John Major: The Autobiography

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John Major: The Autobiography
John Major The Autobiography.jpg
Author John Major
LanguageEnglish
Genre Memoir
Published11 October 1999
Publisher HarperCollins
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Pages774
ISBN 0001056093

John Major: The Autobiography (sometimes simply The Autobiography [1] ) is a memoir by former British Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party John Major, published by HarperCollins, on 11 October 1999. It covers Major's life up until that point, including his decade on the frontbench under Margaret Thatcher and his time in Number 10.

Contents

Synopsis

The memoir covers Major's life from his family origins, through his conservative "apprenticeships" of the Young Conservatives and local government, as well as his two bids for parliament in St Pancras, to his win in 1976 in Huntingdonshire. It goes on to cover his 11 years in various cabinet posts. [2] Much of the book's coverage of Major's premiership is focussed on the country's relationship with Europe, and the problems that caused with in the Conservative Party. [2] [3]

Publication

The autobiography was published in serialised extracts in the week leading up to its release. [4]

Reception

Critical reception

Upon release, John Major: The Autobiography was generally well-received. [5] [6] The Guardian gave the work an average rating of 8.6 out of 10 based on reviews from multiple British newspapers. [7]

Writing in The Guardian , Kenneth Baker, a Home Secretary under Major, opined that it was "a balanced book from a balanced man", treating Major's colleagues with even handedness. [8] Comparing the book to the simultaneously released memoir by Norman Lamont, In Office, a review in The Daily Telegraph found Major's the superior book, having a much broader scope. In fact, the reviewer thought it the "finest government memoir since Nigel Lawson's", and "deeply-moving" at times. [3] Roy Jenkins, in the Evening Standard , concurred placing it "well within the higher range of political pièces justificatives " and felt it a "partial but rational chronical of events". [2] A review in The Sun Times was particularly drawn to the description of Major's childhood and family. [9]

At the end of the year, the Historian and biographer John Campbell called it one of his books of the year. [1] In retrospect the book was still held in high regard, with political biographer Sonia Purnell calling it a "readable tome about an ambitious politician" and the i newspaper calling it one of the top 20 political memoirs, with Major's writing being "candid, frank and self-reflective". [10] [11]

Commercial reception

As the book released on the same day as Norman Lamont's In Office, there was interest in which of the two memoirs would be more successful. Even before they went on sale, Major was seen as the winner with his launch drawing hundreds, far more that Lamont's. [12] The Autobiography would go on to be a number one bestseller surpassing autobiographies by Alex Ferguson and Geri Halliwell. Within about a month it had sold about 70,000, according to the publisher (compared to 619 for In Office). [13] In the end, sales totaled 91,513, according Nielsen Book Research. [14]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Books of the Year". The Independent. 20 November 1999. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Jenkins, Roy (18 October 1999). "A Major Autobiography". Evening Standard. p. 316. Retrieved 18 June 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 "Slow to Criticise, Swift to Share the Blame". The Daily Telegraph. 16 October 1999. p. 63. Retrieved 18 June 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ McSmith, Andy (3 October 1999). "Hague haunted by Tory ghosts". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  5. ↑ "Books of the moment: What the papers said". The Daily Telegraph. 23 Oct 1999. p. 72. Retrieved 19 July 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Books of the moment: What the papers said". The Daily Telegraph. 30 Oct 1999. p. 71. Retrieved 19 July 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "The Review of Reviews". The Guardian. 22 Oct 1999. p. 96. Retrieved 19 July 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Baker, Kenneth (17 October 1999). "He let the bastards grind him down". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  9. ↑ McCabe, Aileen (16 October 1999). "Grey is how he Likes it". The Sun Times. p. 26. Retrieved 18 June 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Purnell, Sonia (3 August 2019). "Book clinic: which books will restore my faith in politicians?". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  11. ↑ "Must-read politic memoirs from across the political spectrum". inews.co.uk. 13 September 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  12. ↑ Waugh, Paul (12 October 1999). "It's Black Monday for Lamont as Major's Book Rates Higher Interest Among Readers". The Independent. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Gibbons, Fiachra (3 November 1999). "The Major memoirs: A not inconsiderable success". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  14. ↑ "David Cameron: How is his autobiography selling?". BBC News. 25 September 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
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