Reviews for Michael Foot: A Life

The average rating for Michael Foot: A Life based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-03 00:00:00 Matthew Genuit Fascinating insights into one of Britain's most misunderstood politicians in modern times. Comparisons with Corbyn are grossly misplaced - Foot was a democratic socialist, patriotic libertarian and above all, a party man. It just misses out on the 5 stars due to the condescension with which Morgan treats the Bennite movement in the 70s and 80s (which sufficiently detracts from Morgan's role as biographer), and the somewhat sparse treatment of the Foot leadership years (50 pages out of 450). Perhaps this reflects the priorities of Foot himself. The Labour leadership was thrust upon him, the self-conscious tragic hero uniquely placed to prevent an irreversible Healey/Benn split. The book is less an exploration of Foot's times as perhaps one would expect; more an intensely personal treatment of Foot the man. As Foot wrote, 'No attempt is made at impartiality. Unbiased historians are as insufferable as the people who profess no politics.' - and Morgan succeeds in evoking a deep respect for Foot.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-06-03 00:00:00 Janet Harrison it's well written in the main, but the author is not at all sympathetic to Foot's politics or point of view. Thus, most of the time he doesn't even begin to grasp what really going on (at least from Michael Foot's view) , while at times he can be rather disingenuous. Maybe it was a mistake giving such a right-wing figure the task of writing Foot's biography