NYE: The Political Life of Aneurin Bevan

by Nick Thomas-Symonds

Overview

Aneurin - Nye - Bevan was one of the pivotal Labour Party figures of the post-war era in Britain. As Minister for Health in Attlee's government, his role in the foundation of the National Health Service, the world's largest publically-funded health service, changed the face of British society forever. The son of a coal miner from South Wales, Bevan was a life-long champion of social justice and the rights of working people, as such becoming one of the leading proponents of Socialist thought in Britain. In this book, acclaimed author Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds provides the first full biography of Bevan in over two decades. Drawing on first-hand interviews as well as recently released sources, he provides a unique portrait of one of the great British statesmen of the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350452046
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/11/2024
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.32(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds is Lecturer in politics at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a practising barrister. He is the author of Attlee: A Life in Politics (I.B.Tauris).

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART ONE: BOY TO MAN, 1897-1919
Chapter 1: The Welsh Valleys Childhood, 1897 – 1911
Chapter 2: The South Wales Coalfield 1911 – 1919

PART TWO: THE MAKING OF ANEURIN BEVAN, 1919-34
Chapter 3: Local Politics, 1919-28
Chapter 4: Monmouthshire County Council and Parliament, 1928-34

PART THREE: ESTABLISHING HIMSELF ON THE NATIONAL STAGE, 1934-45
Chapter 5: London and Jennie Lee
Chapter 6: Working Class Unity, 1935-1939
Chapter 7: The Second World War, Part I: 1939 to 1942
Chapter 8: The Second World War, Part I: 1942 to 1945

PART FOUR: CABINET MINISTER, 1945-51
Chapter 9: The Labour Government, 1945-1951
Chapter 10: The Creation of the National Health Service
Chapter 11: Bevan's Record on Housing, 1945-51
Chapter 12: Resignation

PART FIVE: IN OPPOSITION, 1951-60
Chapter 13: The Bevanites, 1951-55
Chapter 14: The Pragmatic Bevan, 1955-57
Chapter 15: The Final Years, 1958-60

Conclusion
Further Reading

Editorial Reviews

‘a worthy successor and useful corrective to Foot’s…tome…admirable’

Peter Catterall

"Nye Bevan was a political colossus, a passionate voice of socialist protest who was also a great creative statesman, an artist in the uses of power whose career fundamentally transformed our society. All these aspects of his career are admirably dealt with by Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds in a balanced lucid work based on a wide range of sources. It is equally strong on Bevan's background in the Welsh mining valleys, his triumph in launching the National Health Service, his role in the internecine wars that beset Labour in the fifties, and his abiding legacy for radicals and socialists at the present time. This is a gripping new analysis of one of the most controversial, but also one of the most charismatic, figures in recent British history." - Kenneth O. Morgan
 
"A very readable and well researched study of one of the true political giants of the twentieth century. This book will be a useful addition to the canon of labour history and British political history more generally." – Matthew Worley, Professor of Modern History, University of Reading
 
"A lively account of Bevan's political career that is well written and carefully researched." – Paul Corthorn, Senior Lecturer in Modern British History, Queen's University Belfast

From the Publisher