Against the backdrop of a politically approved view that Europeans did little to further the Zimbabwean nationalist freedom movements before Independence in 1980, this book will help to nail that ...misconception against a wall.,The story of Garfield Todd and his various roles as Christian missionary, liberal prime minister of southern Rhodesia, high-profile opponent of UDI and its architect Ian Smith from 1965 to 1980, will surely be an eye-opener for many young people in central and southern Africa, who may never have heard of this great man who spent his life in education and public service. The role of Garfield Todd and some of the people who worked with him has been effectively airbrushed from the pages of the official Zimbabwean story. Why? is the question. Susan Woodhouse gives us the answer by telling the story of a small but influential group of men and women who dared swim against the racial current in Africa after the Second World War. It,s a story told with warmth, personal insight and often great humour. This Edinburgh-based author, who Sir Garfield said knew the Todds better than anyone else, has introduced a small but dedicated group of long forgotten activists to,a new generation of readers.
Herbert Gladstone (1854-1930) was the only one of the sons of the renowned nineteenth-century Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone to enjoy a significant political career in his own right. Yet he ...has been generally relegated to the wings of history's stage, destined, it seems, to remain permanently in the shadow of his illustrious parent. Such an outcome would not have troubled him unduly, for his whole life was shaped by deep affection and respect for his father while as a political actor he was happiest operating in the political shadows rather than in the limelight. In exploring the intimate connection between Herbert Gladstone's public and private lives this new biography reveals an unambitious, self-effacing man of faith and throws new light not only on his own career but also on significant episodes in British Victorian and early-twentieth century history.
In Friendship and Politics in Post-Revolutionary France, Sarah Horowitz brings together the political and cultural history of post-revolutionary France to illuminate how French society responded to ...and recovered from the upheaval of the French Revolution. The Revolution led to a heightened sense of distrust and divided the nation along ideological lines. In the wake of the Terror, many began to express concerns about the atomization of French society. Friendship, though, was regarded as one bond that could restore trust and cohesion. Friends relied on each other to serve as confidantes and men and women described friendship as a site of both pleasure and connection. Because trust and cohesion were necessary to the functioning of post-revolutionary parliamentary life, politicians turned to friends and ideas about friendship to create this solidarity. Relying on detailed analyses of politicians’ social networks, new tools from arising from the digital humanities, and examinations of their behind-the-scenes political transactions, Horowitz makes clear the connection between politics and emotions in the early nineteenth century, and she reevaluates the role of women in political life by showing the ways in which the personal was the political in the post-revolutionary era.
This comprehensive biography of Eduardo René Chibás (1907-1951) traces the life and times of Cuba's most popular and charismatic politician during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Chibás, whose ...admirers included young Fidel Castro, emphasized honesty in Cuban public life and promised to sweep away corrupt politicians during his popular Sunday broadcasts. His ties with supporters, many of whom knew him simply as "Eddy," were closer and more informal than any previous Cuban politician. During his 1948 presidential campaign, Chibás often hurled himself into the arms of adoring supporters after speeches. Such gestures were met with wonder and disgust by politicians more accustomed to buying votes than winning hearts. His suicide in 1951 dashed the dreams of his followers-who hoped he would deliver an honest government that provided services for the island's poor and respected Cuba's progressive 1940 constitution. His death, which was followed seven months hence by a military coup and eight years later by Castro's revolution, represents one of the great what ifs of Cuban politics. This seminal work explores Chibás's life in order to explain the nature of Cuban politics from the mid-twentieth century to today.
In uneasy partnership at the helm of the modern state stand elected party politicians and professional bureaucrats. This book is the first comprehensive comparison of these two powerful elites.
Barack Obama Kaufman, Burton I
2022, 2022-03-15
eBook
In this insightful biography, Burton I.Kaufmanexplores how the political career of Barack Obama was marked by conservative tendencies that frustrated his progressive supporters and gave the lie to ...socialist fearmongering on the right. Obama's was a landmark presidency that paradoxically, Kaufman shows, resulted in few, if any, radical shifts in policy. Following his election, President Obama's supporters and detractors anticipated radical reform. As the first African American to serve as president, he reached the White House on a campaign promise of change. ButKaufmanfinds in Obama clear patterns of classical conservativism of an ideological sort and basic policy-making pragmatism. His commitment to usher in a multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural society was fundamentally connected to opening up, but not radically altering, the existing free enterprise system.The Affordable Care Act, arguably President Obama's greatest policy achievement, was a distillation of his complex motivations for policy. More conservative than radical, the ACA fitted the expansion of health insurance into the existing system. Similarly, in foreign policy, Obama eschewed the use of force to affect regime change. Yet he kept boots on the ground in the Middle East and supported ballot-box revolts geared toward achieving in foreign countries the same principles of liberalism, free enterprise, and competition that existed in the United States. In estimating the course and impact of Obama's full political life, Kaufmanmakes clear that both the desire for and fear of change in the American polity affected the popular perception but not the course of action of the forty-fourth US president.
Surgissant en quelques rares occasions des tréfonds du roman national, son nom, depuis longtemps oublié de tous, laisserait à penser que l’homme aurait traversé l’histoire dans le plus profond ...anonymat. Pourtant, de son vivant, Georges Laguerre (1858-1912) connut une réelle notoriété, tant politique que professionnelle. Jeune prodige du barreau de Paris, devenu à l'âge de vingt-cinq ans le plus jeune député de France et promis à un avenir politique radieux, « le prince de Paris » comme certains se plaisaient à le surnommer, se voyait déjà accéder aux plus hautes fonctions de l’État. Néanmoins, « si la nature lui avait procuré de précieux dons, l’homme, par des fautes faciles à éviter, les aurait détruits et, par la même refusé sa destinée » (Maurice Barrès). Sa carrière, aussi intense qu'éphémère, et largement perturbée par ses convictions boulangistes, ne symboliserait-elle pas l’abîme qui sépare « l’homme d’État » du simple « professionnel » de la politique ?
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