R.P.T. Davenport-Hines — The Macmillans

Mandarin. 1993, paperback, good copy. This is an outline of the history of the Macmillan family, its rise, triumphs and misfortunes. The core of the book is the personality and career of Harold Macmillan, but his achievements and tribulations are seen in the context of his family life. Coming from a peasant background, two Macmillan brothers founded one of the great publishing houses in Victorian London: a multi-million-pound business which their descendants still control in the 1990s. This is more than a family story, it is a book about class, power and the destructive personal traits that pass from generation to generation.