Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Shirley Williams: The Biography
    Unavailable
    Shirley Williams: The Biography
    Unavailable
    Shirley Williams: The Biography
    Ebook642 pages9 hours

    Shirley Williams: The Biography

    By Mark Peel

    1/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    For fifty years Shirley Williams has been one of Britain's best-known and best-loved politicians, admired for her warmth, sincerity, integrity and compassion. Hailing from an impeccable intellectual background, the young Shirley seemed destined for great things as she rose effortlessly up the political ladder. Yet for all the talk of her becoming the country's first female Prime Minister that accolade passed her by, her feisty independence earning her a career that has been anything but perpetual sunshine. In this first-ever biography, Mark Peel explores the dilemma that has faced Williams throughout the highs and lows of her political life: how to tread the line between firmly held principles and party solidarity. Drawing on his unfettered access to the family archive and conversations with Williams's colleagues, Peel skilfully teases out the contradictions at the heart of this remarkable character. Shirley Williams: The Biography reveals the surprisingly vulnerable figure behind the reassuring public façade. It uncovers the expectations placed on Williams by her highly ambitious parents, her guilt about her privileged background, and her often tumultuous personal relationships. The result is a touching, intimate portrait of one of the most complex and popular politicians of our time, a woman who through good times and bad has retained her essential humanity.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBiteback Publishing
    Release dateSep 17, 2013
    ISBN9781849546478
    Unavailable
    Shirley Williams: The Biography

    Read more from Mark Peel

    Related to Shirley Williams

    Related ebooks

    Historical Biographies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Letters

      May 30, 2023

      Letters
      3 min read

    • Article

      School For Future Tory Stars

      Oct 26, 2023

      School For Future Tory Stars
      7 min read

    • Article

      Jeremy Thorpe's Crush On Me

      Mar 8, 2023

      This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Oxford Union, the debating society at Oxford University. I was successively Secretary, Librarian and President of the Union, when I was a student, back in the late 1960s. We were called ‘undergraduates' in

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Life Lived To The Full

      Sep 3, 2020

      A Life Lived To The Full
      4 min read

    • Article

      Victorian Style Scandal

      Aug 13, 2022

      Tangled Souls: love and scandal among the Victorian aristocracy Jane Dismore The History Press, 2022 pp. 326 Hardback, £20.00; paperback, N/A; (Kindle £12.99) ISBN: 978-0750996624; 0750996625 Imagine: a bright young dashing politician, who thinks hi

      5 min read

    • Article

      The 1868 Bradford Election

      Oct 13, 2023

      The 1868 Bradford Election
      7 min read

    • Article

      Champions Of The Cause

      May 13, 2021

      As the daughter of the Viceroy of India, Lady Constance Lytton (1869–1923) was born into a life of immense privilege. But her involvement in the women’s suffrage movement saw her swap palaces for prison cells. Lytton was converted to the cause after

      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘Eleanor Fought For Women’s Rights’

      Apr 6, 2021

      ERICA WARD lives in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. She has been researching her family tree for four years Eleanor Grizzell was born in 1872, the daughter of a warder at Manchester City Gaol. Her mother Julia was abandoned by her husband, and left to raise f

      2 min read

    • Article

      Family SECRETS

      Apr 7, 2022

      Journalist Michelle Hather, 58, lives in south-west London with her husband Simon. She is originally from Liverpool and has three sons, Oscar, 29, Rorie, 27, and Louis, 25. As mum to three young men, I look at the terrible suffering happening right

      5 min read

    • Article

      “Henrietta Maria Has Been Looked At Far Too Much Through The Male Gaze – It’s Time For Another Perspective”

      Aug 4, 2022

      Henrietta Maria: Conspirator, Warrior, Phoenix Queen by Leanda de Lisle (Vintage, 496 pages, £25) Emily Briffett: Your new book tells the fascinating story of Henrietta Maria, challenging the myths surrounding her life. To begin with, can you please

      9 min read

    • Article

      ‘I’m Proud To Be From Northern Ireland’: Reflections On A Contested Centenary

      May 2, 2021

      The centenary of the founding of Northern Ireland is to be marked on Monday – albeit overshadowed by political turmoil and the Covid-19 pandemic. Eight figures from Northern Ireland reflect on a contested centenary and the nuances of identity. Jenn M

      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters |

      Nov 2, 2022

      Letters |
      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Nov 2, 2023

      Letters
      4 min read

    • Article

      Emily Hobhouse 1860-1926

      Apr 15, 2021

      Emily Hobhouse 1860-1926
      2 min read

    • Article

      Spotlight On…

      Sep 29, 2022

      More than a president’s wife, the longest-serving first lady was a political heavyweight, a diplomat and a humanitarian, who dictated her own place in the world - and then changed it for the better When Eleanor Roosevelt moved into the White House in

      3 min read

    • Article

      Supporter Spotlight

      Aug 5, 2020

      Supporter Spotlight
      1 min read

    • Article

      ‘Call yourself English?’

      Aug 21, 2019

      ‘Call yourself English?’
      19 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Cusk, Barry, Eltahawy, Foer, Klein, Kois, and More

      Sep 17, 2019

      It's blockbuster season, which means new books from big names: Naomi Klein, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jacqueline Woodson, and Tracey Chevalier. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Cusk, Barry, Eltahawy, Foer, Klein, Kois, and More appeared first o

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Veneration Of Saint Jacinda

      Aug 26, 2021

      Jacinda Ardern: Leading with Empathy by Supriya Vani, Carl A. Harte, Oneworld, £20.00 Jacinda Ardern: The Story Behind an Extraordinary Leader by Michelle Duff, Allen & Unwin, £14.99 AT FIRST GLANCE, the adoration of Jacinda Arden is preposterous. Th

      4 min read

    • Article

      Icons

      Apr 15, 2023

      Icons
      10 min read

    • Article

      Icons

      Apr 14, 2023

      Icons
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Strange Death Of Tolerance

      Aug 23, 2023

      The silly donkeys at Coutts got their just deserts in the Nigel Farage affair. A few grossly overpaid execs stood down, and they will no doubt move on to even more overpaid positions. The irrepressibly perky Farage will feel he has won a great victor

      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Aug 2, 2022

      Letters
      3 min read

    Reviews for Shirley Williams

    1/5

    1 rating1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      This book is a disgrace, a completely uncritical paean of praise of a woman who is certainly not universally admired and who is astonishingly self-important and who has contributed to some of the most disastrous decisions in the the recent political life of the nation, including lately the dismantling of the NHS. So you can see that she is a controversial figure but you would never guess it from this badly written, sententious, bland hagiography.