Claire Xuereb Grech: L-Elf Lewn ta’ Mintoff. SKS Publications, 2015. 728 pp.

“He did a lot of good.”

“I see him only as a dictator.”

“He had enormous energy.”

“You never knew what he was thinking.”

“He was authoritarian and despotic.”

“He subdued the sense of inferiority which we had.”

“... either you do what he says or nothing.”

“He drew out the poor and the ignorant from their miseries.”

These are only some of the countless impressions expressed in a new book published by SKS Publications, L-Elf Lewn ta’ Mintoff (The Thousand Hues of Mintoff), by Claire Xuereb Grech.

The book is composed of exclusive interviews which the author conducted with 54 people who, in one way or another, came into contact with Mintoff throughout his long political career.

The book covers different aspects of Dom Mintoff’s personality.

The interviews are frank dialogues, sometimes even blunt. They offer different perspectives of a personality which was at the same time rich and complex.

The interviews contained in the book are held with some of Mintoff’s close colleagues, Nationalist and Labour politicians, trade-unionists, journalists, members of Mintoff’s family, diplomats, economists, military people, personal friends of Mintoff, academics, members of the clergy, historians and entrepreneurs.

All of these give their own version of who they think Mintoff was. None of them presents a whole interpretation or a definitive one.

None have the last word on who Mintoff was. What they reveal is the many hues of a multi-coloured picture which still has to be drawn.

L-Elf Lewn ta’ Mintoff is part of a literary genre which today is considered to be an important part of the historical discipline.

This field began in America during the 1950s and grew and spread throughout the world, especially when the means of voice recordings became more widespread.

A book of experiences, stories, narratives, witty lines and feeling

Today, national and international organisations of oral histories exist and the discipline is considered to be as important as that of the study of written documents.

With a subject like Mintoff, this genre is particularly essential since many aspects of his personality cannot be captured by scripted official and unofficial documents alone. In this sense, L-Elf Lewn ta’ Mintoff is a valuable publication.

The Nationalist politicians interviewed for the book include Eddie Fenech Adami, Lawrence Gatt, Alexander Cachia Zammit, Joseph Spiteri, Vincent Galea, Alfred Bonnici, Michael Falzon and Josie Muscat.

The Labour ones include Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, Lino Spiteri, Maria Camilleri, Vincent Moran, Joe Debono Grech, Karmenu Vella, Lino Spiteri, Joe Micallef Stafrace, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, John Dalli, Alex Sceberras Trigona, Richard Matrenza, Reno Calleja, Joe Grima and Carmen Sant. Mintoff’s colleagues include Joe Camilleri, Emmanuel Scicluna, Martin Zammit, Henry Coppini and Patrick Barbara.

Also interviewed are trade-unionist Anġlu Fenech, former Sunday Times editor Laurence Grech, journalists Joe Zahra, Victor Camilleri, Charles Vella, Lino Cassar, Anton Cassar and Charles Mizzi, Mintoff’s daughters Yana and Anne and his brothers Fr Dionisius Mintoff and Raymond, diplomat Salvino Busuttil, a number of personal friends, academics, members of the clergy, historians and even entrepreneurs.

The interviews turn out to be more interesting, since the interviewer and author, Xuereb Grech, is not only well-versed in the book’s subject, but is also a teacher, a university graduate in education, and a family woman with two children.

Her interest in Mintoff is not merely historical but human. What she seeks out is Mintoff as a person, and her questions (sometimes uncomfortable ones) reveal this curiosity.

As one might expect, L-Elf Lewn ta’ Mintoff is full with Mintoff’s anecdotes, his typical impromptu comments, unsuspecting character shades, personality interpretations, and many details of national historical moments which occurred behind the scenes.

Each chapter is illustrated with photographs of Mintoff taken from the personal collections of the most of the personalities interviewed, which will be appearing for the first time in this publication. The book, apart from providing much varied information about Mintoff and parts of Malta’s recent history, is fun to read. It affords an encounter with Mintoff which is off the beaten track.

The book is not a political, historical or academic exercise which bores a reader. It is a book of experiences, stories, narratives, witty lines and feeling.