This fully revised and updated third edition of Thatcher and Thatcherismsurveys the origins and impact of 'Thatcherism' as a cultural construct and an economic creed. Focusing on the career of Margaret Thatcher, Eric J. Evans proposes that the ideological coherence and originality of 'Thatcherism' was illusory. He argues that 'Thatcherism' was a bold experiment in ideologically driven government which failed to meet its main objectives. He includes discussion of: * privatization and the fate of the trade unions * Britain's slow economic decline versus Thatcher's delusions of British grandeur * the legacy of the Falklands conflict and of Britain's approach to Europe * education, the civil service, and crime. * the influence of Thatcherism on the successive governments of New Labour and the Cameron-Clegg coalition government. With a full bibliography and explanation of the economic, social and historical context of Britain in the late 1970s and 80s, Thatcher and Thatcherismis an invaluable guide to the complexities and paradoxes of contemporary Britain.