The Searchers

An absorbing history of Labour’s radical left – Jason Cowley * The Guardian *A breath of fresh air: a vivid eye for detail meets narrative pacing that seems effortless… As a character study, and as an evocation of Britain in the last century, it would be worth reading even if you had no particular interest in the subject matter…a masterclass in teasing out complex stories of simultaneous failure and success – Morgan Jones * LabourList *At times, [Beckett’s] evocation of the 1980s is so vivid that one can almost hear Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ playing in the background as one turns the pages * Literary Review *Vividly detailed and often gripping – Joe Moran * The Guardian *A sympathetic and absorbing political history * New Statesman *This is a premier account… a group biography of how ‘five heretics’… came out of the politics of the 1970s to upend the politics of the 2010s… Beckett is funny on the own goals and gaffes of a wide spectrum of the British media during years that they did not understand… There is no shortage of bleak lessons for the Left whilst reading The Searchers, but some causes for hope – Fergal Kinney * Tribune *Andy Beckett’s compelling history of the five politicians who made that movement in Britain… Beckett tells a good human story about five politicians he rightly identifies as more easily mythologised than understood, and more often than not derided and excluded by their colleagues… Neither left nor right are honest enough often enough about these people, and more’s the pity: understanding what they have achieved requires the sort of untypical, bracing honesty that Beckett applies so artfully here, having spent plenty of time listening and speaking to these politicians — as too few of his journalistic colleagues have… The Searchers should be studied closely by anyone with a stake in British politics – Patrick Maguire * The Times *An important, largely brilliant book. In focusing on the left, rather than the Jeremy Corbyn phenomenon, Beckett helps us to see more clearly the strengths and weaknesses of what the movement did at a time when it mattered most. By looking at the groundwork done over a much longer period, he also reminds us that these great historical processes are neither created by heroic individuals nor betrayed by evil traitors – Mike Phipps * LabourHub *Andy Beckett has done a brilliant job in producing an insightful and well-researched book * Andrew Fisher *PRAISE FOR PROMISED YOU A MIRACLE: Lively, provoking, bracingly anti-nostalgic – Hilary Mantel

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist. He has also written for the Economist, The New York Times magazine, the London Review of Books and the Independent on Sunday. His previous books are Promised You A Miracle, When the Lights Went Out and Pinochet in Piccadilly.