[转帖] 最值得一读的十本英国政治家传记（图集）

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http://article.yeeyan.org/view/246784/215335?from=index_cate_article

最值得一读的十本英国政治家传记（图集）

Ex-labour MP Chris Mullin's choice of political page-turners

                                         

前英国工党议员克里斯·穆林爱不释手的政治人物传记

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 August 2011

卫报网站，2011年8月28日，星期日

Pitt the Younger

《小皮特》

William Hague, 2004

威廉·黑格，2004

Who better to write a biography of that most precocious prime minister, William Pitt, than that most precocious of Tories, William Hague, who was in the cabinet by the age of 34? That, of course, is nothing compared with Pitt’s record: an MP at 21, chancellor of the exchequer at 23 and prime minister a year later – a position he held for 19 of the next 22 years. And he had some big problems on his plate: the madness of King George, the fallout from the French revolution and the rise of Napoleon. A fluent, serious piece of work by one of our most talented politicians

谁最有资格为最年轻的首相小威廉·皮特著书立传？不二人选当然是威廉·黑格，最年轻的保守党领袖，34岁就进入内阁。当然，这跟皮特的记录相比不算什么：21岁成为下议院议员， 23岁被任命为财政大臣，一年之后升任首相——在接下来的22年里，他两任首相的任期长达19年，要应付许多重大难题：精神失常的英王乔治三世、法国大革命和拿破仑崛起带来的沉重打击。这是我们最有才华的政治家之一撰写的一本流畅严谨的著作。


   

Photograph: The Gallery Collection/Corbis

图片来源：The Gallery Collection/Corbis
   

Pistols at Dawn

《黎明前的决斗》

John Campbell, 2009

约翰·坎贝尔，2009

Not strictly a biography, but a meticulously researched and beautifully written account of eight great political feuds, which brings to life much of the political history of the past 200 years. To those who protest that politics is about ideas not personalities, the author responds, “ideas prosper only through the flawed men and women who champion them.” Feuds range from Pitt versus Fox to Blair versus Brown, and include Disraeli and Gladstone, Lloyd George and Asquith, Bevan and Gaitskell, Heath and Thatcher. A joy to read

不算严格意义上的传记，但却以细致的调查和优美的文笔描述了八对政治家的恩怨，披露了过去200年间(英国)政治史的大量信息。有人反驳说，政治是关于理念而不是人物，作者回应道：“理念往往是由那些不完美的男女提出并为之奋斗的。” 皮特和福克斯、布莱尔和布朗、迪斯累里和格莱斯顿、劳合·乔治和阿斯奎斯、 安奈林·比万和盖茨克尔、希思和撒切尔的不和在书中都有所交待。这是值得一读的有趣的书。

Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/PA

图片来源：彼得·麦蒂米得／ 英国国家通讯社
   

The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955

《权力的边缘：唐宁街日记 1939－1955》

John Colville, 2004

约翰·科尔维尔，2004

Colville was Churchill’s private secretary for most of the war. Two thoughts strike one on reading his diaries. First, that just about everyone who governed us in those days – politicians, diplomats, military top brass, senior civil servants – was a toff (Colville was son of a viscount). Second, how laid-back government was – despite the war. His entry for 7 May 1940, the day of the Norway debate which brought down the government, begins: “Rode at Richmond before breakfast under cloudless skies…”

科尔维尔在战争的大半岁月里担任丘吉尔的私人助理。他日记中有两个令人震惊的观点：第一，那个年代的每个政府官员——政治家、外交家、军队高层、高级公务员－都是有钱人(科尔维尔的父亲是子爵)；第二，政府有多懒散——哪怕在战争期间。他从1940年5月7日让张伯伦政府倒台的“挪威辩论”切入，开头写道：“早餐之前，在里士满万里无云的天空下骑马..."

Photograph: Fox Photos/Getty Images

图片来源：Fox Photos/盖蒂图片社
   

Years of Hope: Diaries, Letter and Papers 1940-62

《希望的岁月：日记、信札和文件1940-62》

Tony Benn, 1994

托尼·本，1944

One of the great curiosities of recent years has been the transformation of Tony Benn from a national bogeyman to national treasure. Benn wrote nine volumes of diaries and this is perhaps the best. Not least for the light it sheds on his somewhat eccentric family and on that distant era of Labour politics, the 1950s, when Bevanite fought Gaitskellite while the Tories got on with governing. Most moving of all, a letter from his much loved older brother, Michael, shortly before he was killed in action

近年来最令人好奇的事之一是托尼·本从国家恶魔变成了国宝。托尼·本写了九卷日记，这可能是最好的一本，不光澄清了他那有几分反常的家庭，还阐释了1950年代工党的比万与盖茨克尔斗得不可开交、保守党趁机执掌政权的历史。最感人的是一封他的挚亲兄长迈克尔被杀害之前写给他的信。

Photograph: Murdo Macleod

图片来源：莫多·麦克劳德
   

The Time of My Life

《我生命中的时光》

Denis Healy, 1989

丹尼士·希利，1989

Denis Healey was a politician with hinterland – a distinguished war record and a love of music. He also had the satisfaction of holding two major portfolios (defence and chancellor of the exchequer). As chancellor, he was persuaded to go cap in hand to the IMF for a loan in exchange for a commitment to spending cuts and an unrealistic wage policy, which led to the Winter of Discontent and ushered in Thatcherism. We were assured there was no alternative, but buried in his memoirs – at page 381 – is an admission that the IMF loan was not necessary after all

丹尼士·希利是一位战功赫赫、热爱音乐的政治家，也曾担任国务大臣和财政大臣等要职。作为财政大臣的他被迫卑躬屈膝地向国际货币基金组织请求贷款，承诺以削减开支和不现实的工资政策作为交换条件，导致（英国因为经济衰退出现）“不满之冬”，撒切尔主义抬头。我们相信那时候他别无选择，但是深埋在他的记忆之中——在第381页——他承认国际货币基金组织的贷款根本没有必要。

Photograph: PA

图片来源：英国国家通讯社
   

The Downing Street Years

《唐宁街岁月》

Margaret Thatcher, 1993

玛格丽特·撒切尔，1993

Know thy enemy. A surprisingly good read for those who are broadminded enough to want to know what motivated the Iron Lady. She sets out with clarity both her philosophy and her contempt for the Tory wets: “[They] see the task of the Conservatives as one of retreating gracefully before the left’s inevitable advance.” She is not without humour. This is her account of her dismissal from the cabinet of Tory grandee Christopher Soames: “I got the distinct impression that he felt the natural order of things was being violated and that he was, in effect, being dismissed by his housemaid”

了解你的敌人。这句经典之言献给那些胸襟足够宽广、愿意去了解铁娘子的行为动机的人们。她透彻地阐述了自己的哲学和她对保守党中的懦夫们的鄙视：“他们认为保守党的任务就是在左派不可避免地壮大之前优雅地撤退。” 她不无幽默。在被保守党显贵克里斯多夫·索梅斯从内阁解雇时，她说：“我明显感觉到，他以为打破了常规，而事实上他被自己的女仆解雇了”。

Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

图片来源：哈尔顿·阿凯弗／盖蒂图片社
   

The Journals Vols 1-3

《日记三册》

Woodrow Wyatt, 1998-2000

伍德·罗怀特，1998－2000

A greedy, arrogant Thatcher worshipper, constantly in the company of the mega‑rich, it is hard to believe this ghastly man sat as a Labour MP from 1945 to 1970. His diaries are of interest because they illuminate a world that flourished during Thatcher’s reign. He is constantly on the phone to her and to Rupert Murdoch. His other great heroine is the Queen Mother whose indiscretions he records: “She is… very pleased with what I have written about South Africa. She thinks it is awful how the BBC and the media misrepresent everything [PW] Botha is trying to do”

一个贪婪傲慢的撒切尔崇拜者，经常被巨商富贾簇拥。难以置信这个可怕的人从1945年至1970年都在担任工党议员。他的日记很有意思，粉饰了撒切尔统治时期的繁盛景象。他经常与撒切尔和鲁伯特·默多克进行电话交谈。他心目中的另一位女英雄是王太后，他记录下她的不慎之言：“她对我笔下的南非充满兴趣。她认为BBC和其它媒体曲解了博塔的每个举动。“

Photograph: Steve Back/Rex Features

图片来源：史蒂夫·拜克/雷克斯图片社
   

Diaries: in Power 1983-92

《日记：大权在握 1983－92》

Alan Clark, 1993

阿兰·克拉克，1993

“Malicious, lecherous, self-pitying, and…enormous fun,” was the verdict of fellow Tory MP Julian Critchley. The first volume (1983-92) is the one that matters. Chiefly significant for its account of the fall of Thatcher, but full of wonderful vignettes and spiced with hints of his scandalous private life. Not every diarist can claim to have seduced three women from the same family. Incongruously, he was a lover of animals, attending protests against live exports and refusing to endorse the im