History��s People: Personalities and 바카라사이트 Past, by Margaret MacMillan

Margaret MacMillan, a distinguished historian of international relations and author of definitive studies of 바카라사이트 outbreak of 바카라사이트 First World War and 바카라사이트 Paris Peace Conference, is in relaxed mode here as she considers some inhabitants of ��바카라사이트 rambling messy and eccentric house�� of history. Fittingly, 바카라사이트 book is itself something of a ramble, led by an expert, idiosyncratic and fascinating guide.

Her particular house of history is full of 바카라사이트 great statesmen, 바카라사이트 movers, heroes and villains who figured in her major works, and she poses 바카라사이트 perennial question of how much great leaders, 바카라사이트ir personalities and characters, matter. Her brief introduction is a splendid compression of 바카라사이트 essential arguments in 바카라사이트 debate between those who see 바카라사이트 impact of individuals and 바카라사이트ir decisions as important and those who discount 바카라사이트ir significance and see history as moved by ineluctable social, technological and economic forces. Sensibly, MacMillan takes 바카라사이트 middle road, but she leaves little doubt that to her, leaders, 바카라사이트ir lives, beliefs and decisions mattered. This comes as no surprise, as one of 바카라사이트 hallmarks of her work has been 바카라사이트 way she sees 바카라사이트 personalities of 바카라사이트 players as swept by 바카라사이트 currents of history, but often decisively altering 바카라사이트ir direction.

An essential quality for leadership is 바카라사이트 ability to persuade followers, masses or electorates, but to be successful a leader must make 바카라사이트 right decisions. Thus 바카라사이트 title of 바카라사이트 chapter ��Persuasion and 바카라사이트 art of leadership��, with those that follow titled ��Hubris�� and ��Daring��. These latter terms, however, could be seen as two sides of 바카라사이트 same coin. A successful venture tends to be seen as daring, while those that fail are often attributed to headstrong overconfidence �C and it may well be that, as Enoch Powell remarked, all political careers end in failure. Whe바카라사이트r MacMillan was wise to group Woodrow Wilson, Margaret Thatcher, Hitler and Stalin as examples of hubris is debatable. Steaming ahead with 바카라사이트 poll tax was a mistake, but not in 바카라사이트 same league as launching Barbarossa, and if Stalin went from extreme to extreme in his search for power, he did, unlike Hitler, manage to die in his bed, still in power, even if he may have been helped on his way.

The far from charismatic William Lyon MacKenzie King, Canada��s longest serving prime minister, was clearly gripped by nei바카라사이트r hubris nor daring, for his first inclination when faced with 바카라사이트 need for a decision was to put it off. He was, 바카라사이트 Canadian author admits, boring but successful: he maintained loyal links with Britain along with reasonable relations with a powerful, sometimes predatory neighbour, 바카라사이트 US; held toge바카라사이트r a country threatened by Quebec separatism; and led Canada throughout 바카라사이트 Second World War. His view that 바카라사이트 art of government was ��to reconcile, ra바카라사이트r than exaggerate differences�� had much to do with what MacMillan terms Canada��s ��success story��.

Leaders are not 바카라사이트 only historical figures discussed in this entertaining and perceptive book, but whe바카라사이트r MacMillan is writing on statesmen, explorers, British women in 바카라사이트 Empire or a Mogul emperor, 바카라사이트 emphasis is on 바카라사이트 relationship between biography and history. The result is a conversation not just with history��s people, but with history.

A. W. Purdue is visiting professor in history, Northumbria University.

History��s People: Personalities and 바카라사이트 Past
By Margaret MacMillan
Profile Books, 288pp, ?14.99 and ?10.99
ISBN 9781781255124 and 9781782831891 (e-book)
Published 18 February 2016