A great biography on the Baring's family. They were one of the greatest banking family's in British history.

The Sixth Great Power: Barings 1762-1929

Philip Ziegler

Collins

Melbourne

History

Fontana

Harold Wilson was Prime Minister for almost eight years - the longest period spent in office this century until Mrs Thatcher. He fought five general elections and won four. While he was at Number Ten, Wilson held together the unruly elements of Left and Right in a Parliamentary party often at odds with itself, challenged the power of the trade unions, faced repeated economic crises and a devaluation, was abandoned by his own Cabinet and had to concede defeat. His period in office was one of the most momentous and controversial of the country's post-war history. His resignation took almost everyone by surprise and rumours still circulate about its cause. Philip Ziegler is the first historian to have access to Harold Wilson's personal archive, including much official documentation that will not become available for a decade or more. Although he has the blessing of his subject, Ziegler has remained totally independent. Philip Ziegler has written biographies qf Mountbatten, Edward VIII and Diana Cooper.

Wilson: The Authorised Life

Biographies & Memoirs

HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd

This is the official biography of Edward VIII. Philip Ziegler has had full access to all the papers in the Royal archives - crucial letters to and from Edward's mother, Queen Mary, and his brother George VI, as well as diaries and letters of others in the household are quoted here for the first time. From his childhood to his restless adolescence as Prince of Wales, from his first serious affair (with Freda Dudley Ward) to his falling in love with Mrs Simpson - the background to the abdication is described in detail from the protagonists' own writings.

King Edward VIII

Leaders & Notable People

The masterly official biography of Britain's former prime minister, which captures all the political drama of the 1970s, so relevant for the present day Distinguished biographer Philip Ziegler offers a timely reassessment of Edward Heath's remarkable political career. With exclusive access to personal papers unavailable to previous biographers he presents the first fully rounded portrait of our most enigmatic former prime minister. Beginning with Heath's early years - his childhood in Kent, student days in pre-war Oxford, wartime military service and short business career - Ziegler goes on to chart Heath's effortless rise through the ranks of the Conservative Party. He brilliantly captures Heath's rivalry with Harold Wilson and the supreme drama of 1974 - the year of two elections and a hung parliament - with its uncanny parallels for our own times. Politics consumed Heath's life but he found time for other pursuits, becoming an accomplished conductor and an internationally successful yachtsman. The book explores Heath's endlessly fascinating personality and casts fresh light on the financial affairs and private life of this most complex of political leaders. Heath's later years were blighted by the 'long sulk', as he failed to come to terms with losing the leadership to Margaret Thatcher. But this should not disguise his considerable achievements. He helped to transform the Conservative Party, and by securing Britain's historic entry into Europe, the high point of his career, he arguably changed the lives of the British people more fundamentally than any prime minister since Winston Churchill.

Edward Heath: The Authorised Biography

Harper Press

With exclusive access to the huge collection of Heath's personal papers, distinguished biographer Philip Ziegler reassesses the contribution of one of the most resolute and forceful politicians in recent British history.

Edward Heath

Historical

HarperCollins, Publishers

The authorised life story of the king who gave up his throne for love, by one of our most distinguished biographers. In this masterly authorized biography, Philip Ziegler reveals the complex personality of Edward VIII, the only British monarch to have voluntarily renounced the throne.

William IV, Queen Victoria's predecessor, was an eccentric figure even by the standards of his day; affable, uninhibited and boisterous, he thought nothing of spitting out the window of the state coach on the way to his coronation. This immensely readable biography, by a writer of unusual sympathy and sensibility who has had full access to the royal archives at Winsor, does justice to an unaccountably neglected monarch. William was England's "Sailor King", who as prince, served in America during the Revolution, entertaining and scandalizing everyone he met. While stationed in New York he was the target of an unsuccessful kidnap plot by General Washington. This and other aspects of his visit have been enlarged upon by Mr. Ziegler especially for the American edition. William was supported for 20 years by his mistress, the leading comedy actress of the day, and with her produced a total of ten illegitimate children. When he ascended the in 1830 at the ages of 64, the outlook at home and abroad was gloomy. After ten years of George IV's reign, the monarchy was almost uniquely unpopular; the July revolution in France dealt it a further blow. Agricultural and economic depression and dissatisfaction with the antiquated political system brought England perilously close to revolution. The entrance of a cheerful, intemperate and rather silly sailor on the scene seemed to lend only a superficial brightening. Yet his short reign witnessed not the overturning of venerable institutions but their rejuvenation by the Great Reform Act of 1832. The Reform struggle has often been described, but rarely if ever from the point of view of the monarch who, in the end, had to hold the whole show together if continuity were to be preserved. It is here that historians will find the chief importance of Mr. Ziegler's book. Mr. Ziegler has attempted the more difficult task of understanding him and, in doing so has achieved a vivid and convincing portrait.

King William IV

Harper&Row

Sweeping from Asia into Europe, where its more appalling by-products included the Flagellants and the first great Jewish pogroms, the plague reached England in 1348. This account traces the course of the plague through Europe of the Church and the broader social and economic repercussions, as well as a reconstruction of life in a medieval English village suddenly overtaken by plague.

The Black Death

Penguin Books, Ltd.

He was the twentieth century’s Prince Charming. Handsome, elegant, quick-witted, charismatic, and an intimate friend of the most powerful and brilliant people of his day, he had everything youth and beauty could hope for—including fabulous wealth and claim to the English throne. Then, a mere eleven months after becoming King, Edward VIII threw everything away to marry the woman he loved—Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. In this superbly written biography, Philip Ziegler, author of the highly praised biographies Diana Cooper and Mountbatten paints a graceful, balanced, and utterly mesmerizing portrait of the life and times of Edward VIII. Drawing on Edward’s extremely frank and explicit diaries and his two thousand love letters (long assumed to have been destroyed), Ziegler shows us the man he truly was. It is a story as compelling as the greatest English novels. Praise for King Edward VIII “A book of such compelling interest and frankness that it is difficult to put down.”—The New York Times “Almost breathtaking in its candor . . . [a] shrewdly judged, highly polished, and totally riveting book.”—The New Yorker “A masterpiece.”—The Times Literary Supplement (London) “Compulsively readable . . . Ziegler has told Edward’s story with consummate skill, tact and judgment.”—The Sunday Times (London)

King Edward VIII: The definitive portrait of the Duke of Windsor

Ballantine Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Philip Ziegler. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Philip Ziegler

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Philip Ziegler. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Sixth Great Power: Barings 1762-1929

Melbourne

Wilson: The Authorised Life

King Edward VIII

Edward Heath: The Authorised Biography

Edward Heath

King Edward VIII

King William IV

The Black Death

King Edward VIII: The definitive portrait of the Duke of Windsor