever Made Out - And Not Without An Element Of Heroism. Here Was A Man Born In The Governing Class Who Devoted His Life To The Service Of The Poor; Who Was Carried Off The Battlefield Three Times In The First World War; Who Stood Shoulder To Shoulder With Churchill At Britain's Darkest Moment, And Then Triumphed Over Him At The General Election Of 1945. His Government Of 1945-51 Included Ernest Bevin, Herbert Morrison And Nye Bevan And Was The Most Radical In History, Giving Us The Nhs, National Insurance, Nato And The Atomic Bomb. In Many Ways We Still Live In A World Of Attlee's Creation. This Book Will Pierce The Reticence Of Attlee And Explore The Intellectual Foundations And Core Beliefs Of One Of The Most Important Figures In Twentieth-century British History, Arguing That He Remains Underappreciated, Rather Than Simply Underestimated. It Will Reveal A Public Servant And Patriotic Socialist, Who Never Lost Sight Of The National Interest And Whose View Of Humanity And Belief In Solidarity Was Grafted Onto The Union Jack. Part I. Patriot, Citizen, Soldier, 1889-1918 -- Introduction: The Red Flag -- With Apologies To Rudyard Kipling -- News From Nowhere -- The Soldier -- Part Ii. The Making Of A Politician, 1918-1931 -- Looking Backward -- Building Jerusalem -- Fame Is The Spur -- Part Iii. Albion's Troubles, 1931-1940 -- The Bullion Family -- The Anti-cromwell -- The Major Attlee Company And The Clenched-fist Salute -- A Word To Winston -- Part Iv. Finest Hour, 1940-1945 -- All Behind You, Winston -- The Hunting Of The Snark -- The Invisible Man -- Part V. New Jerusalem, New Deal, 1945-1947 -- To Hope Till Hope Creates -- English Traits, American Problems -- The British New Deal -- Empire Into Commonwealth -- Part Vi. After New Jerusalem, 1948-1955 -- In Barchester All Is Not Well -- Taxis, Teeth And Hospital Beds -- The Pilgrim's Progress -- Part Vii. Mission's End, 1955-1967 -- Few Thought He Was Even A Starter -- Epilogue: The Promised Land. John Bew. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 631-646) And Index. Clement Attlee Was A Slightly-built, Bald, Pipe-smoking And Unassuming Man Who Presided Over The Radical Administration Of 1945-51 And Is Sometimes Referred To As Britain's Greatest Peace-time Prime Minster. His Cocooned Suburban Childhood And Standing At University As 'the Man Who Couldn't Quite' Were Unlikely Preparations For Such A Figure. Yet Attlee Was Often Underestimated: He Won Over Those Who Compared Him Unfavourably To His Rival, Churchill, And Undercut Their Doubt With Dry Wit And Proof Of His Steady And Ethical Leadership. His Political Awakening Volunteering In The East End Of London Was Instrumental In Redrawing His Map Of Britain's Class And Economic System. Growing Up In The Comfortable Coda Of The Victorian Era, He Foresaw An Epoch Of Change - One That He Was Pivotal To Bring About In The Post-war Years. After Serving At Gallipoli During The First Word War He Rose Through The Ranks Of The Labour Party And During The Second World War Became Britain's First Deputy Prime Minister. In 1945, In The Glow Of Churchill's Great War Victory, Attlee Won The Election By A Landslide. Alongside Nye Bevan And Harry Truman, His Governance Saw The End Of The Empire In India, The Foundation Of The Nhs And Britain's Places In Nato And The Nuclear Arms Race. John Bew's Brilliant Biography Will Pierce The Reticence Of Attlee And Explore The Intellectual Foundations And Core Beliefs Of One Of The Most Important, And Least Understood, Figures In The History Of The United Kingdom. It Will Reveal A Public Servant And Patriotic Socialist, Who Never Lost Sight Of The National Interest And Whose View Of Humanity And Belief In Solidarity Was Grafted Onto The Union Jack. Clement Attlee was the Labour prime minister who presided over Britain's radical postwar government, delivering the end of the Empire in India, the foundation of the NHS and Britain's place in NATO. Called 'a sheep in sheep's clothing', his reputation has long been that of an unassuming character in the shadow of Churchill. But as John Bew's revelatory biography shows, Attlee was not only a hero of his age, but an emblem of it; and his life tells the story of how Britain changed over the twentieth century. Here, Bew pierces Attlee's reticence to examine the intellect and beliefs of Britain's greatest - and least appreciated - peacetime prime minister. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Winston Churchill's wartime heroics and larger-than-life personality propelled him to the center of the world stage. To most, he remains Great Britain's greatest Prime Minister, his fame and charisma overshadowing those who followed in his footsteps. Yet while he presided over his country's finest hour, he was not its most consequential leader. In this biography, the author argues that that designation belongs to Clement Attlee, Churchill's successor, who launched a new era of political, economic, and social reform that would forever change Great Britain.--Publisher's description Prize-winning biography of the prime minister who made the Party what it was in its glory days, by an author praised as 'the outstanding historian of his generation' xxxii, 670 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : 20 cm