[Keir Starmer] could do worse than read this book to ponder what history can teach.

Thoroughly researched… The Wild Men brings superbly to life figures whom history should not have forgotten.

A highly readable, enjoyable and informative book.

A meticulously researched collective biography.

Excellent

Superb

An engrossing account of the perilous course charted by Ramsay MacDonald… David Torrance illuminates all of this brilliantly.

Torrance tells an absorbing, meticulous and balanced story.

Torrance tells the story of each of this engrossing era’s main principals in a series of crisp, meticulously researched chapters. It was a fascinating period, and this is a timely, even racy account.

David Torrance’s lucid account, The Wild Men, tells a lot of the story through a series of well-crafted and elegantly written mini-biographies of the leading players, a good device for navigating a turbulent period of complex events and issues.

In The Wild Men David Torrance, a biographer and clerk at the House of Commons, tells the story of MacDonald’s rise and the first Labour government, its people, policies and purpose, with sympathy and fastidious attention to detail. His reading and research are exemplary…. [A] fascinating portrait.

Lively, interesting [and] based on an impressive amount of archival research. A highly readable guide to a landmark historical episode.

With meticulous reconstruction and careful judgement, this is a fascinating piece of work with some intriguing parallels for our own times.

Torrance’s book is (and I don’t think I have ever described a political history book in these words) riveting. It is a joy to read; it is highly illuminating; it is – to me – a revelation.

Deeply researched.

A timely reappraisal of a momentous period in British politics.

Tightly focussed… even-handed… [an] in-depth study.

An accessible, entertaining and well-researched history… It is a welcome study of a period that should be better known. A collection of rich portraits of the leading figures of the government … Torrance has skilfully brought the history of the first Labour government alive.

Admirable, thoroughly researched and very readable account… Torrance offers rich character sketches and takes us through the often difficult history of the government with exemplary skill.

An insightful, analytical study…. Torrance has conducted some superb and dogged research into previously overlooked archives.

Rooted in robust research, David Torrance’s new book casts fresh light on Britain’s first Labour government.

Much to inform and delight… the book is framed as a series of portraits of the main players and reflects much detailed new research. It is well written, easy to read and will prove an important historical resource.

Authoritative…A compelling account of the first Labour administration.

A fine historical prompt…There is much that [Keir Starmer] – and we – can learn from [the first Labour government].

The great strength of the work lies in the biographical studies of “The Wild Men” themselves, especially the chapters devoted to the Prime Minister.

Torrance…makes excellent use of material from the Royal Archives.

The Wild Men does a good job of shedding light on a key turning point in British political history, while small details such as the attempt to get ministers to continue appearing before the king in “gold embroidered coat, cocked hat and sword” remind us how hidebound parts of the politics system still were.