The Queen
Elizabeth II and the Monarchy
Book
Paperback/Softback
650 pages
978-0-00-711436-8 (ISBN)
Description
A fully revised edition of Ben Pimlott's classic biography of the Queen: "There will be no better biography of Elizabeth II." PETER HENNESSY, Independent on Sunday
'A magisterial biography and the only one that seriously deals with her constitutional and political role' Tim Shipman, Sunday Times
The institution of monarchy in Britain is in deep crisis. Scarcely a day goes by without some new revelation about the private life of some or other of the Royals splashed all over the tabloid newspapers, and public interest in the House of Windsor is more feverish and obssessional than ever. Royal books written by journalists and royal watchers are ten-a-penny and all, without exception, concentrate on the private lives and traumas of their subjects. This is the only book to take the present Queen seriously as the subject of historical biography , or to examine in depth the influences that formed her or the ideas she represents.
Ben Pimlott (described by Andrew Marr in the Independent as 'the best writer of political biography now writing') treats the Head of State - who has been uniquely placed at the centre of the national stage since childhood - to the rigorous and objective scrutiny he has applied to major political personalities, using a wide range of new sources, including interviews, diaries and letters, and papers in the Royal Archives.
The Queen looks at the social, political and psychological aspects of his subject in detail, as well as at the changing role of Monarchy in the British Constitution. In the process, the book displays all the author's formidable analytic and narrative skills, and provides a gripping yet sensitive account of one of the most publicised - yet least known - figures of our time. It is vital reading for all those who care about public life in Britain - past, present and to come.
'A magisterial biography and the only one that seriously deals with her constitutional and political role' Tim Shipman, Sunday Times
The institution of monarchy in Britain is in deep crisis. Scarcely a day goes by without some new revelation about the private life of some or other of the Royals splashed all over the tabloid newspapers, and public interest in the House of Windsor is more feverish and obssessional than ever. Royal books written by journalists and royal watchers are ten-a-penny and all, without exception, concentrate on the private lives and traumas of their subjects. This is the only book to take the present Queen seriously as the subject of historical biography , or to examine in depth the influences that formed her or the ideas she represents.
Ben Pimlott (described by Andrew Marr in the Independent as 'the best writer of political biography now writing') treats the Head of State - who has been uniquely placed at the centre of the national stage since childhood - to the rigorous and objective scrutiny he has applied to major political personalities, using a wide range of new sources, including interviews, diaries and letters, and papers in the Royal Archives.
The Queen looks at the social, political and psychological aspects of his subject in detail, as well as at the changing role of Monarchy in the British Constitution. In the process, the book displays all the author's formidable analytic and narrative skills, and provides a gripping yet sensitive account of one of the most publicised - yet least known - figures of our time. It is vital reading for all those who care about public life in Britain - past, present and to come.
Reviews / Votes
"This book is a strikingly impressive achievement. Professor Pimlott has shown what wit, scholarship and a wide-ranging historical imagination can do with a subject that must initially have seemed unpromising. There will not be a better royal biography for many years." PHILIP ZIEGLER, Daily Telegraph"This is an important and stimulating book which even literary republicans can read with pleasure." ANTONIA FRASER, Guardian
More details
Edition
Jubilee edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 45 mm
Weight
615 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-711436-8 (9780007114368)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Ben Pimlott was the Professor of Politics and Contemporary History at Birkbeck College, London. He was the author of Labour and the Left in the 1930s (1977), Hugh Dalton (1985) which won the Whitbread Prize for Biography, Harold Wilson (1992) and Frustrate Their Knavish Tricks (1994). He was a political columnist for The Times, New Statesman and Sunday Times and reviewed regularly for the Independent on Sunday, Guardian and Observer.