The reading list given to the Shadow Foreign Affairs team is listed here along with suggestions from other politicians and features History and Politics strongly. A predictable list perhaps, with Churchill, Macmillan and Alan Clark featuring but also some less expected such as Keynes: The Return of the Master. Vernon Bogdanor's book should be well worth a read as should Douglas Alexander's choice of Timothy Garton Ash's Facts are subversive.
Hilary Mantel's "Wolf Hall" discusses the rise to power of Thomas Cromwell and is mentioned in the article as a suitable historical novel for MPs to read. I haven't read it yet but it has certainly got favourable reviews - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/02/wolf-hall-hilary-mantel
ReplyDeleteMantel is certainly impressed by Cromwell, whereas Thomas More is portrayed as a "shabbily dressed...fanatic"