House of Cards - Michael Dobbs

If they ever come to devise a short list of great political works, Macchiavelli's The Prince will be there, Marx's Communist Manifesto will be there, and in my opinion, so should Michael Dobbs’ excellent thriller House of Cards. Set in the early nineties, against a backdrop of the internal squabbles and political manoeuvrings that racked the post-Thatcher Conservative party, the book tells the story of the inspired rise, and abrupt fall of one Francis Urquhart, the Government's Chief Whip. In superb fashion, Dobbs dissects the political world for us, and carves it up into manageable pieces that even the most politically inexperienced ...  Read the complete review