Questions About Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles

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For an American - would you recommend Never Had It So Good, or Modernity Britain by David Kynaston? They cover roughly the same years. I've read Kynaston's Austerity Britain and been highly impressed, and have just started Sandbrook's State of Emergency and think it's just brilliant. Don't really want to read 2 books for the same period.

Stuart S Alexa,
I've read all of Sandrook's books covering British history and can't praise them highly enough. I've read one of Kynaston's - Austerity Britain…moreAlexa,
I've read all of Sandrook's books covering British history and can't praise them highly enough. I've read one of Kynaston's - Austerity Britain - and was less impressed. Don't get me wrong, Kynaston really knows his subject, but that first book in his series - in my opinion - spent too long quoting a very small number of people's contemporaneous notes. I found it a long and laborious read, his writing uninspiring. However, if you enjoyed the book, I would carry on with the series; I have no doubt Kynaston has continued in the same mould.

I've read 'Never Had It So Good' four times; yes, it's that good. It's a long book, to be sure, but the Sandbrook varies his subject matter so much that you never feel bogged down by too much political history, for example. There is almost as much social and cultural history as there is on British politics of the period, and the author seems equally comfortable writing about all three.

There is another possibility - another British historian, Peter Hennessy, has also covered British post-war history in a series of books. The second in the series, "Having It So Good" covers almost the whole decade of the 1950s. I haven't read it, though, and probably won't - Sandbrook has adequately and admirably covered the same period for me in his own book.

So, to summarise - I'd say whether you're American, British or anything else - Sandbrook's the man. But if you've been impressed with Kynaston's first work, I would carry on with him. (less)

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