At Power's Elbow
At Power's Elbow

Author: Andrew Blick

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published: 2013-08-15

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 1849546401

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Discreet, inconspicuous, prudent... The perfect prime-ministerial aide is always in the background, a low-profile figure unknown outside the Westminster bubble. Unfortunately, reality often falls short of the ideal; for as long as the office of Prime Minister has existed, its occupants have been supported by a range of colourful individuals who have garnered public interest, controversy and criticism. At Power's Elbow tells their story for the first time, uncovering the truth behind three centuries' worth of prime ministers and their aides. Its subjects range from the early media-managers and election-fixers of Sir Robert Walpole, to the teams supporting the wartime premierships of David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, to the semi-official 'Department of the Prime Minister' established under Tony Blair. Along the way, Andrew Blick and George Jones demonstrate how these essential advisers can be a source of both solace and strife to their chiefs, solving and causing problems in almost equal measure. Above all, they reveal how a Prime Minister's approach to his staff can define his premiership, for better or for worse.

Writing With Power
Writing With Power

Author: Peter Elbow

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1998-07-09

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 0199741042

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A classic handbook for anyone who needs to write, Writing With Power speaks to everyone who has wrestled with words while seeking to gain power with them. Here, Peter Elbow emphasizes that the essential activities underlying good writing and the essential exercises promoting it are really not difficult at all. Employing a cookbook approach, Elbow provides the reader (and writer) with various recipes: for getting words down on paper, for revising, for dealing with an audience, for getting feedback on a piece of writing, and still other recipes for approaching the mystery of power in writing. In a new introduction, he offers his reflections on the original edition, discusses the responses from people who have followed his techniques, how his methods may differ from other processes, and how his original topics are still pertinent to today's writer. By taking risks and embracing mistakes, Elbow hopes the writer may somehow find a hold on the creative process and be able to heighten two mentalities--the production of writing and the revision of it. From students and teachers to novelists and poets, Writing with Power reminds us that we can celebrate the uses of mystery, chaos, nonplanning, and magic, while achieving analysis, conscious control, explicitness, and care in whatever it is we set down on paper.