13 Of The Best Political Memoirs To Get Stuck Into
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A Woman’s Work by Harriet Harman
When Harriet Harman started her career, men-only job adverts and a 'women's rate' of pay were the norm and female MPs were a tiny minority – a woman couldn't even sign for a mortgage. But, she argues, we should never just be grateful that things are better now, as there's still more to do. In A Woman's Work Harman, Britain's longest-serving female MP, looks at her own life to see how far we've come and where we should go next. This is an inspiring and refreshingly honest account of the part she has played (and the setbacks along the way) in the movement that transformed politics and women's lives: from helping striking female factory workers to standing for election while pregnant, from her memories of her own mother to her success in reforming the law on maternity rights, childcare, domestic violence and getting more women into parliament. But it is also a call for women today to get together and continue the fight for equality.
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Airhead by Emily Maitlis
One of the best autobiographies we’ve read over the past few years is Airhead by Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis. Behind every interview there is a backstory. How it came about. How it ended. The compromises that were made. The regrets, the rows, the deeply inappropriate comedy. This insightful, hilarious and engrossing memoir from one of the UK’s most respected TV broadcasters, Airhead takes readers behind the scenes of the biggest news stories in recent years, where it becomes clear the things said on camera are only half the story. Among Hollywood film directors and media moguls, these also include interviews with US Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton and the last five British Prime Ministers, offering a very different perspective on politics along the way.
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A Promised Land by Barack Obama
In last autumn’s highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his journey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world, describing in strikingly personal detail both his political education and the landmark moments of the first term of his historic presidency – a time of dramatic transformation and turmoil. Reflecting on the presidency, he offers a unique and thoughtful exploration of both the reach and the limits of presidential power, as well as singular insights into the dynamics of partisan US politics and international diplomacy. A great next read if you’ve already got through Michelle Obama’s bestselling Becoming.
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UnPresidented by Jon Sopel
In UnPresidented, BBC North America editor Jon Sopel presents a diary of an election no one had quite seen before. Sopel shares his experience as a reporter on the campaign trail, as the 2020 election heats up and as a global pandemic slowly sweeps in. As American lives are lost at a devastating rate, the presidential race becomes a battle for the very soul of the nation, challenging not just the Trump presidency, but the very institutions of American democracy itself. In this highly personal account of reporting on America in 2020, Sopel takes you behind the scenes of a White House in crisis and an election in turmoil, expertly laying bare the real story of the presidential campaign in a panoramic account of an election and a year like no other.
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Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden
Promise Me, Dad is a deeply moving memoir about the year that would change both a family and a country for ever. In November 2014, 13 members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past 40 years. But this year felt different. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour and his survival was uncertain. Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Biden's life and career. As Vice President, Biden travelled more than 100,000 miles that year, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America and Iraq. For 12 months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, Biden balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016. The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his deep bonds with his family, on his faith and on his deepening friendship with Barack Obama. A remarkable insight into a sitting President.
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In The Thick Of It by Alan Duncan
As minister of state at the Foreign Office, Alan Duncan was once described as Boris Johnson’s ‘pooper-scooper’. For two years, he deputised for the then Foreign Secretary, now Prime Minister, so few are more attuned to Johnson’s strengths and weaknesses as a minister and his suitability for high office than Duncan. Wonderfully candid, his diaries cover the most turbulent period in recent British political history – from the eve of the referendum in 2016 to the UK’s eventual exit from the EU. As two Prime Ministers fell, two general elections unfolded and a no-confidence vote was survived, Duncan recorded a treasure-trove of insider gossip, giving biting and often hilarious accounts of petty rivalries, poor decision-making, big egos and big crises. Across these unfiltered daily entries, he builds a revealing and often profound picture of UK politics and personalities.
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What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
For the first time, Hillary Rodham Clinton reveals what she was thinking and feeling during one of the most controversial and unpredictable presidential elections in history. Free from the constraints of running for office, Clinton takes readers inside the intense personal experience of becoming the first woman nominated for President by a major party in an election marked by rage, sexism, Russian interference and an opponent who broke all the rules. She describes what it was like to run against Donald Trump, the mistakes she made, how she has coped with a shocking loss, and how she found the strength to pick herself up afterwards. With humour and candour, she tells readers what it took to get back on her feet – the rituals, relationships and reading that got her through, and what the experience has taught her about life. And she speaks about the challenges of being a strong woman in the public eye, the criticism over her voice, age and appearance, and the double standard confronting women in politics. If fiction’s more your thing, we also recommend Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham, a 2020 novel that reimagines Hillary’s life had she never married Bill Clinton.
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Diary Of An MP’s Wife by Sasha Swire
What is it like to be a wife of a politician in modern-day Britain? Sasha Swire lifts the lid. For more than 20 years she kept a secret diary detailing the trials and tribulations of being a political plus-one: here, she gives readers a ringside seat at the seismic political events of the last decade. A professional partner and loyal spouse, Swire has strong political opinions herself and smashes the stereotype of the dutiful wife. From shenanigans in Budleigh Salterton to state banquets at Buckingham Palace, gun-toting terrorist busters in pizza restaurants to dinners in Downing Street, Devon hedges to partying with City ‘hedgies’, she observes the great and the not-so-great at the closest of quarters. Friendships and the fallouts, the general elections and the leadership contests, the scandals and the rivalries: Swire wrote it all down. The result – Diary of an MP's Wife – is an honest, wildly indiscreet and often uproarious account of political life.
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The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris
Now’s a good time to discover Vice President Kamala Harris's Sunday Times bestselling book, which focuses on the core truths that unite us and the shared values that she hopes will see us into the future. The daughter of immigrants and civil rights activists, Harris was raised in a California community that cared deeply about social justice. As she rose to prominence as a political leader, her experiences would become her guiding light as she grappled with an array of complex issues and learned to bring a voice to the voiceless. In The Truths We Hold, published in 2019, Harris reckons with the big challenges we face together. Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career up until this point, and the work of those who have most inspired her, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, purpose and values.
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For The Record by David Cameron
The referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU is one of the most controversial political events of our times. In his 2019 autobiography, For The Record, the man who called the vote talks about the decision and its origins, as well as giving a candid account of his time at the top of British politics. David Cameron was Conservative party leader during the largest financial crash in living memory. The Arab Spring and the Eurozone crisis both started during his first year as Prime Minister, and the backdrop to his time in office included the advent of Isis, surging migration and a rapidly changing EU. Here he talks about how he confronted those challenges, from modernising a party that had suffered three successive electoral defeats to forming the first coalition government for 70 years. Cameron is honest about the key players from his time in politics. And he is frank about himself – the things he got right and the things he got wrong, as well as his family life, including the tragic loss of his eldest son.
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Boris Johnson: The Gambler by Tom Bower
A divisive figure, many think they know our Prime Minister’s story well. Eton and Oxford prepared him well for careers in the dog-eat-dog worlds of journalism and politics. His transformation from bumbling stooge on Have I Got New for You to Mayor of London was overshadowed only by his colourful personal life, filled with affairs, scandals and transgressions. His ascent to Number 10 in the wake of the acrimonious, era-defining Brexit referendum would prove to be only the first act in an epic drama that saw him play both hero and villain – from proroguing parliament to his controversial leadership of the Covid-19 crisis, all against the backdrop of divorce, marriage, the birth of his sixth child, revolts among Tory MPs and the countdown to Brexit. Previous biographies have either dismissed him as a lazy, deceitful opportunist or been charmed by his wit and drive, and many questions about Johnson remain unanswered. How has he so consistently defied the odds, proved his critics wrong, and got away with increasingly reckless gambles? What were his real achievements and failures as Mayor of London and why did he write two articles for the Telegraph, one in favour of Leave and the other for Remain? Based on a wealth of new interviews and research, Tom Bower’s recent biography claims to be the most comprehensive portrait of Boris Johnson to date.
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JFK by Fredrik Logevall
Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston's wealthiest, John F. Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected President cemented his status as one of the most famous figures in American history. And while portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have come and gone in the decades since his untimely death in 1963, these accounts all fail to capture the full person. Intrigued by this gap in historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall spent decades searching for the ‘real’ JFK. The result is a sweeping two-volume biography that properly contextualises Kennedy – and went on to win a Pulitzer prize. This volume spans the first 39 years of JFK's life – from birth through his decision to run for President – to reveal his early relationships, his formative experiences during World War II, and his ideas, writings and political aspirations. In examining these pre-White House years, Logevall shows us a more serious, independently-minded Kennedy than we've previously known, whose distinct international sensibility would prepare him to enter national politics at a critical moment in US history.
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The Women Who Shaped Politics by Sophy Ridge
Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge has uncovered the extraordinary stories of the women who have shaped British politics. Ridge has interviewed current and former politicians – including Nicola Sturgeon, Ruth Davidson and Betty Boothroyd – gaining exclusive insight into the role women play in politics at the highest level. The book also includes Theresa May's first at-length interview about her journey to becoming Prime Minister, and interviews that reveal the truth about the sexism that is rife among the House of Commons both in the past and today. From royalty and writers to class warriors and suffragettes, Ridge tells the story of those who put their lives on the line for equal rights, and those who were the first to set foot inside the chambers of power, bringing together stories that you may think you know, as well as stories that have recently been discovered to reveal the truth about what it is to be a woman in Westminster.
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