cover image Maggie: An Intimate Portrait of a Woman in Power

Maggie: An Intimate Portrait of a Woman in Power

Chris Ogden. Simon & Schuster, $22.45 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-671-66760-3

Time reporter Ogden offers a rounded, clearly focused portrait of the British prime minister that is more intimate and less formal than Hugo Young's recent Iron Lady. With obvious admiration, Ogden traces Margaret Thatcher's political career (""making it to the top of the Conservative party was in many ways tougher than becoming prime minister""), her unique relationship with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, her successful marriage to Denis Thatcher (""a world-class male chauvinist married to the supreme symbol of female equality"") and her struggle to be a good mother to a ne'er-do-well son. The author suggests that Thatcher is motivated by the same values that motivate Americans--self-reliance, hard work and practical financial simplicity--and that a ""Yankee identity"" is a central element in her psyche. The book brims with intriguing details such as this one: Thatcher carries a vial of water in her purse to rinse off the acid she expects to have thrown in her face some day. Photos. (May)