Showing results for "A Short History Of England" in Biographies & Memoirs

The purpose of this insider's account is to provide an answer to all these questions and more. Andrew Marr's brilliant, and brilliantly funny, book is a guide to those of us who read newspapers, or who listen to and watch news bulletins but want to know more. Andrew Marr tells the story of modern journalism through his own experience.

It is not often that a long-hidden gem of a manuscript is published, bringing a moment in WWII history to vivid life for today’s audiences. Geoffrey Wellum’s First Light was one example. The memoir of Timothy Vigors is another. Born in Hatfield but raised in Ireland and educated at Eton and Cranwell, Vigors found himself in France in 1940 flying Fairey Battle bombers. After the Fall he joined the fighters of 222 Squadron, with whom he saw frantic and distinguished service over Dunkirk and persevered through the dangerous days of the Battle of Britain, when he became an ace.

The descendent of Viking raiders, William the Conqueror, or William the Bastard as he was also known, took the throne of England in 1066. William showed himself to be an outstanding soldier and an extremely effective ruler, combining great fortitude with an unwavering insistence on his own authority. He was a formidable personality, whose political imagination and ruthlessness were the driving forces of the Norman Conquest of England.

Margaret Thatcher was a British stateswoman and the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. From 1975 to 1990, she was the Leader of the Conservative Party. She was elected Prime Minister three times and served for 11 years, longer than any other British prime minister of the 20th century. Her political views, based on loose economics and individual self-realization, along with her policies, were referred to as Thatcherism, which for decades remained an influential political concept in the United Kingdom.

This biography of Abraham Lincoln was written by Lincoln's White House secretary. Nicolay was involved in Lincoln's most intimate personal affairs during the Civil War and became one of the president's most trusted aides. On a day-to-day basis, he and the president's assistant secretary, John M. Hay, were responsible for receiving and screening visitors, writing and editing letters, and delivering and receiving messages, among other duties.