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Who Loses, Who Wins: The Journals of Kenneth Rose

Volume Two 1979-2014
4.32 goodreads logo

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( 71 ratings, 3 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Kenneth Rose, a royal biographer and historian, offers an astute and wryly amusing account of the post-war British Establishment in Who Loses, Who Wins: The Journals of Kenneth Rose. With privileged access to political, clerical, military, literary, and aristocratic circles, Rose documents vital moments including the abdication crisis and the election of Margaret Thatcher. His impartial and relentless observation reveals the personal and political dramas among the national elite from 1979 until his death in 2014.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This volume is ideal for readers fascinated by British history, royal biography, and insider perspectives on the 20th-century Establishment. Fans of historical diaries and those interested in political and social commentary will particularly appreciate Rose’s deft storytelling and sharp eye for detail.

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The wry and amusing second volume of the journals of royal biographer and Sunday Telegraph journalist Kenneth Rose, one of the most astute observers of the Establishment in 20th-century Britain

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Kenneth Rose was one of the most astute observers of the post-war Establishment. The wry and amusing journals of the royal biographer and historian made objective observation a sculpted craft.

His impeccable social placement located him within the beating heart of the national elite for decades. He was capable of writing substantial history, such as his priceless material on the abdication crisis from conversations with both the Duke of Windsor and the Queen Mother. Yet he maintained sufficient distance to achieve impartial documentation while working among political, clerical, military, literary and aristocratic circles. Relentless observation and a self-confessed difficulty 'to let a good story pass me by' made Rose a legendary social commentator, while his impressive breadth of interests was underpinned by tremendous respect for the subjects of his enquiry.

Brilliantly equipped as Rose was to witness, detail and report, the second volume of his journals vividly portrays some of the most important events and people of the last century, from the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979 to Kenneth Rose's death in 2014.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Andrew Roberts praises the book as one of the most vivid and revealing records of the postwar era, while LITERARY REVIEW highlights Rose's role as a gifted historian and columnist who mingled with the great. CHOICE magazine describes the diaries as gossipy, scandalous, and insightful, and the CATHOLIC HERALD compares reading them to enjoying an endless variety of fine chocolates, addictive for fans of newspaper diaries and gossip alike.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781474610599

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 May 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Contributors:

  • Edited by Richard Thorpe

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 32.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 232.0mm

Weight: 640g

Pages: 496

About the Author

Kenneth Rose was born in 1924. He was educated at Repton and was a scholar at New College, Oxford. He served in the Welsh Guards during the Second World War and was subsequently a schoolmaster at Eton, before working for the British Council in Rome and Naples. He joined the Daily Telegraph in 1951 and worked on the 'Peterborough' column before starting the long-running 'Albany at Large' column in the Sunday Telegraph in 1961. He published prize-winning biographies of Lord Curzon, King George V and Victor Rothschild, as well as acclaimed studies of the Victorian Prime Minister Lord Salisbury and his family in The Later Cecils. He died in 2014, writing his journals to the end.

D. R. Thorpe was born in 1943 and educated at Fettes and Selwyn College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a regular contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He has published five acclaimed biographical works, the most recent of which, Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan, won the Biennial Marsh Biography Award 2009-2010.

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