Distilling the Frenzy: Writing the History of Our Times

by Peter Hennessy

Britain's leading contemporary historian revisits the grand themes that have run through modern Britain, including the abiding trends of the post-war era—Britain's persistent impulse to punch well above its weight in the world and the secrecy that has too often surrounded state affairs. In Distilling the Frenzy a heavyweight of British scholarship lays bear the historian's art for all to see, incorporating elements of autobiography that gives the book a poignancy lacking in other grand historical works. This is the story of Britain's century through the eyes of its most celebrated chronicler. Peter Hennessy is the Attlee professor of contemporary British history at Queen Mary, University of London.

Genres: Politics, History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 29, 2012

About the author

Peter Hennessy is an English historian and academic specialising in the history of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London.

He was born in Edmonton, the youngest child of William G. Hennessy by his marriage to Edith (Wood-Johnson) Hennessy

Hennessy attended the nearby Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School, and on Sundays he went to St Mary Magdalene church, where he was an altar boy. He was educated at St Benedict's School, an independent school in Ealing, West London. When his father's job led the family to move to the Cotswolds, he attended Marling School, a grammar school in Stroud, Gloucestershire. He went on to study at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a BA in 1969 and a PhD in 1990. Hennessy was a Kennedy Memorial Scholar at Harvard University from 1971 to 1972.

Hennessy went on to work as a journalist during the 1970s and 1980s.
He went on to co-found the Institute of Contemporary British History in 1986.

From 1992 to 2000, Hennessey was professor of contemporary history at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. From 1994 to 1997, he gave public lectures as Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London. From 2001, he has been Attlee professor of contemporary British history at Queen Mary.

Hennessy's analysis of post-war Britain, 'Never Again: Britain 1945–1951', won the Duff Cooper Prize in 1992 and the NCR Book Award in 1993.

Furthermore, his study of Britain in the 1950s and the rise of Harold Macmillan, 'Having It So Good: Britain in the 1950s', won the 2007 Orwell Prize for political writing

Hennessy was created a life peer on November 8, 2010.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this journalistic account of the history of our own times in Britain. He explores the development of issues such as the place of Britain in the world, the nuclear question, national security more generally, and constitutional reform (especially the House of Lords). His background as a journalist not only gives him a very engaging style, but also a personal background of involvement in the questions right up to his recent ennoblement and active participation in the affairs of the House of Lords. Not just entertaining and informative, but knowing him and reading it during the successful London Olympics gave it a particular piquancy for me.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling conceit, mixing memoir and high politics. A must-have for all Hennessy fans, or students of contemporary British history or Whitehall.

[Alastair Kerr · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times an interesting book about the modern British state. Very much an insider's account, it sometimes veers off into long, tedious anecdotes.