Richard Toye Publications
Below is a selection of Richards's finest publications, which can be purchased through Amazon by clicking on the Buy Now button beneath each book.
The Churchill Myths
This is not a book about Winston Churchill. It is not principally about his politics, nor his rhetorical imagination, nor even about the man himself. Instead, it addresses the varied afterlives of the man and the persistent, deeply located compulsion to bring him back from the dead, capturing and explaining the significance of the various Churchill myths to Britain's history and current politics.
The authors look at Churchill's portrayal in social memory. They demonstrate the ways in which politicians have often used the idea of Churchill as a means of self-validation - using him to show themselves as tough and honest players.
They show the man dramatized in film and television - an onscreen persona that is often the product of a gratuitous mixing of fact and fantasy, one deliberately shaped to meet the preferences of the presumed audience. They discuss his legacy in light of the Brexit debate - showing how public figures on both sides of the Leave/Remain debate were able to use elements of Churchill's words and character to argue for their own point-of-view.
Churchill's Empire: The World that Made Him and the World He Made
"I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.’ These notorious words, spoken by Churchill in 1942, encapsulate his image as an imperial die-hard, implacably opposed to colonial freedom – a reputation that has prevailed, and which Churchill willingly embraced to further his policies.
Yet, as a youthful minister at the Colonial Office before World War I, his political opponents had seen him as a Little Englander and a danger to the Empire. Placing Churchill in the context of his times and his contemporaries, Richard Toye evaluates his position on key Imperial questions and examines what was conventional about Churchill’s opinions and what was unique.
Combining a lightness of touch and entertaining storytelling with expert and insightful analysis, the result is a vivid and dynamic account of a remarkable man and an extraordinary era.
'Wonderfully informative' Daily Telegraph
'Excellent' Spectator‘
Mature, intelligent, thoughtful, judicious’ Washington Times
‘One of Britain's smartest young historians’ Independent
Rhetoric: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
In this Very Short Introduction, Richard Toye explores the purpose of rhetoric. Rather than presenting a defense of it, he considers it as the foundation-stone of civil society, and an essential part of any democratic process. Using wide-ranging examples from Ancient Greece, medieval Islamic preaching, and modern cinema, Toye considers why we should all have an appreciation of the art of rhetoric.
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Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness
The two most significant British political figures of the twentieth century, Churchill and Lloyd George were political rivals but personal friends.
Between them, their ministerial careers spanned seventy years and two world wars. Althought they could not have been more different temperamentally and often disagreed violently about politics, theirs was 'the longest political friendship in the life of Great Britain' and Churchill was the only person outside his family to call Lloyd George 'David'.
Richard Toye's book is a dynamic account of their relationship. Drawing on diaries and letters, some never before published, (there are more than 1,000 pieces of correspondence between the two men), he explores their long-standing friendship and rivalry, the impact they had on each other's careers, and the fate of their respective reputations, arguing that Lloyd George's major achievements have been undeservedly overshadowed, in part as a consequence of Churchill's later mythmaking.
It is a major work from a brilliant young historian.
Age of Promises: Electoral Pledges in Twentieth-Century Britain
Age of Promises explores the issue of electoral promises in twentieth-century Britain - how they were made, how they were understood, and how they evolved across time - through a study of general election manifestos and election addresses. The authors argue that a history of the act of making promises - which is central to the political process, but which has not been sufficiently analysed - illuminates the development of political communication and democratic representation
The twentieth century saw a broad shift away from politics viewed as a discursive process whereby, at elections, it was enough to set out broad principles, with detailed policymaking to follow once in office following reflection and discussion.
Over the first part of the century parties increasingly felt required to compile lists of specific policies to offer to voters, which they were then considered to have an obligation to carry out come what may.
From 1945 onwards, moreover, there was even more focus on detailed, costed, pledges. We live in an age of growing uncertainty over the authority and status of political promises. In the wake of the 2016 EU referendum controversy erupted over parliamentary sovereignty.
Should 'the will of the people' as manifested in the referendum result be supreme, or did MPs owe a primary responsibility to their constituents and/or to the party manifestos on which they had been elected? Age of Promises demonstrates that these debates build on a long history of differing understandings about what status of manifestos and addresses should have in shaping the actions of government.
The Roar of the Lion: The Untold Story of Churchill's World War II Speeches Reprint Edition, Kindle Edition
'My aunt, listening to the Prime Minister's speech, remarked of "our greatest orator", "He's no speaker, is he?" - diary of teacher M.A. Pratt, 11 Nov. 1942.
The popular story of Churchill's wartime rhetoric is a simple one: the British people were energized and inspired by his speeches, which were almost universally admired and played an important role in the ultimate victory over Nazi Germany. Richard Toye now re-examines this accepted national story - and gives it a radical new spin.
Using survey evidence and the diaries of ordinary people, he shows how reactions to Churchill's speeches at the time were often very different from what we have always been led to expect. His first speeches as Prime Minister in the dark days of 1940 were by no means universally acclaimed - indeed, many people thought that he was drunk during his famous 'finest hour' broadcast - and there is little evidence that they made a decisive difference to the British people's will to fight on.
In actual fact, as Toye shows, mass enthusiasm sat side-by-side with considerable criticism and dissent from ordinary people. Yes, there were speeches that stimulated, invigorated, and excited many. But there were also speeches that caused depression and disappointment in many others, and which sometimes led to workplace or family arguments. Yet this more complex reality has been consistently obscured from the historical record by the overwhelming power of a treasured national myth.
The first systematic, archive based examination of Churchill's World War II rhetoric as a whole, The Roar of the Lion considers his oratory not merely as a series of 'great speeches', but as calculated political interventions which had diplomatic repercussions far beyond the effect on the morale of listeners in Britain. Considering his failures as well as his successes, the book moves beyond the purely celebratory tone of much of the existing literature. It offers new insight into how the speeches were written and delivered - and shows how Churchill's words were received at home, amongst allies and neutrals, and within enemy and occupied countries.
This is the essential book on Churchill's wartime speeches. It presents us with a dramatically new take on the politics of the 1940s - one that will change the way we think about Churchill's oratory forever.
Winston Churchill: Politics, Strategy and Statecraft Paperback – 12 Jan. 2017
Winston Churchill is a renowned historical figure, whose remarkable political and military career continues to enthrall. This book consists of short, highly readable chapters on key aspects of Churchill’s career. Written by leading experts, the chapters draw on documents from Churchill’s extensive personal papers as well as cutting–edge scholarship. Ranging from Churchill’s youthful statesmanship to the period of the Cold War, the volume considers his military strategy during both World Wars as well as dealing with the social, political, and economic issues that helped define the Churchillian era. Suitable for those coming to Churchill for the first time, as well as providing new insights for those already familiar with his life, this is a sparkling collection of essays that provides an enlightening history of Churchill and his era.
Winston Churchill: A Life in the News Kindle Edition
Before Winston Churchill made history, he made news. To a great extent, the news made him too. If it was his own efforts that made him a hero, it was the media that made him a celebrity - and it has been considerably responsible for perpetuating his memory and shaping his reputation in the years since his death.
Churchill first made his name via writing and journalism in the years before 1900, the money he earned helping to support his political career (at a time when MPs did not get salaries). Journalistic activities were also important to him later, as he struggled in the interwar years to find the wherewithal to run and maintain Chartwell, his country house in Kent. Moreover, not only was journalism an important aspect of Churchill's political persona, but he himself was news-obsessive throughout his life.
The story of Churchill and the news is, on one level, a tale of tight deadlines, off-the-record briefings, and smoke-filled newsrooms, of wartime summits that were turned into stage-managed global media events, and of often tense interactions with journalists and powerful press proprietors, such as Lords Northcliffe, Rothermere, and Beaverbrook. Uncovering the symbiotic relationship between Churchill's political life and his media life, and the ways in which these were connected to his personal life, Richard Toye asks if there was a 'public Churchill' whose image was at odds with the behind-the-scenes reality, or whether, in fact, his private and public selves became seamlessly blended as he adjusted to living in the constant glare of the media spotlight.
On a wider level, this is also the story of a rapidly evolving media and news culture in the first half of the twentieth century, and of what the contemporary reporting of Churchill's life (including by himself) can tell us about the development of this culture, over a period spanning from the Victorian era through to the space age.
Arguing about Empire: Imperial Rhetoric in Britain and France, 1882-1956 Kindle Edition
Arguing about Empire analyses the most divisive arguments about empire between Europe's two leading colonial powers from the age of high imperialism to the post-war era of decolonization. Focusing on the domestic contexts underlying imperial rhetoric, Arguing about Empire adopts a case-study approach, treating key imperial debates as historical episodes to be investigated in depth. The episodes in question have been selected both for their chronological range, their variety, and, above all, their vitriol.
Some were straightforward disputes; others involved cooperation in tense circumstances. These include the Tunisian and Egyptian crises of 1881-2, which saw France and Britain establish new North African protectorates, ostensibly in co-operation, but actually in competition; the Fashoda Crisis of 1898, when Britain and France came to the brink of war in the aftermath of the British re-conquest of Sudan; the Moroccan crises of 1905 and 1911, early tests of the Entente Cordiale, when Britain lent support to France in the face of German threats; the 1922 Chanak crisis, when that imperial Entente broke down in the face of a threatened attack on Franco-British forces by Kemalist Turkey; World War Two, which can be seen in part as an undeclared colonial war between the former allies, complicated by the division of the French Empire between De Gaulle's Free French forces and those who remained loyal to the Vichy Regime; and finally the 1956 Suez intervention, when, far from defusing another imperial crisis, Britain colluded with France and Israel to invade Egypt — the culmination of the imperial interference that began some eighty years earlier.
The Aftermath of Suffrage: Women, Gender, and Politics in Britain, 1918-1945 2013th Edition, Kindle Edition
This collection explores the aftermath of the Representation of the People Act, which gave some British women the vote. Experts examine the paths taken by both former-suffragists as well as their anti-suffragist adversaries, the practices of suffrage commemoration, and the changing priorities and formations of British feminism in this era.
Liberal Reform and Industrial Relations: J.H. Whitley (1866-1935), Halifax Radical and Speaker of the House of Commons (Routledge Studies in Modern British History) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
J.H. Whitley came from an established business family in Halifax, where he engaged in youth work and municipal politics before becoming MP for Halifax from 1900 to 1928. He was a Liberal Radical who worked with Labour, gave his name to the industrial councils of the First World War, was Speaker of the House of Commons 1921-28 presiding over the debates at the time of the General Strike of 1926. In 1929-31 he toured India as chairman of the Royal Commission on Indian Labour and was chairman of the BBC between 1930 and 1935.
He was thus a vitally important political figure who was active at the rise of Labour and the decline of Liberalism, involved in the Liberal reforms of the Edwardian age, and deeply concerned about industrial relations in early twentieth century Britain and beyond.
This volume brings together leading academics and provides new information and analysis on the life, work and times of J.H. Whitley, offering a study of his career in British politics and society, focusing particularly on the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first three decades of the twentieth century.
Making Reputations: Power, Persuasion and the Individual in Modern British Politics Paperback – Illustrated, 20 Aug. 2020
Is a charismatic leader also an effective one? What role do commentators and historians have in shaping politicians' personae? Making Reputations provides a major new assessment of the role of individuals in British politics. The authors examine the personalities and rhetoric of key figures, such as Gladstone, Churchill, Thatcher and Blair, as well as shedding new light on other neglected but significant individuals. Drawing on a variety of methods from gender to cultural history, the book presents a comprehensive examination of the relationship between the individual and the pursuit, maintenance and execution of power.
The UN and Global Political Economy: Trade, Finance, and Development (United Nations Intellectual History Project) Hardcover – 9 Nov. 2004
Against the backdrop of a 20-year revolt against free trade orthodoxy by economists inside the UN and their impact on policy discussions since the 1960s, the authors show how the UN both nurtured and inhibited creative and novel intellectual contributions to the trade and development debate. Presenting a stirring account of the main UN actors in this debate, "The UN and Global Political Economy" focuses on the accomplishments and struggles of UN economists and the role played by such UN agencies as the Department of Economic (and Social) Affairs, the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development, and the Economic Commission for Latin America (and the Caribbean). It also looks closely at the effects of the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, the growing strength of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the 1990s, and the lessons to be drawn from these and other recent developments.
Imagining Britain’s Economic Future, c.1800–1975: Trade, Consumerism, and Global Markets 1st ed. 2018 Edition, Kindle Edition
Following the Brexit vote, this book offers a timely historical assessment of the different ways that Britain’s economic future has been imagined and how British ideas have influenced global debates about market relationships over the past two centuries. The 2016 EU referendum hinged to a substantial degree on how competing visions of the UK should engage with foreign markets, which in turn were shaped by competing understandings of Britain’s economic past.
The book considers the following inter-related questions:
- What roles does economic imagination play in shaping people’s behaviour and how far can insights from behavioural economics be applied to historical issues of market selection?
- How useful is the concept of the ‘official mind’ for explaining the development of market relationships?
- What has been the relationship between expanding communications and the development of markets?
- How and why have certain regions or groupings (e.g. the Commonwealth) been ‘unimagined’- losing their status as promising markets for the future?
Rhetorics of Empire: Languages of Colonial Conflict After 1900: 149 (Studies in Imperialism) Hardcover – 31 Aug. 2017
Stirring language and appeals to collective action were integral to the battles fought to defend empires and to destroy them. This collection explores the rhetoric relating to empire and imperialism in a wide variety of geographic, political, social and cultural contexts.
Why did imperialist language remain so pervasive in Britain, France and elsewhere throughout much of the twentieth century? What rhetorical devices did political and military leaders, administrators, investors and lobbyists use to justify colonial domination before domestic and foreign audiences? And how far did their colonial opponents mobilize a different rhetoric of rights and freedoms to challenge imperialist discourse? These questions are at the heart of this collection, which presents original essays from twelve contributors, plus an introductory analysis of the empire rhetoric phenomenon.
Chapters investigate the place of imperialist rhetoric in the history of empire throughout the twentieth century. Issues examined include discourses of imperialist modernization, and the language of colonial ‘civilizing’, as well as the rhetorical justifications advanced for violent colonial practices. Essays range from the embittered rhetoric of the South African War and Theodore Roosevelt’s articulation of American imperialism in the early 1900s to the rhetorical battles surrounding European decolonization in the late twentieth century. The volume thus offers insights into the distinctive traits of differing European and American imperial rhetoric and traces their imprint in domestic politics and culture. Addressing anti-imperial campaigns as well as the discourses of imperial assertion used by politicians, administrators, and settlers, the collection highlights the importance of rhetoric as a form of contestation in the politics of empire.
The Munich Crisis, politics and the people: International, transnational and comparative perspectives (Cultural History of Modern War) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
The Munich Crisis of 1938 had major diplomatic as well as personal and psychological repercussions. As much as it was a climax in the clash between dictatorship and democracy, it was also a People’s Crisis and an event that gripped and worried the people around the world. The traditional approach has been to examine the crisis from the vantage points of high politics and diplomacy. Traditional approaches have failed to acknowledge the profound social, cultural and psychological impacts of diplomatic events, an imbalance that is redressed in this volume. Taking a range of national examples and using a variety of methods, The Munich Crisis, Politics and the People recreates the experience of living through the crisis in Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, Britain, Hungary, the Soviet Union and the USA.
The Labour Party and the Planned Economy, 1931-1951 (Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series) (Royal Historical Society Studies in History New Series, 32) Hardcover – 20 Mar. 2003
In the general election of 1931, the Labour Party campaigned on the slogan "Plan or Perish". The party's pledge to create a planned socialist economy was a novelty, and marked the rejection of the gradualist, evolutionary socialism to which Labour had adhered under the leadership of Ramsay MacDonald. Although heavily defeated in that election, Labour stuck to its commitment. The Attlee government came to power in 1945 determined to plan comprehensively. Yet, the aspiration to create a fully planned economy was not met. This book explores the origins and evolution of the promise, in order to explain why it was not fulfilled. RICHARD TOYE lectures in history at Homerton College, Cambridge.
Electoral Pledges in Britain Since 1918: The Politics of Promises Kindle Edition
Nobody doubts that politicians ought to fulfil their promises – what people cannot agree about is what this means in practice. The purpose of this book is to explore this issue through a series of case studies. It shows how the British model of politics has changed since the early twentieth century when electioneering was based on the articulation of principles which, it was expected, might well be adapted once the party or politician that promoted them took office. Thereafter manifestos became increasingly central to electoral politics and to the practice of governing, and this has been especially the case since 1945. Parties were now expected to outline in detail what they would do in office and explain how the policies would be paid for. Brexit has complicated this process, with the ‘will of the people’ as supposedly expressed in the 2016 referendum result clashing with the conventional role of the election manifesto as offering a mandate for action.
Mind Flip: How to Stop Struggling at College and get the Degree you Deserve Kindle Edition
This book, aimed at those taking humanities or social science courses, will help you translate your efforts into improved understanding and better grades. It will equip you with the tools to communicate clearly, to approach unfamiliar topics with confidence, and to finally feel at home in the world of college.
Richard Toye is Professor of Modern History at the University of Exeter. His many books include Rhetoric: A Very Short Introduction (2013) and Winston Churchill: A Life in the News (2020).