Margaret Thatcher: At Her Zenith: In London, Washington and Moscow

Margaret Thatcher: At Her Zenith is the second book in Charles Moore’s comprehensive biography of the former British Prime Minister. The book begins after the British victory involving the Falkland Islands conflict. Thatcher and her Conservative Party emerge victorious in the 1983 elections over Labour. The book traces many of the main events in the 1983-1987 timeline. Margaret Thatcher was a dedicated civil servant who sacrificed family life for political office. Her second term in office as the ruler at 10 Downing Street would be marked with important events, such as the stare-down with China over the future of Hong Kong, the conflict with Ronald Reagan and the US over the Grenada invasion, the battle with the vicious coal strike of 1984 which witnessed violent clashes between strikers, workers, policeman. The Cold War was still a constant threat, with Thatcher as an advocate of nuclear weapons as a deterrent. She would be the first to see Mikhail Gorbachev as a Soviet leader who could be spoken with, yet she feared an agreement between Gorbachev and Reagan dumping nukes altogether. Denationalization and privitization are overseen by Thatcher during the Big Bang period of the 1980s. The evolution of the country would continue during Thatcher’s reign, with advocates and detractors of the Prime Minister both shouting her name.

Charles Moore’s second book in the authorized biography is fair in its treatment of the late Prime Minister covering the good, bad, and ugly from re-election to the third term election in 1987. Thatcher is portrayed as a trailblazing leader who seeks peace, but in her own way, the way that she sees as best for England. Many interviews were done with those who served in Thatcher’s administrations, as well as friends and family, the backgrounds of many of the characters very well researched. This book serves history well.