BOOKS . . . THE PATH TO POWER

Margaret Thatcher's first volume of her memoirs, "The Downing Street Years," tells the story of her reign. The second volume (HarperCollins; 656 pages; $30) tells the more interesting story of just how she got there. First elected to parliament at the age of 32 in 1958, the young Thatcher parried her way through the male-dominated councils of power, and the old boy network never even saw her coming. Although we know her as the Iron Lady, says TIME's Martha Duffy, "as a pretty, naive young pol who cut through cant, prevarication and some very real problems, she must have been exhilarating."