Search results for ""Author Richard Aldous""

Arthur Schlesinger Jr (1917–2007), known today as the architect of John F. Kennedy’s presidential legacy—and the myth of Camelot—blazed an extraordinary path from Harvard University to war-time London to the West Wing. The son of a pioneering historian—and a two-time Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner in his own right—Schlesinger redefined the art of presidential biography. A Thousand Days, remains influential and has cemented Schlesinger’s place as one of the nation’s greatest political image-makers. In this vivid account, Richard Aldous draws on oral history, rarely seen archival documents and the official Schlesinger papers to craft a portrait of a brilliant and controversial historian who framed America’s rise to global empirialism.

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C. Douglas Dillon – heir to a vast investment banking fortune, and one of the richest men in America during his political career – was a Republican who served in a Democratic administration and became one of the greatest modern treasury secretaries. He believed in bipartisanship and public duty, a sensibility that has all but faded from the current political climate.With exclusive access to the family’s archive, in The Dillon Era Richard Aldous sets fresh eyes on a well-documented period in recent American history, unfolding a deeply influential but somewhat overlooked political career. In 1953 President Eisenhower appointed Dillon as ambassador to Paris, and he promoted him to second in command in the State Department in 1958. Tapped by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson for treasury secretary to reassure Wall Street that the nation’s finances were in safe hands, Dillon would become one of President Kennedy’s closest advisors, and perhaps the only cabinet member who was a personal friend. His impact on the Kennedy and Johnson administrations was immense, not least in delivering the most comprehensive income tax cuts the nation had ever seen. Overseas he worked to sustain political cooperation as the Bretton Woods system threatened to unravel. By the time he left office in 1965, the Washington Post recognized Dillon as “by far the best Secretary of the Treasury of the postwar period,” and European Economic Community president Walter Hallstein hailed a new “Dillon era.”Dillon advocated for evolution and reform over radicalism, and he placed the national interest above party interest. The Dillon Era throws new light on the postwar period, identifying Dillon as a pivotal figure in American policymaking during these crucial years of the Cold War.

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‘Engaging and highly entertaining’ Sunday Times The dramatic confrontation between the two 'mighty opposites' of the Victorian age, brilliantly recreated by a talented young historian. Gladstone and Disraeli were the fiercest political rivals of the modern age. Their intense hatred was ideological and deeply personal. Victorian Britain ruled the oceans and vast territories 'on which the sun never set'. The vitriolic duel between Gladstone and Disraeli was nothing less than a battle to lead the richest and most powerful nation on earth. To Disraeli, his antagonist was an 'unprincipled maniac' characterised by an 'extraordinary mixture of envy, vindictiveness, hypocrisy and superstition'. For Gladstone, his rival was 'The Grand Corrupter' whose destruction he plotted 'day and night, week by week, month by month'. Victorians were electrified by the confrontation. No wonder that when Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass appeared in 1871, so many readers recognised the great adversaries as the warring lion and unicorn 'fighting for the crown'. Richard Aldous gives us the first modern telling of this dramatic story of an intense and momentous rivalry. His vivid narrative style - at turns powerful, witty, stirring and theatrical - breathes new life into a familiar, half-remembered tale that is pivotal in Britain's island history. The Lion and the Unicorn is a brilliant rethinking of the Gladstone and Disraeli story for a new generation.Richard Aldous confirms a perennial truth: in politics, everything is personal.

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Tony Ryan was one of the greatest Irishmen of the twentieth century. Ingenious, driven and sometimes reckless, his sheer spirit and adventurousness made him Ireland’s Aviator. Born in a railwayman’s cottage in County Tipperary he rose to enormous success. Ryan set up the airline leasing company, Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), which quickly became the largest such enterprise in the world. But it famously crashed and burned and Ryan lost almost everything. What remained was a little airline called Ryanair which was chronically loss making. Ryan set about turning Ryanair around, putting in one of his assistants, Michael O’Leary, to help knock it into shape. The rest is history. Richard Aldous gives an irresistible insight into the machinations of the man who epitomised what it means to be an entrepreneur. ‘Fascinating’ The Sunday Times ‘Masterful’ The Sunday Independent ‘Reveals the warts as well as the successes of the Tipperary native’ Irish Independent ‘The Original Celtic Tiger’ The Sunday Independent

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Great Irish Speeches contains 50 of the most stirring and memorable speeches in Irish history. From the political oratories of Charles Stewart Parnell, Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera to emotive addresses by the nation's celebrated poets, writers and musicians, all of the included speeches have had a remarkable impact on the course of Irish and world history. Each speech is preceded by an introduction, which places the address in context and underlines its historical significance, as well as an iconic photograph of the speaker. Presented chronologically, the collection provides tremendous insight into Irish history. Includes the following speeches: Eamon de Valera 'That Ireland which we dreamed of', Eamon de Valera 'The abuse of a people who have done him no wrong', John F. Kennedy 'Ireland's hour has come', Jack Lynch 'The Irish government can no longer stand by' Liam Cosgrave 'Mongrel foxes', Charles J. Haughey 'We are living away beyond our means' Joe Connolly 'People of Galway - we love you', John Hume 'Sit down and negotiate our future with us', Mary Robinson 'Come dance with me in Ireland' Maire Geoghegan-Quinn 'A necessary development of human rights' Seamus Heaney 'The achievement of Irish poets', David Trimble 'A cold house for Catholics' Joe Higgins 'Ansbacher Man', Gerry Adams 'Now there is an alternative', Ian Paisley 'A Northern Ireland in which all can live together in peace', Bertie Ahern 'This is what Ireland can give to the world'.

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For decades historians have perpetuated the myth of a "Churchillian" relationship between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, citing their longtime alliance as an example of the "special" bond between the United States and Britain. But, as Richard Aldous argues in this penetrating dual biography, Reagan and Thatcher clashed repeatedly—over the Falklands war, Grenada, and the SDI and nuclear weapons—while carefully cultivating a harmonious image for the public and the press. With the stakes enormously high, these political titans struggled to work together to confront the greatest threat of their time: the USSR. Brilliantly reconstructing some of their most dramatic encounters, Aldous draws on recently declassified documents and extensive oral history to dismantle the popular conception of Reagan-Thatcher diplomacy. His startling conclusion—that the weakest link in the Atlantic Alliance of the 1980s was the association between the two principal actors—will mark an important contribution to our understanding of the twentieth century.

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