There Is No Alternative Why Margaret Thatcher Matters

Great Britain in the 1970s appeared to be in terminal decline--ungovernable, an economic train wreck, and rapidly headed for global irrelevance. Three decades later, it is the richest and most influential country in Europe, and Margaret Thatcher is the reason. The preternaturally determined Thatcher rose from nothing, seized control of Britain's Conservative party, and took a sledgehammer to the nation's postwar socialist consensus. She proved that socialism could be reversed, inspiring a global free-market revolution. Simultaneously exploiting every politically useful aspect of her femininity and defying every conventional expectation of women in power, Thatcher crushed her enemies with a calculated ruthlessness that stunned the British public and without doubt caused immense collateral damage. Ultimately, however, Claire Berlinski agrees with Thatcher: There was no alternative. Berlinski explains what Thatcher did, why it matters, and how she got away with it in this vivid and immensely readable portrait of one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.

Claire Berlinski holds a doctorate in international relations from Balliol College at Oxford University. She is a contributing editor of City Journal and Ricochet, and her work has appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, and National Review. She is the author of two works of fiction, Loose Lips and Lion Eyes, and one other work of nonfiction, Menace in Europe. She lives in Istanbul.