Emma Peplow is Head of Development at The History of Parliament Trust, UK. She completed a PhD in International History at the London School of Economics, UK, and has overseen several oral history projects. Priscila Pivatto is Research Associate at The History of Parliament Trust, UK. She completed a PhD in Public Law at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and was a visiting scholar in Colombia Center for Oral History Research, USA.
Thanks to the heroic efforts of the History of Parliament Trust, these oral histories have preserved in amber an authentic but otherwise fleeting portrait of Westminster for the ages. Anybody seeking to understand the interior life of Parliament-indeed how the United Kingdom is governed-will find this book indispensable. And thoroughly fascinating! * Russell Riley, Co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program, University of Virginia's Miller Center, USA * Every page of this fascinating book pulls into focus the human drama of electoral politics over the past half-century. Here are political lives being made and re-made, from childhood through to old age, and from the constituency campaign trail to the Parliamentary despatch box. Peplow and Pivatto are wise and sensitive guides to this unique repository. Their book will captivate anyone with a serious interest in the people who govern us. * Helen McCarthy, Lecturer in Modern British History, University of Cambridge, UK * [A] very entertaining and revealing read ... [A] very easily accessible reference work. * Liberator *