One of Britain's most important political leaders recounts his odyssey through British and world politics and offers penetrating portraits of Wilson, Thatcher, the Kennedys, Nixon, and other memorable personalities. For Americans who follow British politics closely, Jenkins's autobiography is essential reading. His career took him through every major postwar event--from Bevanism and the Gaitskellite struggle to the European Community and the Social Democratic party (SDP) effort to "break the mold"--and most senior offices. The feel he gives for the inside world of British and Labour politics has rarely been surpassed. Though he lacked, perhaps, the dash or charisma of some of his contemporaries, the story he tells is detailed, gracious in judgment, and marked by a generosity of spirit. Given the battles he fought and the people he dealt with, his gracious, temperate tone may come as a surprise. There are some disappointments: Jenkins offers too little on Europe and on the SDP-"Alliance" period and has dropped ten percent of the British edition--probably rich gossipy detail. Still, this is a first-rate autobiography by one of America's best British friends. (Index not seen.)-- H. Steck, SUNY at Cortland Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Jenkins--author (Truman, 1986, etc.); chancellor of Oxford University; former home secretary and chancellor of the exchequer in various Labour governments--engagingly turns his formidable narrative skills to his own fascinating life. The author's father, a coal-miner of Welsh origin, was, we learn, an ardent unionist who attended Oxford on a union scholarship and became a prominent Labour member of Parliament. Jenkins himself, after a brilliant career at Oxford and as a wartime code-breaker, entered Parliament as a member for Southwark, espousing traditional Labour positions. In Parliament, he came under the influence of Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party during the 1950's and champion of that party's right wing. Jenkins quickly assumed a position of leadership, so that, when Labour won a majority in 1964, he easily gained an important Cabinet portfolio, that of home secretary. He subsequently was responsible not only for a major revamping of British law but also for an attempted reshaping of the Labour Party. Jenkins was central to the debate on Britain's integration into the European Community, and, as president of the European Commission, he strengthened that nascent organization, assisting notably in the creation of the European Monetary System. Under Thatcher, he played an unwitting role in the perpetuation of Conservative rule when he cofounded the centrist Social Democratic Party--which, allied with the Liberal Party, split the anti-Conservative vote, and which, after Jenkins's resignation, rapidly disintegrated. A substantial feast spiced by warm, vivid accounts of encounters with Johnson, Kennedy, Harold Wilson, and other lesser politicians, and by an insider's view of the hothouse world of Parliamentary politics. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Used Book in Good Condition