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19 February 2022 THEWEEKARTS
DespiteneverhavingbecomeaBritish
MP,Nigel Farageisoneof the most
“consequential”politiciansofour
time,saidAndrewRawnsley inThe
Observer.More orless single-handedly,
he transformed UKIP froman
“eccentricfringeintoaninsurgent
force” capable ofpanickingDavid
Cameron into pledgingareferendumon Britain’sEU
membership.“Absent thatreferendum,therewouldhavebeen
no Brexit”–andvery likelynoBorisJohnsonpremiership. Inthis
“grippingand vividbiography”, Michael Cricktellsthe storyof
howastockbroker’sson from Kent–who wentto the elite
Dulwich College but nevermade ittouniversity, aftergetting
mediocreAlevels –cametoplaysuchadecisive roleinBritish
politics.Comprehensivelyresearchedandfull of“jaw-dropping”
stories,thisisthe“best biographyofFaragethat willbewritten”.
Crick appearstohavereadevery secondarysourceavailable
andhas“conducted anastonishing 3 00 interviews”,saidDavid
Aaronovitchin TheTimes.TheFaragewhoemerges is“tireless
andunembarrassable”–a“functioningalcoholic”withanability
to goon anall-nightbenderand still
appearsmilingthenextday.Crick
detailshisepicphilandering–“He’d
shag anythingthatlethim”,aformer
aiderecalls–whilealsoshowinghow
his“affable, clubbable goodguy”
personaco-existswith adecidedly
ruthlessstreak.Asleader ofUKIP,he
“ranthe party like apersonalfiefdom”,
andwasthe “most talentedfeuderof
themall”inafield crowdedwith
plottersandback-stabbers.
It’ssomehownotsurprising,given
Farage’s recklessness, tolearnthathe
has“survived three near-death
experiences”, said David Runciman
inTheGuardian.Inhis early20s, he
“sufferedalife-threatening car crash”, followedbyadiagnosis
of testicularcancer.Thenin2010, aplanehewasflyingin for a
publicitystunt“gotitsbannercaughtinitstailfinand crashed
in afield”: Farage“emerged fromthewreckage,bloodiedbut
relativelyunbowed”–and madesureaphotographer captured
the image.Thisbookskilfullycaptures Farage’s “hybrid role,
simultaneouslypivotalandyetalso atone remove”,said Robert
ShrimsleyintheFT.Hehad long been thecountry’smostvocal
opponentof the EU, but theTories who hitchedthemselvestothe
Brexitcauseensuredthathe wassidelinedduringthereferendum
campaignitself. Gifted,mercurialand“sometimesreptilian”,
Farage mayhave been “key togettingtheteams onthepitch” –
buthe “had towatch the matchbeingdecidedby others”.OnePartyAfterAnother
by MichaelCrick
Simon&Schuster608pp£25
The WeekBookshop£19.99
Review of reviews: Books
Bookoftheweek
“Thisisashortbook aboutabigsubject,”said
KatyGuestinTheGuardian:anuanced and
“persuasive” accountof what Adam Rutherford
callsthe“dark historyand troubling presentof
eugenics”. Withanadmirablelackofalarmism,
Rutherford,ageneticist, showshowthe
aspiration tocraftsociety“bybiological design”
isonethathasexistedformillennia:Plato, for
instance, inhisRepublic,envisaged“inferior”
citizensbeingdiscouragedfrombreeding.Themanregarded asthefather of
modern eugenics is the Victorian polymath Francis Galton (pictured),saidTim
Adams in The Observer. His idea of “positive eugenics” (using selective breeding
to raisethe calibre of humans) inspired disciples from acrossthe political
spectrum, including ayoungWinston Churchill, theliberal reformer William
Beveridge, andthe birth-controlpioneerMarie Stopes. Butthough eugenicist
ideas flourishedinthe earlydecades of the 20th century, they weredealt a
seemingly killer blow by the “genocidal atrocities”ofthe Nazis.
Not quite, said Philip Ball in theFT: eugenicist ideas neverreally went away.
Evenafter theSecondWorld War, enforced sterilisation persisted in many
countries.InCalifornia,the practicewas only bannedin prisonsin 2014. And
now,eugenicsisbeinggiven anew boostbythe emergence of modern genetics.
In the near future, some predict, parents will be able to “choose” desirabletraits
in their children –either by selecting betweenscreened embryos, or by editing
theiroffspring’s genomes. Rutherfordinsists thatsuchapproachesare unlikely
to work, giventhe near-impossibilityofdiscerning aspecifictrait from the
fiendishly complex interactions of genes. ButevenifRutherford is surelyright to
call eugenics a“bustedflush”, he’s also wisetowarnofthe dangersof arevival.
Control
by AdamRutherford
Weidenfeld&Nicolson288pp£12.99
The WeekBookshop£9.99Novelof the week
APreviousLife
by EdmundWhite
Bloomsbury288pp£18.99
The WeekBookshop£14.99Backin the1970s and1980s,EdmundWhite’s
novels “foreverenlarged what gay writing might
do”, said NeilBartlett in TheGuardian.His
latestbook –“his 30th,bymycount” –isan
“elegant,filthy”workthat “crackleswitha
heartfelt insistencethatthe old and hungry”
stillhave muchtotellusabout “the dynamics
of sex”.In the year2050, amarried couple in
aremote Swiss chalet decide to entertain each
other by recountingtheir “previous sexual
careers”. Constance, in her early30s, is an
“African-Americanorphan”, whileRuggero,
her husband, is an elderly bisexualSicilian
aristocratwho is “legendarilywell-connected
(not to mentionwell hung)”.
As you’dexpect, this novelis“elegantly
written”, andcontains many“arresting images”,
said PeterParker in TheSpectator –but it’s fairly
“preposterous”.The leap forward in time is
merely adeviceallowingRuggero to reminisce
abouthis affair 30 years earlier with the
now-forgotten writerEdmundWhite, then old
and infirm:a“fat,famousslug”, he calls him.
It is, however, all very entertaining.To order thesetitles or any otherbookin print, visit
theweekbookshop.co.ukor speak to abookselleron 02 0-317 63835
Openingtimes:Mondayto Saturday 9am-5.30pmand Sunday10am-4pm