Take a photo of a barcode or cover
51 reviews for:
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class
Tim Shipman
4.3 AVERAGE
51 reviews for:
All Out War: The Full Story of How Brexit Sank Britain's Political Class
Tim Shipman
4.3 AVERAGE
Rereading before the third book comes out, glad I'm Australian.
What a behemoth. I'm glad I read it, but some advice to people who are not intense politics buffs:
- skip the first two chapters. They cover too many years and people in too little time, and they are the first 5-8% of the book, so highly likely you'll stop reading at that point. Skim after you've read the rest of the book of you're keen.
- read this on Kindle rather than as a paperback. I found the X-Ray feature very useful, along with highlights, and never even realised this book was a mammoth brick until I accidentally saw it in a bookshop. Psychologically much better for you.
The author has had access to most of the big players in the EU Referendum so the Game Of Thrones nature of it all has been captured from multiple sides quite perfectly. As a Remainer, I've come out of the book much more sympathetic to David Cameron and Theresa May, and have seen parts of the Vote Leave campaign that I truly admire. I'd say a Brexiter would come out of this with a better understanding of why the immigration debate was so toxic, and maybe see some truth in all that Project Fear predicted, especially as now over a year has passed.
Bottom line - worth the reading time and effort, feel free to skim over when the going gets tough (the author quite often errs on the too many details side of the line), and keep an open mind.
- skip the first two chapters. They cover too many years and people in too little time, and they are the first 5-8% of the book, so highly likely you'll stop reading at that point. Skim after you've read the rest of the book of you're keen.
- read this on Kindle rather than as a paperback. I found the X-Ray feature very useful, along with highlights, and never even realised this book was a mammoth brick until I accidentally saw it in a bookshop. Psychologically much better for you.
The author has had access to most of the big players in the EU Referendum so the Game Of Thrones nature of it all has been captured from multiple sides quite perfectly. As a Remainer, I've come out of the book much more sympathetic to David Cameron and Theresa May, and have seen parts of the Vote Leave campaign that I truly admire. I'd say a Brexiter would come out of this with a better understanding of why the immigration debate was so toxic, and maybe see some truth in all that Project Fear predicted, especially as now over a year has passed.
Bottom line - worth the reading time and effort, feel free to skim over when the going gets tough (the author quite often errs on the too many details side of the line), and keep an open mind.
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
Remarkable a journalist could maintain this quality and such a comprehensive and complicated story in a book produced in the same year as the events themselves. Unusually truthful about the utter contingency of complex political processes and the diverse rationales and explanations available to plausibly make sense of them.
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
informative
medium-paced
This is an interesting and very detailed description of the Brexit campaign and referendum. Overall, I enjoyed it, although there were a few flaws.
1) It's excessively detailed. There's way too much information and detail in the book which caused the book to drag. After every single minor event we are given the opinion and interpretation of half a dozen advisors.
2) It's set inside a bubble. If you weren't active in Westminster or the media campaign, you don't appear in this book. According to this book, the entire Brexit campaign was fought in the media by people in London.
3) The focus is incredibly narrow, the book mainly talks about Tories and the Leave campaign, Labour is an afterthought and no one else is mentioned. The author seemed to view Brexit mainly as an internal matter for the Conservative Party, rather than something that affected the whole country.
4) It suffers from hindsight bias. Every decision by the Leave campaign is treated as crucial to its success and every decision by the Remain side is treated as a mistake. Even things that were seen as successes are rewritten as mistakes. This gives an inaccurately one-sided view.
1) It's excessively detailed. There's way too much information and detail in the book which caused the book to drag. After every single minor event we are given the opinion and interpretation of half a dozen advisors.
2) It's set inside a bubble. If you weren't active in Westminster or the media campaign, you don't appear in this book. According to this book, the entire Brexit campaign was fought in the media by people in London.
3) The focus is incredibly narrow, the book mainly talks about Tories and the Leave campaign, Labour is an afterthought and no one else is mentioned. The author seemed to view Brexit mainly as an internal matter for the Conservative Party, rather than something that affected the whole country.
4) It suffers from hindsight bias. Every decision by the Leave campaign is treated as crucial to its success and every decision by the Remain side is treated as a mistake. Even things that were seen as successes are rewritten as mistakes. This gives an inaccurately one-sided view.
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Wow — blown away by how detailed and broad this political history was, while still remaining interesting the whole way.
I did lose focus at times while listening to this, but I think that's mostly my own fault...
I haven't done any research into what else is out there but to me this is the definitive guide to everything Brexit, including how we got there and the immediate aftermath. I'd be hard-pressed to find a book as detailed and interesting. It really covered every angle!
Loved the appendices as well, especially the Boris Johnson articles.
I did lose focus at times while listening to this, but I think that's mostly my own fault...
I haven't done any research into what else is out there but to me this is the definitive guide to everything Brexit, including how we got there and the immediate aftermath. I'd be hard-pressed to find a book as detailed and interesting. It really covered every angle!
Loved the appendices as well, especially the Boris Johnson articles.
In a hundred years from now, someone writing about rise of neo-nationalism in western world might begin with 'It all gained momentum with Britain voting for Brexit'. This is the severity of Britain's vote in 2016 to leave EU. Or we can end up seeing it as something that happened and did not impact UK and the world in long run. It all remains to be seen. However, standing in 2017 when all the drama has already taken place, this one is a very good read to understand how, when and who played as actors in this political stage show called Brexit.
From 1950s onwards, the gravitational pull of third world has shifted from UK to America and Britain has slowly become that friend who just cannot resist the pull of her outgoing loud mouth friend. Thus, we are naturally more attracted towards what is happening in the USA (Trump vs Brexit) and when I saw this title in a local book store describing this book to be a comprehensive account of Brexit I picked it up to acquaint myself thinking this can come in handy in some future drawing room conversation. I have not been disappointed. It is book about the British political class and brings to life all the maneuvering of 'House of Cards' you never thought could be accurate.
The author does not take sides of the argument but instead defines the argument including the characters pleading the case and later stabbing each other to get in front of the race. I was not aware of probably 80% of the names in there and had to google them to understand the references but that is because I do not know UK's politics. I will not go into who did what in this game of winning the referendum because that is for you to go through and live the pages like I did. A thoroughly entertaining read despite the size.
From 1950s onwards, the gravitational pull of third world has shifted from UK to America and Britain has slowly become that friend who just cannot resist the pull of her outgoing loud mouth friend. Thus, we are naturally more attracted towards what is happening in the USA (Trump vs Brexit) and when I saw this title in a local book store describing this book to be a comprehensive account of Brexit I picked it up to acquaint myself thinking this can come in handy in some future drawing room conversation. I have not been disappointed. It is book about the British political class and brings to life all the maneuvering of 'House of Cards' you never thought could be accurate.
The author does not take sides of the argument but instead defines the argument including the characters pleading the case and later stabbing each other to get in front of the race. I was not aware of probably 80% of the names in there and had to google them to understand the references but that is because I do not know UK's politics. I will not go into who did what in this game of winning the referendum because that is for you to go through and live the pages like I did. A thoroughly entertaining read despite the size.