Not for Turning: The Life of Margaret Thatcher by Robin Harris

Robin Harris, for many years Thatcher’s speechwriter, trusted adviser and the draftsman of two volumes of her autobiography, has written a defining book about this indomitable woman. He tells her extraordinary life story, from humble beginnings above her father’s grocer’s shop in Grantham, her early days as one of the first women in Westminster who became known as ‘Thatcher milk-snatcher’ during her days in the Ministry for Education and then as Prime Minister.

We follow her through the ‘Winter of Discontent’, the tribulations of the miners’ strike and the Falklands War. And Harris writes a stunning account of her exit from power and tells of her life after number 10.

Fractured Times: Culture and Society in the Twentieth Century by Eric Hobsbawm

Born almost a hundred years ago in Vienna, Eric Hobsbawm, who was to become one of the most brilliant and original historians of our age, was uniquely placed to observe an era of titanic social and artistic change.

Small Wars, Far Away Places: The Genesis of the Modern World by Michael Burleigh

Acclaimed historian (and one of our earliest Supper Club speakers!) Michael Burleigh’s powerfully recounts the struggles following the collapse of Western colonial empires after the Second World War, whose bloody consequences haunt us still. He takes us on a historical journey from Palestine to Pakistan, from Cuba to Indo-China and reframes mid-20th century history by forcing us to look away from the Cold War to the hot wars that continue to afflict us.

The result is a dazzling work of history, which examines the death of colonialism with passion, insight and genuine understanding of what it feels like to be caught in the middle of realpolitik.