Denis Healey

As Chancellor in 1974-1979, Denis Healey met Britain's second greatest financial crisis of the century, faced a crashing currency and a visitation of the IMF, and brought the country through with a strengthened currency. Inside the Labour Party, he fought Tony Benn—nominally for the deputy leadership, actually for the party's survival as a national force. In this biography, Edward Pearce argues that Healey, a man of intellect and great culture, retains the qualities of the soldier he once was—loyalty, bravery, and the ability to face crisis with courage, stamina, and humor.