Britain Alone: The Path from Suez to Brexit

Author: Stephens, Philip

Brand: Faber & Faber

Edition: Main

Binding: hardcover

Format: Import

Number Of Pages: 480

Release Date: 07-09-2021

Details: Product Description
A magisterial and profoundly perceptive survey of Britain's post-war role on the global stage, from Suez to Brexit. 'The fullest long-run political and diplomatic narrative yet of Britain's fateful, tragi-comic road to Brexit.'DAVID KYNASTON'An instant classic . . . Stephens is a master of historical codebreaking.'PETER HENNESSEYAward-winning Financial Times journalist Philip Stephens paints a fascinating portrait of sixty years - from Suez to Brexit - as Britain struggles to reconcile its waning power with its past glory. Drawing on decades of personal contact and interviews with senior politicians and diplomats in Britain, the United States and across the capitals of Europe, Britain Alone is a magisterial and deeply perceptive history of our nation and how we arrived at the state we are in.'Commanding . . . Rarely if ever, in the history of the British state since 1707, has one half of Britain's ruling elite committed an act of policy viewed with such absolute contempt by the other half; and rarely has that contempt been expressed with such elegance, such fluency, and such a devastating wealth of supporting detail, as in this mighty survey.' SCOTSMAN'Profoundly knowledgeable.' CHRIS PATTEN'Compelling.' LAWRENCE FREEDMAN'A fascinating history.' IRISH TIMES'A magnificent, exhilarating book' PROSPECT
Review
Praise for Tony Blair
Stephens ... has written easily the best - as well as the best informed - modern summary of Britain's still brilliant but now increasingly beleaguered prime minister. --
Washington Post on
Tony Blair
If anybody asks me, now, which is the best place to start reading on the kaleidoscope figure of Blair, I shall simply reply Stephens. -- Peter Hennessy,
Financial Times on
Tony Blair Today Tony Blair enjoys a great lustre in America than in his own country. And yet readers may end this well-informed and sympathetic book wondering how long it can be before the bloom fades. --
New York Times on
Tony Blair

Philip Stephens has produced that rare thing - an instant classic.
Britain Alone is the codebook we need to unravel the six and a half decades between Suez and Brexit. --
Peter Hennessy
Admirably lucid and measured, as well as studded with sharp pen portraits of the key players, Britain Alone gives us the fullest long-run political and diplomatic narrative yet of Britain's fateful, tragi-comic road to Brexit. --
David Kynaston
Compelling.. Stephens tell the story with a journalist's eye for the interplay of personality and policy-making, backed by a deep knowledge of Britain's post-war history. --
Lawrence Freedman
No-one is likely to write this modern history of decline with more brio and comprehensive insight. --
Chris Patten
Having talked to many of the leading players over decades, Philip Stephens gives us a ringside seat at the drama of how Britain lost, found and lost again its post-imperial international role. Sad and fascinating. --
Timothy Garton Ash
A compelling, informative and readable history book. --
Financial Times
Philip Stephens' history of British foreign policy since World War II will not be bettered for many years. Much more readable than most works of history, it is also more intellectually rigorous than a lot of journalism. The anecdotes are telling and the judgments judicious, while the reportage is often based on first-hand observation. --
Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform
Review
'Admirably lucid and measured, as well as studded with sharp pen portraits of the key players, Britain Alone gives us the fullest long-run political and diplomatic narrative yet of Britain's fateful, tragi-comic road to Brexit.' -- David Kynaston


'Philip Stephens has produced that rare thing - an instant classic. Britain Alone is the codebook we need to unravel the six and a half decades between Suez and Brexit, and Stephens is a master of historical codebreaking.' -- Peter Hennessy


'This is a compelling ac

EAN: 9780571341771

Package Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches

Languages: English