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“... One of the few growth areas in Britain today is the Thatcher industry. Battalions of journalists, political scientists and ‘contemporary historians’ are busily exploiting the phenomenon of ‘Thatcherism’ by analysing its origins, meaning and impact. No doubt, from the perspective of the British political élite, cocooned in the hothouse atmosphere of Whitehall-Westminster, it appears a very real thing ...”

“... These books all set out to tell us about ourselves, and to do it by quantification. Their statements are based on economic statistics, demography, official and unofficial measurements, including the measurement of opinion. Some of their conclusions will surprise, for no one reader can expect to have covered the full range of social activity. Their quality must depend on the quality of the ‘facts’ they elicit ...”

“... by Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Elisabeth Shue . . . Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry and so on. There are so many of them, and so many more who want to be in their places and who might do anything to be in their places. He might have mentioned: Cameron Diaz, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Charlize ...”

“... and danger (June Carter, played with great enthusiasm and almost entirely with her teeth by Reese Witherspoon); and in the end, of course, rescue. Mangold’s Cash is no saint; he’s Odysseus. We shouldn’t take any of these stories, Christian or Greek, at face value. In Killing Yourself to Live – well worth reading if only for its hilarious ...”