Harold Wilson (1) (1916–1995)

Harold versus the World - and Harold was right.

This is old school political writing: this book is so dry that one is forced to take precautions to ensure that it does not self-combust. My problem with this type of book is that, at the end, I did not feel that I had a better understanding of Harold Wilson, the Labour Party, or the political situation in the nineteen sixties.

I seldom feel that reading any book is a total waste but, I would be hard pressed to draw many positives from this tome. The book was released in 1971, so perhaps the events were too fresh for an honest assessment of the Wilson Government but, I was sad that events which have come to prominence in more recent times, are glossed over: I particularly wanted a contemporary view of the communist witch hunts surrounding certain union leaders but, there is scant acknowledgement of their existence: perhaps that is an admission of their dubious status.

Sorry, but I did not feel the hand of history in this book.… (meer)

2081 A Personal Record: The Labour Government 1964-1970, by Harold Wilson (read 19 May 1987) This is Wilson's 1971 account of his six years as Prime Minister from 16 Oct 1964 to June 1970. I found this really interesting, even though it was obviously written for a British audience. It is a mostly chronological account of what was absorbing his time during the period. It is very partisan, and rather persuasive to one who is not hearing the other side. I was impressed by the hard work Wilson went through--it seemed to me he was hard-working and able. He succeeded Sir Alec Douglas-Home and was succeeded by Edward Heath. Wilson came back as Prime Minister in 1974 and then resigned in, I think,1976, and was succeeded as Labor Prime Minister by James Callaghan, who in turn was succeeded by Margaret Thatcher--who has just set June 11, 1987, as the election date in Britain, and is widely expected to gain an unprecedented third term as Prime Minister. I am absorbed by British politics, and I found this account really fun to read, though it is long and full of abstruse detail hard for me--unversed in things pertaining to internal British details--to follow. Rhodesia takes up a lot of time in this book: the matter was never resolved, Malcolm Smith going ahead with his Unilateral Declaration of Independence, during the six years here involved. Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Nigeria--all are matters discussed at length, as well as Britain's attempt to join the Common Market. Wilson wrote a book on his second stint as Prime Minister, and if I could locate that I'd read that, too. This book has been like a long Current History article, and I would gladly read more in the period.… (meer)