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A Journey
- Narrated by: Tony Blair
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
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A Journey
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Summary
Tony Blair is the politician who defines our times. His emergence as Labour leader in 1994 marked a seismic shift in British politics. Within a few short years, he had transformed his party and rallied the country behind him, becoming prime minister in 1997 with the biggest victory in Labour’s history, and bringing to an end 18 years of Conservative government. He took Labour to a historic three terms in office, as the dominant political figure of the last two decades.
A Journey is Tony Blair’s first-hand account of his years in office and beyond. Here he describes for the first time his role in shaping our recent history, from the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death to the war on terror. He reveals the leadership decisions that were necessary to reinvent his party, the relationships with colleagues such as Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, the gruelling negotiations for peace in Northern Ireland, the battles over education and health, the implementation of the biggest reforms to public services since 1945, and his relationships with leaders on the world stage, including Clinton, Putin, and Bush. He analyses the belief in ethical intervention that led to his decisions to go to war, in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and, most controversially of all, in Iraq.
A Journey is a book about the nature and uses of political power. In frank, unflinching, often wry detail, Tony Blair charts the ups and downs of his career to provide insight into the man, as well as the politician and statesman. He explores the challenges of leadership, and explains why he took on public opinion to stand up for what he believed in. Few British prime ministers have shaped the nation’s course as profoundly as Tony Blair, and his achievements and his legacy will be debated for years to come. Amid the millions of words written about him, this book is unique: his own journey, in his own words.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. Ds Phillips
- 12-06-21
Best political memoir
Fascinating, insightful and very well read by the author. Tony Blair comes across as a far-sighted and principled man doing a difficult job, making very tough decisions and contending with people in his own party determined to drag it backwards into an unelectable mire.
The book is surprisingly funny, with some real laugh-out-loud moments and Blair’s humour shines through. His writing is also superb, painting his memories in such vivid colours that you feel you are there with him.
The country is in a better place thanks to his leadership and future leaders could learn a lot by listening to his wisdom. If you only read one political memoir, make it this one.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John
- 30-03-20
Great book
Whether you agree with his politics or not, he is and was a great leader and is a great man. Thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend to anybody with any kind of interest in politics.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dannyboy
- 19-05-18
Great reading
Good historical account
Great Political tactics
Good leadership tips.
Inspirational book
Great tips on emotional intelligence
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- R Glaiser
- 13-06-20
kind of, dull, delivered in a monotone fashion
certainly not engaging enough to have that 'cant stop listening ' feeling.
there are better political autobiogs out there
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- alisdair
- 09-02-23
A fascinating glimpse of the curtain of political physiology
It’s fascinating to see both the human side of big politics being so similar to most aspects of society.
The huge scale of decisions the consequences of them with the desensitised to resensitesed rational. The storey continues
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Field Dynamics Ltd Miss E Morris
- 14-10-10
Excellent, whatever your politics
Whatever your politics and even if you hate Tony Blair you would be re-miss if you have rounded debates in not listening to his perspective attempting understanding why he rightly or wrongly made the decissions he did.
I listened to this trying to understand why this country is in the position it is now. It may not have given me all of the answers but it's much less clear cut to just blame Tony blindly he made difficult decissions and this is an account of why, it is undoubtly prejudiced from his perspective, yet it is fascinating.
In terms of the narration it takes a bit of getting used to, its very stilted and anxious but after a while he either calms down in the reading or it just stopped bothering me.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Phil
- 20-03-19
Excellent book from a deeply flawed egomaniac
The book is good and gives an insight into a deeply flawed person. His ego is all over the place and very rarely does he admit he was wrong.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Neil
- 21-11-10
A blur
At best I could it was interesting. It was however as if Alistar Campbell had written it and Tony was reading an autocue. It lacked humour and humility, but the content made it worth finishing as it is always interesting to hear what goes on behond the scences.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Matthew Wood
- 01-06-17
Thorough
A nice cover of his time in office. a lot of it felt like a defence of the Iraq war and I would have liked some insight in to after he left office. Well read and a good insight in to the big events of the Blair era
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Daniel Newport
- 25-01-19
An insightful and honest(?) account
Benefits enormously by being read by Blair himself. The self belief clearly borders on arrogance, but not blind arrogance. What comes through clearly is the deep awareness and contemplation of what it is to be a leader and the responsibility of making decisions. Certainly it helped me develop an empathy for the dilemmas of power I couldn’t otherwise have.
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