Kenneth Rose was one of the most astute observers of the post-war Establishment. The wry and amusing journals of the royal biographer and historian made objective observation a sculpted craft.
His impeccable social placement located him within the beating heart of the national elite for decades. He was capable of writing substantial history, such as his priceless material on the abdication crisis from conversations with both the Duke of Windsor and the Queen Mother. Yet he maintained sufficient distance to achieve impartial documentation while working among political, clerical, military, literary and aristocratic circles. Relentless observation and a self-confessed difficulty ‘to let a good story pass me by’ made Rose a legendary social commentator, while his impressive breadth of interests was underpinned by tremendous respect for the subjects of his enquiry.
Brilliantly equipped as Rose was to witness, detail and report, the second volume of his journals vividly portrays some of the most important events and people of the last century, from the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979 to Kenneth Rose’s death in 2014.
His impeccable social placement located him within the beating heart of the national elite for decades. He was capable of writing substantial history, such as his priceless material on the abdication crisis from conversations with both the Duke of Windsor and the Queen Mother. Yet he maintained sufficient distance to achieve impartial documentation while working among political, clerical, military, literary and aristocratic circles. Relentless observation and a self-confessed difficulty ‘to let a good story pass me by’ made Rose a legendary social commentator, while his impressive breadth of interests was underpinned by tremendous respect for the subjects of his enquiry.
Brilliantly equipped as Rose was to witness, detail and report, the second volume of his journals vividly portrays some of the most important events and people of the last century, from the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister in 1979 to Kenneth Rose’s death in 2014.
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Reviews
Kenneth Rose provides a fascinating window on the establishment in the second volume of his gossipy, scandalous and insightful diaries,
[Kenneth Rose] has written a historian's journal ... Nevertheless, Rose does cast a critical and acute eye over Vanity Fair ... this is how Kenneth wished to be remembered by the world: as a suave, amusing columnist and gifted historian who walked with the great
Addictive stuff. Each entry is only a few lines long; it's like reading an extremely good newspaper diary for page after page. If you're a newspaper addict like me - and a gossip addict, too, again like me - you'll love it. You feel as if you're tucking into an enormous box of chocolates, happily dropping down into infinite layers of new chocs below, without ever feeling sick.
Intimate with the highest levels of society, politics, the arts and the Royal Family, Kenneth Rose has left us one of the most vivid, full and revealing records of the postwar era