There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

In The New York Times Stephen Pollard called it "an immensely frustrating book, the whole being less than the sum of its rather incompatible parts."

Theodore Dalrymple took a favorable view of the biography, writing in the Globe and Mail: "Without being a hagiography, it is about as powerful a defense of Thatcher's record as is likely ever to be written."

In a review on The Scotsman Michael Fry argued that the book is an unremarkable, average account of the Thatcher years, but that it did have some redeeming qualities. He wrote: "Some of the books will be good and some bad. I would say this one comes about halfway in between. Berlinski shows commitment and energy as an author, beside an ability to wheedle great men into telling her things they might not have vouchsafed to anybody else."

Paul Sweeney of The Irish Times stated in his review of the biography that the timing of a positive biography on Margaret Thatcher was quite ironic, saying: "She says Thatcher was enormously significant. She is correct. She says she changed the world. She is correct. But when she says "for the better", she is very wrong." At the same time, Sweeney praises her ability to write, saying, "Yet Berlinski can write and she adopts an interesting style by reproducing interviews with some major players and observers of Thatcher's time. It gives a good insight into the person and her background."

Vincent Carroll wrote in The Wall Street Journal that "Despite Ms. Berlinski's obvious admiration for her subject," the book "is a pleasure to read in part because of its unflinching judgments." He continued, "As an interviewer herself, Ms. Berlinski is subtle and dogged. And while she never interviews Mrs. Thatcher, whose mind has reportedly been clouded by strokes, she does sit down with a number of figures from the Thatcher era -- both loyal insiders and antagonists like former Labour leader Neil Kinnock -- and the exchanges she selects rank among the book's highlights."

Peter Robinson described the book as "splendid" in the National Review, describing it as "a very fine volume--brisk, engrossing, insightful, often charming, and almost always rigorous." In answering the question, "Why Thatcher? Why was it she who understood that something had to be done and then did it? Berlinski proves wonderful here, seeing past all the usual explanations." Berlinski's "single failing," is that "She devotes more than 300 pages to proving that Thatcher remade Britain, and, to a remarkable extent, the world. Then she can't bring herself to admit it."

John R. Coyne Jr. concluded his positive review in the Washington Times by noting of Thatcher that "an attractive, articulate, intelligent and single-minded woman with a political purpose has a natural advantage over her male counterparts, who frequently can be persuaded to behave - or speak - in ways they wouldn't consider when dealing with other men. ... A corollary of this might be that an attractive, articulate, intelligent and single-minded woman with a literary purpose - and a recorder - frequently can persuade old male adversaries of Margaret Thatcher - especially verbose old Laborite Neil Kinnock - to run on in ways they might later regret - but that readers of this fresh, original and extremely well-written book will greatly appreciate."