Product Description

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4106 in Books
• Published on: 2010-09-02
• Released on: 2010-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 624 pages

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Review
Written in a congenial style peppered with slang and gossipy asides. At one moment he is the bloke in the pub. The next, he is Churchill. --Ben MacIntyre, The Times

This is a more honest political memoir than most and more open in many respects than I had anticipated. He is compellingly candid about how scared he was when he first became prime minister . . . He is unusually direct about his calculations, even when they don't reflect well on him . . . He admits to stretching the truth beyond `breaking point' to secure a settlement in Northern Ireland. Even when the lies are told in a noble cause, few politicians are honest enough to admit that they sometimes feel compelled to be deceivers. --Andrew Rawnsley, Observer

He is by turns outspoken, provocative, unrepentant, often serious, sometimes funny. --David Frost, Al Jazeera

Tony Blair's memoir is part psychodrama, part treatise on the frustrations of leadership in a modern democracy . . . The book's broader purpose is to preserve his legacy, settling scores, justifying the war against Iraq, and mounting a defiant plea to his party to keep faith with New Labour . . . Blair comes across as likable, if manipulative; capable of dissembling while wonderfully fluent; in short, a brilliant modern politician. --Lionel Barber, Financial Times

Will certainly become a bestseller.
--Robert McCrum, Observer

This is substantial, thoughtful book and on the whole well written . . . My judgment is that he has for the most part set down honestly his version of events and attempted seriously to engage with his critics --Chris Mullin, Times

The fascination of the British public with Tony Blair is almost on the scale of his fascination with his own relationship to them --Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times

Really rather splendid --Jan Moir, Daily Mail

Prime Ministerial memoirs are traditionally stuffy, formal and guarded, as though written under police caution. Tony Blair's are nothing of the sort . . . his memoirs are chummy, colloquial, impulsive and rash . . . it is this candour that makes the book so readable --(4 out of 5 star review) Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

As this book immodestly reveals, Tony Blair was, and remains, a remarkable influence on politics, both domestically and internationally
--Menzies Campbell, Scotland on Sunday

What makes his memoir so absorbing as it swings from clever phrase-making and thoughtful contemporary history to wince-inducing self-analysis, is that he is the first of a generation of politicians to conduct their craft as if observing themselves from an amused an admiring distance - and then to write about it. No recent politician has examines his own motives and psychology quite so candidly -- John Rentoul, Independent

It is the small revelations about the character of Blair that make this book worthwhile --Ross Clark, Express

It's a gripping insight into the ex-PM's ten years of power . . . It will take a lot for many people to read his own take on the rise and fall of New Labour, but those that do might be reminded of the charm and vision that swept him to power --News of the World

I have read many a prime ministerial memoir and none of the other authors has been as self-deprecating, as willing to admit mistakes and to tell jokes against themselves --Mary Ann Sieghart, Independent

Paints a candid picture of his friend and rival, Gordon Brown, and of their relationship
--Patrick Hennessy, Sunday Telegraph

From the Publisher
The memoirs of Tony Blair - a worldwide publishing sensation

From the Inside Flap

TONY BLAIR is the politician who defines our times. His emergence as Labour leader in 1994 marked a seismic shift in British politics. Within a few short years, he had transformed his party and rallied the country behind him, becoming prime minister in 1997 with the biggest victory in Labour's history, and bringing to an end eighteen years of Conservative government. He took Labour to a historic three terms in office, as the dominant political figure of the last two decades.

A JOURNEY is Tony Blair's first-hand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana's death to the war on terror. He reveals the leadership decisions that were necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues such as Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, the gruelling negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the battles over education and health, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services since 1945, and his relationships with leaders on the world stage, from Mandela and Clinton to Putin and Bush. He analyses the belief in ethical intervention that led to his decisions to go to war, in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and, most controversially of all, in Iraq.

A JOURNEY is a book about the nature and uses of political power. In frank, unflinching, often wry detail, Tony Blair charts the ups and downs of his career to provide insight into the man, as well as the politician and statesman. He explores the challenges of leadership, and explains why he took on public opinion to stand up for what he believed in. He also looks forwards, to emerging power relationships and economies, and to Britain's changing role, addressing the vital issues and complexities of our global world.

Few British prime ministers have shaped the nation's course as profoundly as Tony Blair, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. Amid the millions of words written about him, this book is unique: his own journey, in his own words.