The Downing Street Years

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: Margaret Thatcher is an incredible person and her tale of her time as prime minister is fascinating. She kept detailed notes throughout her premiership and can recall the events that informed her decision making in great detail.

Whatever your opinions on her politics, she definitely knew where she wanted to take Britain and how to get there (if only more leaders were willing to stand up for their beliefs regardless of political correctness) and it's well worth the time it takes to read.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiration to any aspiring leader
Review: These remarkable insights provide a first hand account of what it was like to be a Britich Prime Minister. Wets (i.e. wimps) are not tolerated. These tapes and the companion ones, The Path to Power, are essential leadership training in perseverance, decisiveness, political bargaining and priority setting. The account of the Falklands armada is quite splendid. All aspiring executives and politicians can gain tremendous ideas from these tapes and the companion books. Even those with more left wing leanings will respect Lady Thatcher who reports on tricky subordinates, loyal supporters and above all her close relationship with husband. These tapes deserve a much broader audience and greater marketing.

Rating:
Summary: Lover her or hate her, she was UNIQUE
Review: This first volume of memoirs by Margaret Thatcher frankly recalls the former British prime minister's dealings with U.S. presidents, the Falkland War, and her election victories in 1979, 1983 and 1987. She also details the back-stabbing and eye-gouging that the British call politics. It may be a little less corrupt than politics in some other countries I could name, but it sure ain't an arena for the feint of heart. There were never any gray areas with Thatcher. The British either worshipped the ground she walked on, or detested her every word. There was nothing in the middle, because Thatcher was not given to taken the middle course. 'There's nothing I like more than a lively discussion' she would say. What she meant, of course, was that she loved a damn good arguement! This first part of her autobiography is as outspoken as she was. She pulls no punches, and her unequivocal opinions about world events she participated in and world leaders she encountered leave you wondering how she survived eleven years as Britain's Prime Minister. But would we expect anything else from Thatcher as she explains and defends her controversial policies, which caused the dismemberment of socialism and Britain's resurgence as a world power after many years of liberal misrule.