A Modern Plutarch

Comparisons of the Most Influential Modern Statesmen

Robert Lloyd George

• Publisher: Abrams Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781468312492
• eBook ISBN:
  9781468314113
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Inspired by the Ancient Greek biographer, this volume offers comparative assessments of important leaders from American and British history.
One of the most significant and enduring texts of Ancient Greece is Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. In it, the "Father of Biography" paired off the most notable and influential figures of the classical world, placing their lives and legacies next to each other, allowing the comparisons and juxtapositions to reveal new truths about these famous men. He compared Demosthenes with Cicero, Alexander the Great with Julius Caesar; the result was an intellectual masterpiece still referred to by historians today.
In A Modern Plutarch, Robert Lloyd George applies this model of biography to the most influential statesmen and stateswomen of American and British history. Lloyd George compares figures such as Edmund Burke, a prophet of modern conservatism, and Thomas Paine, a champion for the common man. He juxtaposes Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln, two of the greatest wartime leaders of the past 200 years, and Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, the first divisive, the latter popular.
In doing so, he draws parallels between their lives and philosophies, while revealing the traits that made them unique. An essential primer on leadership and an inspiring account of exceptional lives, A Modern Plutarch offers remarkable insight into some of the greatest minds of the modern era.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Also By Robert Lloyd George
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Duke of Wellington and George Washington
• 2. William Penn and Brigham Young
• 3. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham and Benjamin Franklin
• 4. William Pitt the Younger and Alexander Hamilton
• 5. Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine
• 6. William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield and John Marshall
• 7. Lord Melbourne and James Madison
• 8. George Canning and James Monroe
• 9. William Wilberforce and John Quincy Adams
• 10. Spencer Perceval and James Garfield
• 11. Charles James Fox and Aaron Burr
• 12. Sir Robert Peel and Andrew Jackson
• 13. John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough and Robert E. Lee
• 14. Joseph Chamberlain and Theodore Roosevelt
• 15. William Gladstone and Woodrow Wilson
• 16. Benjamin Disraeli and Thomas Jefferson
• 17. David Lloyd George and Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• 18. Stanley Baldwin and Herbert Hoover
• 19. Neville Chamberlain and James Buchanan
• 20. Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln
• 21. Clement Attlee and Harry S. Truman
• 22. Lord Mountbatten of Burma and Douglas MacArthur
• 23. Harold Macmillan and John F. Kennedy
• 24. Edward Heath and Richard Nixon
• 25. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix 1 UK Sites: Museums, Homes, and Libraries
• Appendix 2 US Sites: Museums, Homes, and Libraries
• Suggested Reading
• About the Author