Reviews for Heroes and Contemporaries

The average rating for Heroes and Contemporaries based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-12-21 00:00:00 Andy Benedict Heroes and Contemporaries is a fascinating series of portraits of eleven well-known personalities by former Conservative Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken. The only discernible pattern to the choice of subjects is that the author knew them quite well. Therefore, we have chapters unsurprisingly on Tory grandees like Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and Michael Portillo but also on Labour's Harold Wilson; from the business world Aitken tells us about Sir James Goldsmith and John Aspinall but he completes the series with an account on the Rev. Nicky Gumbel. Aitken is full of delightful personal reminiscences and anecdotes which serve to add insights into these characters that the reader wouldn't ordinarily find elsewhere. He skilfully interconnects most the subjects so each chapter doesn't stand alone. With 20-30 pages (hardback version) devoted on average to each profile, the book is ideal for someone not interested in reading a full biography but wanting more than a newspaper or an internet article. I have read eight titles from Jonathan Aitken's works and Heroes and Contemporaries sees him writing at his best. My only criticism is that the volume is too slim. It could have been beefed up with a few more profiles. His colleague Jeffrey Archer or the actor Richard Harris whom Aitken met shortly before his death could have been included. However, wishing for more is of course is the ultimate compliment. Thoroughly recommended.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-09-15 00:00:00 Herbert Schupp Honestly, I didn't read all of it, but I read most of it. Very good.