Making Reputations: Power, Persuasion and the Individual in Modern British Politics (International Library of Political Studies)

"Is a charismatic leader also an effective one? What role do commentators and historians have in shaping politicians' personae? Making Reputations provides a major new assessment of the role of individuals in British politics. The authors examine the personalities and rhetoric of key figures, such as Gladstone, Churchill, Thatcher and Blair, as well as shedding new light on other neglected but significant individuals. Drawing on a variety of methods from gender to cultural history, the book presents a comprehensive examination of the relationship between the individual and the pursuit, maintenance and execution of power."--Bloomsbury Publishing. List of Illustrations - vii -- Contributors - viii -- Introduction / Richard Toye and Julie Gottlieb - 1 -- Constructing Life Stories. Peter Marsh - 5 -- Gladstonian Liberalism and the rehabilitation of Robert Lowe, 1866-1868. Kristin Zimmerman - 15 -- 'Squiff', 'Lliar George', and 'The McKennae': The unpersuasive politics of personality in the Asquith coalition, 1915-16. Martin Farr - 29 -- Charismatic leadership, c. 1870-1914: A comparative European Perspective. Henk te Velde - 42 -- An exemplary communist life? Harry Pollitt's Serving My Time in comparative perspective. Kevin Morgan - 56 -- A Mosleyite Life Stranger than Fiction: The Making and Remaking of Olive Hawks. Julie Gottlieb - 70 -- Winston Churchill and the 'Men of Destiny': Leadership and the role of the Prime Minister in wartime feature films. Jo Fox - 92 -- 'Let us go forward together': Clementine Churchill and the role of the personality in wartime Britain. Helen Jones - 109 -- The trials of a biography: Roy Harrod's Life of John Maynard Keynes reconsidered. Richard Toye - 123 -- 'Our Amazonian Colleague': Edith Summerskill's problematic reputation. Penny Summerfield - 135 -- Michael Foot as Labour leader: the uses of the past. Paul Corthorn - 151 -- 'I don't think of myself as the first woman Prime Minister': Gender, Identity and Image in Margaret Thatcher's Career. Anneke Ribberink - 166 -- New Labour and The Sun, 1994-97. Sam Gallagher - 180 -- Notes - 198 -- Index - 234 "Making Reputations provides a major new assessment of the role of personality in British political life from the era of Gladstone to that of Tony Blair. It examines key figures such as Churchill, Asquith, Lloyd George and Thatcher, as well as neglected but significant individuals such as Reginald McKenna and Edith Summerskill. The book explores not only the success or failure of particular politicians' attempts to shape events, but also how their images are constructed and revised. Sections deal with the problems of method and the validity of biography; media representation of political personalities; gender representations of leadership; and the impact of personality on reputation."--BOOK JACKET Upon the death of Lloyd George in March 1945, Aneurin Bevan paid tribute to him in the House of Commons. Edited By Richard Toye And Julie Gottlieb. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.