Fascinating
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I loved this book.
Its avowed intent is to examine six major political summits from the late 20th century, to analyse them in detail, and to draw conclusions about what makes a summit successful or otherwise.
It does this brilliantly. Reynolds' mastery of the archive material is obvious: he draws together the threads in a concise and intelligible way that shows he knows exactly what he is talking about.
But it does much more. In looking at these six summits, one is given a completely new sidelight on the history of the late 20th century in a most fascinating way.
Negatives? Well, I suppose if you are more interested in the history of social trends, this might not be for you. But if, like me, you think that 'history is about chaps', you will love this book.
Reynolds has of course examined the career of Churchill in a previous book, and perhaps a little extra - one hesitates to say undue - prominence is therefore given to him.
And one may not entirely concur with his conclusions. For example, was Churchill REALLY taken in by Stalin at Yalta? Just because he said something publicly, or in correspondence to the US, doesn't mean he believed it himself: perhaps he was just cooperating with the inevitable? It seems a harsh judgment on him to say that with the Iron Curtain speech 'he repackaged himself as a robust Cold Warrior'.
But even if you quibble with details, the book is so well-argued and so cogently constructed that it cannot fail to stimulate and fascinate. And it is full of new material that has not previously been available for analysis.
What a pity, then, that it is over-endowed with editorial errors - most tragically in the final sentence:
"And as story [sic] of Blair and Bush reminds us, summitry still has the power to shape the course of history." Shouldn't there be a THE in there somewhere?!
Some of the errors seriously compromise the meaning, so this is a serious criticism. Editorial carelessness of this kind is unworthy of a book of this quality. Why do I so often find myself hoping that publishers will get someone to proofread the next edition? Sigh.
So nul points for Messrs Penguin - and 5 stars for the author. I await the forthcoming TV programmes with anticipation.
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Fascinating
|
I loved this book.
Its avowed intent is to examine six major political summits from the late 20th century, to analyse them in detail, and to draw conclusions about what makes a summit successful or otherwise.
It does this brilliantly. Reynolds' mastery of the archive material is obvious: he draws together the threads in a concise and intelligible way that shows he knows exactly what he is talking about.
But it does much more. In looking at these six summits, one is given a completely new sidelight on the history of the late 20th century in a most fascinating way.
Negatives? Well, I suppose if you are more interested in the history of social trends, this might not be for you. But if, like me, you think that 'history is about chaps', you will love this book.
Reynolds has of course examined the career of Churchill in a previous book, and perhaps a little extra - one hesitates to say undue - prominence is therefore given to him.
And one may not entirely concur with his conclusions. For example, was Churchill REALLY taken in by Stalin at Yalta? Just because he said something publicly, or in correspondence to the US, doesn't mean he believed it himself: perhaps he was just cooperating with the inevitable? It seems a harsh judgment on him to say that with the Iron Curtain speech 'he repackaged himself as a robust Cold Warrior'.
But even if you quibble with details, the book is so well-argued and so cogently constructed that it cannot fail to stimulate and fascinate. And it is full of new material that has not previously been available for analysis.
What a pity, then, that it is over-endowed with editorial errors - most tragically in the final sentence:
"And as story [sic] of Blair and Bush reminds us, summitry still has the power to shape the course of history." Shouldn't there be a THE in there somewhere?!
Some of the errors seriously compromise the meaning, so this is a serious criticism. Editorial carelessness of this kind is unworthy of a book of this quality. Why do I so often find myself hoping that publishers will get someone to proofread the next edition? Sigh.
So nul points for Messrs Penguin - and 5 stars for the author. I await the forthcoming TV programmes with anticipation.
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United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada