Great Britain - Political Biography, Labor Studies - Unions - History, 20th Century British History - Politics & Government, Great Britain - General & Miscellaneous - Politics & Government, Great Britain - Diplomatic Relations

Ernest Bevin A Biography

Name: Ernest Bevin A Biography
Author: Brian Brivati
ISBN: 9781902301853

by Brian Brivati

Write a review

Overview

"One of the true giants of twentieth-century history, Ernest Bevin started work on a farm when eleven years old, worked in the bakehouse of a Bristol restaurant at thirteen and at twenty became a carter earning eighteen shillings a week. Forming a branch of the Dockers' Union among the carters propelled him towards trade union leadership, and in 1921 he founded the Transport and General Workers' Union." "In 1940 Bevin, by then general secretary of the TGWU, was invited by Winston Churchill to join the War Cabinet as Minister of Labour, in which role he marshalled manpower for the war effort. From 1945 to 1951 he was one of Britain's greatest Foreign Secretaries - a key figure in implementing the Marshall Plan, launching the Treaty of Brussels and establishing NATO - but the strain was immense, and on his seventieth birthday Attlee moved him to the role of Lord Privy Seal. Bevin died, working on his papers, in April 1951." Alan Bullock's monumental biography, originally published in three volumes between 1960 and 1983 and described by Clement Attlee as 'a massive work about a massive man', is here issued in a one-volume abridgement for a new generation of readers.

About the Author, Brian Brivati

Alan Bullock was one of the most acclaimed historical biographers of the 20th century. His Hitler: A Study in Tyranny was a huge best-seller. He died in 2004.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Booknews

Historian and biographer Bullock bit off a big mouthful with his three-volume life of British Labour politician Bevin (1881-1951); the first two appeared in 1960 and 1967, but the third, delayed until 1983 when some critical records became public, was so huge that it was capsized by its price and soon vanished. Here Brivati (contemporary history, Kingston U.) has trimmed stories that make the same point as others, or describe him dealing with the same sorts of problems, and left enough to give readers a full account of his life. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)