British Society, Nineteen Fourteen to Nineteen Forty-Five

by John Stevenson

John Stevenson's social history opens with the Great War and ends with a chapter on the effects of World War II. In between, he analyses the trends and changes - mass unemployment, increasing government control, improved welfare services and education, smaller families, votes for women, broadcasting and the cinema, the "golden age" of cricket, chain-stores, and the advertising boom.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Jemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just reread this excellent, broad based and detailed account of Britain between the Peaces. A good choice for anyone wanting to know what life was like then, why and how. We would certainly have fewer yearning for a romantic idea of the past if they read books like this and learned just what it was like. Which is not to say there aren't good aspects but rare would be the person who would swap their modern freedoms, comforts and welfare state, for life pre '45.

[John Coates]

Very interesting book giving broad view of Britain during this period. A quote from George Orwell in the Conclusion, summing up the country in December 1940, "A family with the wrong members in control - that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase."
I don't think Britain can be described as a family anymore. Too many new families have moved in!

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and informative account of life in Britain between the wars. Endlessly interesting and fascinating insight into a different world