Highly recommend

I recently completed Clement Attlee by the historian, John Bew. In this biography, Bew characterizes Attlee as the Prime Minister who created modern Britain with achievements like the National Health Service, National Insurance and other features of the modern welfare state in his hat.

Attlee is also credited with transitioning Britain from Empire to Commonwealth as he foresaw the end of colonialism and oversaw the independence of India, Pakistan Burma and Ceylon. Curiously, the author did not give sufficient attention to the burgeoning independence movements in Sub-Saharan Africa during Attlee’s Premiership (1945-51), or Britain’s African empire in general, except in terms of how Attlee anticipated it would contribute to the economic defence of the sterling following the post World War 2 depression.

Still, it makes good reading about events in Britain and world affairs from the perspective of a left-leaning leader. It also mellows heroic portrayals of Churchill, who has traditionally been presented as the Britain’s most consequential leader of the twentieth century. Best of all, it combines well-written prose and poetry to great effect, bringing depth and breadth to the story of a man about whom quite little is written, but whose impact remains to this day.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!