The Pen and the Sword

<p>Disappointment can be salutary. In the 1955 election Michael Foot surprisingly lost his seat. Until then he had been a journalist, albeit a prolific and influential one. He now had more time on his hands. To both his father, Isaac Foot, and himself Jonathan Swift was a hero. His father, who believed writing to be the supreme vocation, now encouraged him to write a book on Swift. The result was <b>The Pen and the Sword<i>.</i></b> <br><br>Michael Foot concentrates on the crucial two years of 1710-11. In that time Swift published one of his most devastating polemics <i>The Conduct of the Allies </i>that tore into the Whig government and the Duke of Marlborough in particular. It is an important moment in English History: the pen and the sword fought a duel, and the pen proved the stronger of the two.<br><br>First published in 1957 it was well and widely reviewed. <br><br>''Enthralling ... a fine piece of historical writing.'' <i>Spectator <br></i><br>''An exciting story excellently narrated ... a lucid guide to one of the most complicated patterns of intrigue and manoeuvre that the eighteenth-century can provide ... intensely dramatic.'' Harold Nicolson, <i>Observer</i></p>