A succession of enmities

Published by Oxford University Press (£10.99)

Margaret Thatcher's time in Downing Street continues to influence us today. Most of the many biographies of her focus on the day-to-day details of her life and career, but David Cannadine's Margaret Thatcher: A Life And Legacy takes a step back and tries to analyse the wider impact of herdecisions.

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"Cannadine leads us calmly but quickly through a series of often familiar events, managing to avoid being sucked into the usual controversies," says William Davies in the Guardian.The result is "a tale not so much of coalitions or prosperity as a succession of enmities". The outcome "is not a book of revelations", says Robbie Millen in The Times. However it is "an elegant, even-handed and economical overview of the life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher", even if it is "grudging" at times about some of her achievements.

"There are a surprising number of errors of fact," notes John Campbell in the FT, and the "brief" conclusion "sits carefully on the fence". But overall the book "is a masterpiece of compression, which rehearses the story of her tumultuous premiership with even-handed economy".