A Study in Ambiguity

Mitterrand

A definitive biography of one of the twentieth century's most glamorous, complicated political figures.

Short gives an extremely vivid account of the way Mitterrand exercised the office of president

An excellent new book... The story of the rebuilding of France after the war in an equally embittered and divided republic

A compelling read for anyone interested in international power politics

[Mitterrand] remains an endlessly fascinating figure, and Philip Short tells the story expertly in this deeply researched and marvellously readable biography

A stunningly detailed investigation of a monumental political character

Philip Short, a former Paris correspondent for the BBC, makes excellent use of new interviews with Mitterrand's family to portray a flawed hero described by his own doctor as a mixture of "Machiavelli, Don Corleone, Casanova and the Little Prince".

I don’t know why this extremely interesting book has not been more noticed… [A] gripping account

A riveting read for anyone interested in political psychology

The analysis of [Mitterand’s] 14 years in power is masterly and helps balance the jaundiced views of more cynical observers

In telling this story…Short successfully gets under Mitterrand’s skin; what made him tick was a mixture of ambition, arrogance and a visceral hatred of any punctuality

A perfect example of the ambivalence of French leaders

Does full justice to Mitterrand’s life, both political and personal… As fascinating as its subject, and this is high praise

Short…writes lucidly and informatively… This is an excellent biography

Brilliantly researched and written… [Short] turns up much fascinating material from official archive

Philip Short is the author of acclaimed biographies of Pol Pot and Mao Zedong. He worked for ten years as the BBC's Paris correspondent and lives in France.

Aesthete, sensualist, bookworm, politician of Machiavellian cunning: François Mitterrand was a man of exceptional gifts and exceptional flaws who, during his fourteen years as President, strove to drag his tradition-bound and change-averse country into the modern world. 
 
 As a statesman and as a human being, he was the incarnation of the mercurial, contrarian France which Britain and America find so perennially frustrating. He embodied the ambiguities and the contradictions of a nation whose modern identity is founded on a stubborn refusal to fit into the Anglo-American scheme of things. Yet he changed France more profoundly than any of his recent predecessors, arguably including even his great rival, Charles de Gaulle. 
 
 During the war he was both the leader of a resistance movement and decorated for services to the collaborationist regime in Vichy. After flirting with the far Right, he entered parliament with the backing of conservatives and the Catholic Church before becoming the undisputed leader of the Left. As President he brought the French Communists into the government the better to destroy them. And all the while he managed to find time for an extraordinarily complicated private life. 
 
 This is a human as much as a political biography, and a captivating portrait of a life that mirrored Mitterrand’s times.

Philip Short

Magisterial... based on access to a Who's Who of senior politicians, diplomats and intelligence sources.

Exceptional... unlikely to be matched as a study of the man... It is readable, judicious, critical but balanced and focused on Putin the person rather than on the Putin regime

[A] revealing and compellingly granular biography

Anyone wanting to learn more about Putin's personality, ideas, power and the threat he has come to pose to world peace should read this outstanding biography

A masterly portrait of one of the most calculating and impenetrable individuals on the world stage

As a chronicle of Putin's public doings, the book is near faultless... [with] some sharply worded insights

A perfect mirror to its subject... This new biography should be compulsory reading

Philip Short's timely new biography ... provides a comprehensive, extensively researched account of Putin's life, in the process debunking some of the more tenacious clichés about the Russian leader

Short brings to this project extensive research and fluid prose. This book is comprehensive in the best sense, a detailed and meticulous chronicle of Putin's life

[Offers] a number of fascinating insights into Putin [among] the massive array of facts on offer

I got so absorbed in Philip Short's biography of Putin that I overshot my [train] stop

Stupendous... The definitive biography of the man, and I do not expect it to be eclipsed as such in my lifetime, or ever

John Evans,  US Ambassador and Consul-General in St Petersburg, 1994-7

A monument of information and sober common sense. Of all the books I have read about Putin, this is the most comprehensive and sensible

Rodric Braithwaite, UK Ambassador in Moscow, 1988-1992

UK Today News, The Best New Political Books August 2022

(Praise for Philip Short on Mao): 'It is everything one could hope for: magisterial, beautifully written... and rich in material'

(Praise for Philip Short on Mao): 'A beautifully written, grippingly readable biography... A formidable piece of research'

(Praise for Philip Short on Pot Pot): 'Extraordinary and brilliant'

(Praise for Philip Short on Pot Pot): 'A superb, chilling, yet human portrait of a monster'

(Praise for Philip Short on Mitterand): 'A stunningly detailed investigation of a monumental political character'

(Praise for Philip Short on Mitterand): 'Deeply researched and marvellously readable'

[A] meticulously researched biography

The explosive and extraordinary new biography of Russia’s leader

Vladimir Putin is a pariah to the West. 
 
He has the power to reduce the West to nuclear ashes. He invades his neighbours, meddles in western elections and orders assassinations. Yet many Russians continue to support him. Under Putin's leadership, Russia has once again become a force to be reckoned with. 
 
Philip Short's magisterial biography explores in unprecedented depth the personality of Russia's leader and demolishes many of our preconceptions about Putin's Russia. 
 
To explain is not to justify. Putin's regime is dark. But on closer examination, much of what we think we know about him turns out to rest on half-truths. This book is as close as we will come to understanding Russia's ruler.

Philip Short

Praise for Putin

Magisterial... based on access to a Who's Who of senior politicians, diplomats and intelligence sources.

An exhaustive profile

Exceptional... unlikely to be matched as a study of the man... It is readable, judicious, critical but balanced and focused on Putin the person rather than on the Putin regime

Magisterial... based on access to a Who's Who of senior politicians, diplomats and intelligence sources.

An exhaustive profile

Exceptional... unlikely to be matched as a study of the man... It is readable, judicious, critical but balanced and focused on Putin the person rather than on the Putin regime

Magisterial... based on access to a Who's Who of senior politicians, diplomats and intelligence sources.

An exhaustive profile

Exceptional... unlikely to be matched as a study of the man... It is readable, judicious, critical but balanced and focused on Putin the person rather than on the Putin regime

Books by Philip Short

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