14 Of The Best Political Memoirs To Get Stuck Into
UnPresidented by Jon Sopel
In UnPresidented, BBC North America editor Jon Sopel presents a diary of an election no one had quite seen before. Sopel shares his experience as a reporter on the campaign trail, as the 2020 election heats up and as a global pandemic slowly sweeps in. As American lives are lost at a devastating rate, the presidential race becomes a battle for the very soul of the nation, challenging not just the Trump presidency, but the very institutions of American democracy itself. In this highly personal account of reporting on America in 2020, Sopel takes you behind the scenes of a White House in crisis and an election in turmoil, expertly laying bare the real story of the presidential campaign in a panoramic account of an election and a year like no other.
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In The Thick Of It by Alan Duncan
As minister of state at the Foreign Office, Alan Duncan was once described as Boris Johnson’s ‘pooper-scooper’. For two years, he deputised for the then Foreign Secretary, now Prime Minister, so few are more attuned to Johnson’s strengths and weaknesses as a minister and his suitability for high office than Duncan. Wonderfully candid, his diaries cover the most turbulent period in recent British political history – from the eve of the referendum in 2016 to the UK’s eventual exit from the EU. As two Prime Ministers fell, two general elections unfolded and a no-confidence vote was survived, Duncan recorded a treasure-trove of insider gossip, giving biting and often hilarious accounts of petty rivalries, poor decision-making, big egos and big crises. Across these unfiltered daily entries, he builds a revealing and often profound picture of UK politics and personalities.
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Shortest Way Home by Pete Buttigieg
Once described by the Washington Post as “the most interesting mayor you've never heard of”, Pete Buttigieg is the 39-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana – and current US secretary of transportation. He is seen as one of America's most visionary politicians. With prose that celebrates a resurgent American Midwest, Shortest Way Home narrates the heroic transformation of a “dying city” into a shining model of urban reinvention. Elected at 29 as the nation’s youngest mayor, Buttigieg’s challenges were daunting: confronting gun violence and attracting tech companies to a city that had never appealed to serious investors. Yet the most personal challenge still awaited Buttigieg, who came out in a South Bend Tribune editorial just before being re-elected with 78% of the vote. Shortest Way Home challenges the perception of the typical American politician. Buttigieg provides a new vision for America by chronicling two once-unthinkable stories: that of an Afghanistan veteran who came out and found love and acceptance while in office; and that of a revitalised Rust Belt city no longer regarded as “flyover country”.
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A Promised Land by Barack Obama
In last autumn’s highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his journey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency – a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of partisan US politics and international diplomacy. A great next read if you’ve already got through Michelle Obama’s bestselling Becoming.
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Kind of Blue by Ken Clarke
One of the ‘big beasts’ of the British political scene, Ken Clarke spent 46 years as the MP for Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, and was at the centre of government under three prime ministers. He is a political obsessive with a personal hinterland, as well known as a Tory ‘wet’ with Europhile views as for his love of cricket, Nottingham Forest and jazz. In Kind of Blue, Clarke charts his progress from working-class scholarship boy to high political office. But Clarke is not a straightforward Conservative politician. His position on the left of the party often led Margaret Thatcher to question his ‘true blue’ credentials and his passionate commitment to the European project prompted many fellow Tory to regard him with suspicion – and cost him the leadership on no fewer than three occasions. Having had a ringside seat in British politics for four decades, his trenchant observations and candid account of life both in and out of government will appeal to readers of all political persuasions.
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For The Record by David Cameron
The referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU is one of the most controversial political events of our times. In his 2019 autobiography, For The Record, the man who called the vote talks about the decision and its origins, as well as giving a candid account of his time at the top of British politics. David Cameron was Conservative party leader during the largest financial crash in living memory. The Arab Spring and the Eurozone crisis both started during his first year as Prime Minister, and the backdrop to his time in office included the advent of Isis, surging migration and a rapidly changing EU. Here he talks about how he confronted those challenges, from modernising a party that had suffered three successive electoral defeats to forming the first coalition government for 70 years. Cameron is honest about the key players from his time in politics. And he is frank about himself – the things he got right and the things he got wrong, as well as his family life, including the tragic loss of his eldest son.
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Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden
Promise Me, Dad is a deeply moving memoir about the year that would change both a family and a country for ever. In November 2014, 13 members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past 40 years. But this year felt different. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour and his survival was uncertain. Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Biden's life and career. As Vice President, Biden travelled more than 100,000 miles that year, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America and Iraq. For 12 months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, Biden balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016. The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his deep bonds with his family, on his faith and on his deepening friendship with Barack Obama. A remarkable insight into a sitting President.
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Airhead by Emily Maitlis
One of the best autobiographies we’ve read over the past few years is Airhead by Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis. Behind every interview there is a backstory. How it came about. How it ended. The compromises that were made. The regrets, the rows, the deeply inappropriate comedy. This insightful, hilarious and engrossing memoir from one of the UK’s most respected TV broadcasters, Airhead takes readers behind the scenes of the biggest news stories in recent years, where it becomes clear the things said on camera are only half the story. Among Hollywood film directors and media moguls, these also include interviews with US Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton and the last five British Prime Ministers, offering a very different perspective on politics along the way.
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Diary Of An MP’s Wife by Sasha Swire
What is it like to be a wife of a politician in modern-day Britain? Sasha Swire lifts the lid. For more than 20 years she kept a secret diary detailing the trials and tribulations of being a political plus-one: here, she gives readers a ringside seat at the seismic political events of the last decade. A professional partner and loyal spouse, Swire has strong political opinions herself and smashes the stereotype of the dutiful wife. From shenanigans in Budleigh Salterton to state banquets at Buckingham Palace, gun-toting terrorist busters in pizza restaurants to dinners in Downing Street, Devon hedges to partying with City ‘hedgies’, she observes the great and the not-so-great at the closest of quarters. Friendships and the fallouts, the general elections and the leadership contests, the scandals and the rivalries: Swire wrote it all down. The result – Diary of an MP's Wife – is an honest, wildly indiscreet and often uproarious account of political life.
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The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris
Now’s a good time to discover Vice President Kamala Harris's Sunday Times bestselling book, which focuses on the core truths that unite us and the shared values that she hopes will see us into the future. The daughter of immigrants and civil rights activists, Harris was raised in a California community that cared deeply about social justice. As she rose to prominence as a political leader, her experiences would become her guiding light as she grappled with an array of complex issues and learned to bring a voice to the voiceless. In The Truths We Hold, published in 2019, Harris reckons with the big challenges we face together. Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career up until this point, and the work of those who have most inspired her, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, purpose and values.
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Boris Johnson: The Gambler by Tom Bower
A divisive figure, many think they know our Prime Minister’s story well. Eton and Oxford prepared him well for careers in the dog-eat-dog worlds of journalism and politics. His transformation from bumbling stooge on Have I Got New for You to Mayor of London was overshadowed only by his colourful personal life, filled with affairs, scandals and transgressions. His ascent to Number 10 in the wake of the acrimonious, era-defining Brexit referendum would prove to be only the first act in an epic drama that saw him play both hero and villain – from proroguing parliament to his controversial leadership of the Covid-19 crisis, all against the backdrop of divorce, marriage, the birth of his sixth child, revolts among Tory MPs and the countdown to Brexit. Previous biographies have either dismissed him as a lazy, deceitful opportunist or been charmed by his wit and drive, and many questions about Johnson remain unanswered. How has he so consistently defied the odds, proved his critics wrong, and got away with increasingly reckless gambles? What were his real achievements and failures as Mayor of London and why did he write two articles for the Telegraph, one in favour of Leave and the other for Remain? Based on a wealth of new interviews and research, Tom Bower’s recent biography claims to be the most comprehensive portrait of Boris Johnson to date.
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JFK by Fredrik Logevall
Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston's wealthiest, John F. Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected President cemented his status as one of the most famous figures in American history. And while portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have come and gone in the decades since his untimely death in 1963, these accounts all fail to capture the full person. Intrigued by this gap in historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall spent decades searching for the ‘real’ JFK. The result is a sweeping two-volume biography that properly contextualises Kennedy – and went on to win a Pulitzer prize. This volume spans the first 39 years of JFK's life – from birth through his decision to run for President – to reveal his early relationships, his formative experiences during World War II, and his ideas, writings and political aspirations. In examining these pre-White House years, Logevall shows us a more serious, independently-minded Kennedy than we've previously known, whose distinct international sensibility would prepare him to enter national politics at a critical moment in US history.
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The Long And Winding Road by Alan Johnson
From the slums of west London to the corridors of power in Westminster, Alan Johnson’s multi-award-winning autobiography charts an extraordinary journey, almost unimaginable in today’s Britain. It tells of Johnson’s early political skirmishes as a trade union leader, when his negotiating skills and charismatic style soon came to the attention of Tony Blair and other senior members of the Labour party. Johnson was chosen to stand in the constituency of Hull West and Hessle, entering parliament after Labour’s landslide election victory in 1997. Supporting the struggle of his constituents – trawlermen and their families – for justice comes more naturally to Johnson than the byzantine complexities of parliamentary procedure, although he does climb to home secretary in 2009. This book takes you into a world which is at once familiar and strange.
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A Journey by Tony Blair
In 1997, Tony Blair won Labour’s biggest general election victory in history, sweeping the party to power after 18 years of Conservative government. The only living Labour leader to have actually won a general election, he has been one of the country’s most dynamic leaders of modern times. Few British prime ministers have shaped the nation's course as profoundly as Blair did during his ten years in power, and his achievements and legacy will be debated for years to come. A Journey – written in 2011, updated last year – is an insight into the man, the politician and the statesman, charting successes, controversies and disappointments with candour. As an account of the nature and uses of power, it will also have a readership that extends well beyond politics, to all those who want to understand the challenges of leadership today.
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