LDO Bookshop

Welcome to the LDO bookshop in partnership with Amazon.co.uk.

This is a list of books and videos that LDO members have read or watched and found useful or entertaining. Nothing is listed here unless it's been recommended by an LDO member. If you would like to recommend a book, please send an email to Martin Tod at martin.tod@btinternet.com.

The good news is that every book you buy here helps raise funds for LDO. Even if the book, video, CD or software that you want to buy isn't here, you can still raise funds for LDO by going to the Amazon site via this link.

The main sections are:

Introduction & what's new - this page
Biography - biographies of famous British Liberals.
History - overview of books about Liberal Party and Liberal Democrat history
Philosophy - important works of liberal philosophy
Internet - how to use it - and assessment of its impact
Software - useful campaigning software
Videos - entertaining political videos

If the book you are looking for is out of print, we recommend Liber Books as the best second hand bookshop for Liberal and Liberal Democrat political texts. Email Tony Greaves for details.

New books and software just in:

General Politics

Stephen Barber: Political Strategy: Modern Politics in Contemporary Britain
Includes a central case study on the Liberal Democrat strategy since the Alliance and includes interviews with Charles Kennedy, Shirley Williams and Richard Holme.

Policy

David Laws & Paul Marshall: The Orange Book
Stimulating policy proposals (not yet party policy) from the right of the party.

Europe

Chris Huhne: Both sides of the coin
Chris Huhne writes 50% of a book that sets forward the arguments for and against the Euro.

Fiction

Bill Newton Dunn: The Devil knew not
A serious political thriller by a former MEP which guides the reader through the labyrinth of Brussels, Strasbourg, the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council of Ministers.

Biography

Paddy Ashdown : The Ashdown Diaries: Volume 1: 1988-1997
Read the book everyone is talking about (at least in the LibDems)!

Go to the full biography section

History

George Dangerfield: The strange death of Liberal England
Classic 1935 work on the dramatic upheaval and political change that overwhelmed England - and the Liberal Party - in the period 1910-1914.

Trevor Wilson: The Downfall of the Liberal Party 1914-1935
A valuable and comprehensive study of the decline of the Liberal Party from being the principal party of state in 1914 to almost annihilation 20 years later. Much interesting history about the split between Asquith and Lloyd George.

Arthur Cyr: Liberal Party Politics in Britain (forward by Michael Steed)
An in depth study of the changes in, and development of, the Liberal Party, mainly from the early 1950s to the beginning of the Steel era in the mid-1970s, with some reference to historical information back to WW1.

By-elections in British Politics (ed. Chris Cook and John Ramsden)
The definitive study of British Parliamentary by-elections since 1918. Chapters on key by-elections, such as St George's 1931, Oxford 1938, and Orpington 1962. Also, a full list of the results of all parliamentary by-elections since 1918.

Go to the full history section

Philosophy

Conrad Russell: An Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalism
Excellent contemporary summary of liberal philosophy and how it continues to have a critical role in modern political life.

John Stuart Mill: On Liberty
The core text.

Go to the full philosophy section

Software

Meta Black Roman (Lining Figures) - the official party font
The cheapest way we've found to get the party font is at the FontFont Online Shop. To buy it, go to the front page of the online shop, type "Meta Black", click 'GO' - and then select the font package containing 'Meta Black', 'Meta Black Lining Figures' and 'Meta Black Expert'. If you only want a couple of words, and don't want to shell out the full $45 for the font, you can use the 'view text in this font' function to create graphics for the text you want to use. Once you've bought the font, cheer yourself up, by downloading some of the free fonts on the FontFont site.

Go to the full software section