Gladstone vs Disraeli

The Lion and the Unicorn

The dramatic confrontation between the two 'mighty opposites' of the Victorian age, brilliantly recreated by a talented young historian.

A first-class historical drama, expertly told.

Aldous does a splendid job of gleaning the ears of corn from earlier studies.

A romp... a startling reworking of traditional views... Aldous has written an entertaining and thought-provoking book that reads like a novel.

A detailed, entertaining account... Aldous has set this drama with just the kind of care and skill these two extraordinary adversaries, authors and politicians undoubtedly deserve.

Richard Aldous was the Head of History and Archives at University College, Dublin for 15 years. His many books include a critically acclaimed biography of Gladstone and Disraeli, and the no. 1 bestselling Great Irish Speeches. He writes for publications including the New York Times and Irish Times, and is a regular contributor to television and radio on both sides of the Atlantic. He is currently the Eugene Meyer Professor of British History and Literature at Bard College in New York.

‘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.

Richard Aldous

This is excellent revisionist history, giving another slant to the interaction of two political icons on the world stage.

Vivid, fast-paced and immensely readable, Richard Aldous's new book challenges conventional wisdom and prods us to rethink the 1980s

An important study, based on a wealth of recently-released documents, which puts the Thatcher-Reagan friendship in a wholy new (and more sombre) light.  It should be essential reading for anyone who cares about the history, the health and the future of the Anglo-American 'special relationship'

I can't speak for President Reagan, but I've been both praised and pulverized by Margaret Thatcher, and Richard Aldous seems to me to have captured the force of her personality. This is a valuable look behind the looking glass of public-relations politics of the special relationship.

Richard Aldous’s account of the most intriguing Anglo-American double act of them all provides many surprises . . . What Aldous manages to achieve is strong research with a vivid narrative style, bringing the most dramatic moments to life

A well-research, well-written and revisionist double portrait

Intelligent, authoritative and extremely readable

This gripping account of their difficult relationship reads like a thriller.

Aldous deserves nothing but credit for the masterly way in which he weaves accounts from published memoirs and recently declassified US material into a pacey, almost thriller-like account of the meetings and telephone calls between these two political giants. This is a work of history that can be read at one sitting — a page-turner more than a page-folder.

It wasn't all sweetness and light between Maggie and Ronnie, as this account of their difficult relationship shows

Summer reading pick from THe Sunday Times

The Difficult Relationship

The uneasy alliance that lay at the heart of the relationship of two of the most powerful and controversial leaders of the late 20th century: Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. 
 
For three decades, historians have cited the long-term alliance of Reagan and Thatcher as an example of the special bond between the US and Britain. 
 
But, as Richard Aldous argues, these political titans clashed repeatedly as they confronted 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 the Reagan-Thatcher diplomacy.

Richard Aldous

Praise for Reagan and Thatcher

This is excellent revisionist history, giving another slant to the interaction of two political icons on the world stage.

Vivid, fast-paced and immensely readable, Richard Aldous's new book challenges conventional wisdom and prods us to rethink the 1980s

An important study, based on a wealth of recently-released documents, which puts the Thatcher-Reagan friendship in a wholy new (and more sombre) light. It should be essential reading for anyone who cares about the ...

This is excellent revisionist history, giving another slant to the interaction of two political icons on the world stage.

Vivid, fast-paced and immensely readable, Richard Aldous's new book challenges conventional wisdom and prods us to rethink the 1980s

An important study, based on a wealth of recently-released documents, which puts the Thatcher-Reagan friendship in a wholy new (and more sombre) light. It should be essential reading for anyone who cares about the ...

This is excellent revisionist history, giving another slant to the interaction of two political icons on the world stage.

Vivid, fast-paced and immensely readable, Richard Aldous's new book challenges conventional wisdom and prods us to rethink the 1980s

An important study, based on a wealth of recently-released documents, which puts the Thatcher-Reagan friendship in a wholy new (and more sombre) light. It should be essential reading for anyone who cares about the ...

Books by Richard Aldous

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