Politics summer reading: book reviews

Well, maybe readers of the blog will be disinclined to splash out on these fairly expensive hardback (which may or may not be prime examples of price discrimination) versions. But they are a pointer towards some of the best of the new releases. And you could always urge your teacher or librarian to order them before the paperback is released.

Recommended by the Sunday Times:
The Storm: The World Economic Crisis and What It Means by Vince Cable (Atlantic £14.99) On-the-money analysis of the causes of the current economic crisis by Lib Dem Vince Cable.

Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt & Fox to Blair & Brown by John Campbell (Cape £20) A stylish history of eight passionate feuds that have dominated British politics.

Thatcher’s Britain by Richard Vinen (Simon & Schuster £20) Elegant, zippy history eschews the narrow partisanship that has often disfigured much of the writing about the Iron Lady.

A View from the Foothills: The Diaries of Chris Mullin (Profile £20) Revealing and entertaining MP’s diaries about new Labour and the war in Iraq.

What Price Liberty? by Ben Wilson (Faber £14.99) A cool appraisal of how Britain’s liberties have evolved over the years, and how they are being undermined.

A Fortunate Life: The Autobiography of Paddy Ashdown (Aurum £20) Action-packed reminiscences from the former Lib Dem leader; less a political autobiography than areal-life Dangerous Book for Boys.

I’m definitely going to order a copy of Vernon Bogdanor’s new book on the UK constitution. He is a great mind, and this is an area of UK politics I am particulalrly interested in. See what the Economist say here.