A History of Modern Britain

by Andrew Marr

"A History of Modern Britain" confronts head-on the victory of shopping over politics. It tells the story of how the great political visions of New Jerusalem or a second Elizabethan Age, rival idealisms, came to be defeated by a culture of consumerism, celebrity and self-gratification. In each decade, political leaders thought they knew what they were doing, but find themselves confounded. Every time, the British people turn out to be stroppier and harder to herd than predicted. Throughout, Britain is a country on the edge first of invasion, then of bankruptcy, then on the vulnerable front line of the Cold War and later in the forefront of the great opening up of capital and migration now reshaping the world. This history follows all the political and economic stories, but deals too with comedy, cars, the war against homosexuals, Sixties anarchists, oil-men and punks, Margaret Thatcher's wonderful good luck, political lies and the true heroes of British theatre. It accompanies a major five-part documentary series for BBC television.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, British Literature, Historical, Audiobook, Reference

629 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Andrew Marr is a Scottish journalist. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and has had a long career in political journalism, working for the Scotsman, The Independent, The Economist, the Express and the Observer. From 2000 to 2005 he was the BBC's Political Editor. His broadcasting includes series on contemporary thinkers for BBC 2 and Radio 4, political documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC Panorama, and Radio 4's Start The Week'.

Reviews

[Bionic Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

A History of Modern Britain is a hefty tome at over 600 pages of closely printed text (630 including the index). Read aloud on audio, it lasts for over 28 hours. The title is hardly inviting; it sounds dry, academic and worthy. Yet I thoroughly enjoyed every listening minute, and looked forward to the next day’s reading. Am I then an historian? No; the endless doings of various self-interested English kings and queens, and their political shenanigans, bored me to tears at school. Am I then very interested in party politics? Decidedly not! But this book engaged me from the start.

It covers the period of British history from the end of the Second World War onwards, until about 2007. Perhaps it helped that much of this was within my lifetime, and the earlier parts were familiar from my parents’ recollections. Perhaps I felt a “connection” in a way that an insular look at early British history had never previously had for me. Or perhaps it was the skill of this author, to succeed in fascinating me with a subject I had never up to now found appealing. State archives are routinely closed to the public for 30 years, so for that time we are at the mercy of all sort of misinformation. Do we believe what we read in the press? Do we choose which newspapers to read because we truly think they are informative—or because they happen to accord with our own views—and our prejudices?

The author Andrew Marr, a Scot, has a solid knowledge of history, and is one of the best-known journalists and political commentators working in Britain today. His is a familiar name and face to anybody in Britain who reads the newspapers, listens to the radio or watches TV. He presents programmes on currents affairs, and is often the “go-to” commentator for political commentary during an election. Andrew Marr’s sort of journalism is rather thin on the ground now; he appears unbiased, is engaging and articulate. Apparently he presented a television series with the same name as this book in 2007, to coincide with A History of Modern Britain’s publication. Shame on me; I was not aware of it. A title like that would probably not even register on my consciousness. If it would however, be your cup of tea, then please don’t miss this book. It is a rare treat.

I had attempted to do a potted history of the events Andrew Marr covered so entertainingly, perhaps including a couple of anecdotes here and there, and a bit of background, for this review. However, when I realised that I had more or less filled the space Goodreads allows for reviews, and still had not even got up to the year I was born, I realised this was not a strategy that would work! My admiration for it increased. The book is stuffed to the brim with facts, but we are misled. We do not feel that this is a long catalogue of events, because of Andrew Marr’s lively style.

His is not an academic work, but one which is designed to appeal to a general reader. Perhaps someone like me: English, and not of such a youthful age that what he covers is all “ancient” and therefore boring and irrelevant. It has been said that those of us who were born up to a decade or so after the second world war ended, share an ambivalent attitude to our recent history. We feel, oddly, that we missed the defining event of our lives. For our parents, it was understandably huge.

The decade just before I was born seems so very different, that it feels as if time had been stretched. The 1940s, that era with big names like Winston Churchill and Clement Atlee, of Aneurin Bevan, the creator of our wonderful NHS in 1948. The welfare state, social housing, Nationalisation of Industries, the creation of National Parks, the acceptance of married women who worked—all these flit about in my mind as somehow things which happened in that relatively short time between the end of the second world war, and when I was born. But others’ impressions did not fill out the picture. For some this was a golden age: an age of hope, or as it was described then, a “New Jerusalem”. For others it was an age of drabness, and austerity, when shortages seemed never-ending. (Rationing did not stop completely until 1954.) My own parents for instance, felt as if their youth, and their prospects, had been cruelly snatched away. Mum’s gorgeous wedding dress was in actuality made from parachute silk. The photos show Dad smiling; he is in his air force uniform. Once I asked him, “But Dad, you said you hated it all, didn’t you?” “It was my only suit,” was the reply.

Interpreting these snippets of second-hand memories, and relating them to the events which followed, means that we have our own biased personal history. If we take our ideas from the left, then many cling to the myth of an almost perfect Labour government of the 1940s embodying honest and upright social ideals which have long since fallen from fashion. If we on the other hand prefer the right, then we believe that the welfare state was responsible for all sorts of thugs and layabouts, until 1979, when a “saviour” called Margaret Thatcher arrived to tell us all sharply to pull our socks up, via hectoring speeches, pushing the country to strikes and mass unemployment, and a rather pointless war. But we all knew of course, that it was good for us, and improved our national character.

So in sweeps Andrew Marr, to steer us through this morass of confusing events since the second world war. Much of it is familiar, but not known except as a series of highlights, with fuzzy detail. But what is his political persuasion? I didn’t want to be lectured, either the left, or from the right. We all know that history is written by the winners, and even when historians try to present an impartial view, their account is selective. Personally, I do not want an author’s own beliefs to colour what I read as historical fact. I prefer a neutral overview, which is remarkably difficult to achieve, if you do not want to bore everyone to tears. (You will notice that I failed miserably to stay objective in my previous paragraph.)

Andrew Marr often works for the BBC. It is an impartial organisation, or so they would have us believe. The BBC presents its aims as to inform, educate and entertain. Friends on the left tell me of course yes, it’s impartial. Good old BBC, always covers both sides. But friends on the right tell me no, it’s full of lefties. I deduce from this then, that although I don’t notice (it’s always been there, and seems to speak the truth) that the BBC must be slightly left of centre. Andrew Marr himself has had clashes with the BBC, feeling that it is not impartial enough for him. Not that it has a political bias, but as he says it has a “cultural liberal bias”, which would be hard to deny. I thought then that I knew more or less how he stands politically, but some passages surprised me.

A great deal of the book is social history, split roughly into decades, although within each section we go back and forth. Moving from the dreary 1950s, we have the 1960s, a time of rebellion and revolution. Countless books have been written about the pop culture of the 1960s, and its central figures. Andrew Marr mentions those we expect, but also has a long section on the theatre, which is clearly what he knows best. Oddly now, although it felt as though the Arts were opening up, in retrospect the music and fiction of the 1960s is beginning to look like the last great age of high culture. Imagination since then seems to have lost its edge; so-called creativity has become almost predictable. Andrew Marr views the 1960s as a period of political and economic stagnation, but cultural renaissance.

This could be because, surprisingly, he cannot hide his dislike of Harold Wilson and his government. He is merciless, using information from Richard Crossman (the diaries) and Tony Benn (ditto), the autobiography of Denis Healey, plus various indiscreet comments he had picked up and made a mental note of from other sources. Frequently reading Andrew Marr, we feel as if he was a fly on the wall at some very interesting secret meetings. Here he is not criticising the privileged, Etonian, narrow view of the political old guard, as hitherto, but still he is ruthless. He picks on Harold Wilson’s limited intellectual background, his blinkered political judgment, his tendency to make wisecracks and slogans, rather the addressing the real problem, and the way he continuously took the line of least resistance. Harold Wilson was the first politician I really remember, and I had always thought he wasn’t too bad, but some of the facts quoted here made me think again.

In terms of social history, as a society in the 1960s Britain was beginning to notice America. America was the place with money; they had helped out with our aeronautics industry, and they were still involved in the “Race to Space”. Increasingly, where America led, Britain followed. Andrew Marr describes a country where people suddenly found they had jobs, and—for the first time for ordinary people—a disposable income. The leisure industry boomed. Far more people were able to buy a car, and air travel became cheap, with package “all-in” holidays. The first motorway, the M1, was constructed, followed by a growing network across the country. The housing industry blossomed. Weekly church-going declined, as people turned into “consumers”. More and more countries which had been British colonies were “given” their independence, and the residents there were invited to Britain to help with shortages in various fields such as medicine and transport. As Harold MacMillan had commented in 1957, we’d “never had it so good”.

And then there was Enoch Powell: a figure you either loved or loathed.

Here Andrew Marr is surprisingly outspoken. When considering a politician, he will examine their psychology; charting their lives and experiences so that we can see how they became the public figure we know. Of the wrathful, opinionated Enoch Powell, he paints a sympathetic portrait of a remarkable and tragic figure. Enoch Powell agonised over Britain losing its unique identity and social cohesion. After Harold MacMillan’s 1960 “Winds of Change” speech in Cape Town, South Africa, it was clear that the Conservative government had no intention of blocking independence to many of Britain’s former territories. But in 1968 Enoch Powell stood out against his party’s views, and his “Rivers of Blood” speech shocked much of the nation, with its stark criticism of mass immigration and the upcoming Race Relations Bill.

Andrew Marr carefully sticks to the facts, giving the statistics of immigration over the decade, and charting how the newcomers influenced the everyday lives of those they joined. Our society gradually adapted, just as the incomers adapted. We all integrated, sometimes with resistance and sometimes welcoming diversity. Gradually we became more truly multicultural, and new laws were put in place. This was an area of knowledge I know about. I listened carefully to pick up mistakes, but in the space allowed, Andrew Marr did quite a good job. On to the strike-filled 1970s, and Edward Heath’s government.

Edward Heath had been a bit of a non-entity to me, almost a figure of fun, off on his yacht all the time. Given his (over)cultured tones, I was surprised to learn that his was a comparatively ordinary childhood; he went to a grammar school and worked hard to get to Oxford University. No free pass for him. Under him Britain adopted decimal currency, and joined the Common Market, becoming a member of the European Community. But his years in power were beset by the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the rising power of the Trade Unions. Andrew Marr describes effectively how trade union leaders exercised their power, and stymied the government with their eloquence and influence over the workers. British industry was reduced to working a Three-Day Week, electricity was rationed and the country again felt haunted by the shadow of wartime austerity. It reached a peak with the “Winter of Discontent” from 1978-79. But in the mid-1970s Margaret Thatcher: grocer’s daughter, Methodist, brilliant chemist and barrister, was sidling in.

The impression we gain is that she was in position at the right time for her particular viewpoint. During the 1980s she was passionate about commerce and encouraged rampant capitalism. Despite their opposite personalities, she bonded quickly with the American president Ronald Reagan; Britain was becoming more and more similar to the USA. She believed that anyone who worked hard could reap the benefits, but the corollary of this was her antagonism to the welfare state. A tiny example was when the tabloids damned her for stopping the free milk to every child at primary school (although fortunately this never affected me, as the local authorities I worked for funded it themselves).

Margaret Thatcher, dubbed insultingly the “Iron Lady”, instead viewed this as a compliment. Both her politics and leadership style were uncompromising, and she made many enemies, many within her own party. She was headstrong and obstinate, but Andrew Marr tells us, she got the job done. She had been losing popularity, but the 1982 Falklands War and the recovering economy brought her a landslide re-election in 1983. She took on the miners, and achieved a political victory against Arthur Scargill and the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984–85 miners’ strike. She steamrollered through privatisation of all the national industries—anywhere she could.

Her years saw irreparable division in the Labour party, and the birth of the SDP (from ex-Labour and ex-Liberal politicians). This was perhaps when I first became aware of Roy Jenkins, but Andrew Marr makes it clear how many of the social reforms we now enjoy were instigated by Roy Jenkins. The son of a coal miner, he served in politics for many decades, without ever striving for leadership of a party. And this was the time of the terrible AIDS plague, when many of us lost much-loved friends and family—and the setting up of the Terrence Higgins Trust, to help.

Margaret Thatcher survived an assassination attempt by the Provisional IRA in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing. She was undeterred; she was not one to back down from any policy she believed in. The Hunger Strikes are particularly seared into our memories: pointless in the end, as there was no official recognition of political status, and the violence in Northern Ireland escalated significantly during the hunger strikes. These years were explosive years in every way, metaphorically and literally, and views became increasingly polarised.

Thatcherism is still with us, and many refer to the present generations as “Thatcher’s children”. Britain will never be the same again. Getting this then longest-serving prime minister out of office proved a hair-raising task, with more and more ministers resigning, and those left balloting and eventually demanding her resignation. Her behaviour had become increasingly odd, but she always regarded this act as a “betrayal”.

The public’s mood was changing. In came Tony Blair, the country’s youngest leader since 1812. He was charismatic and popular (at the start), with his bright upbeat “Bambi” promises not to change anything. There was a “Third Way”.

The third way to me seemed that he was not “New Labour” as his party was named, but “Repackaged Tory”. Andrew Marr has some choice examples of Tony Blair’s leadership and the deals he made. Once again, he does not mince his words. Having met Tony Blair on many occasions, his main summing up seemed to be that Tony Blair agreed. He agreed with everything and everyone, but he had a very fraught relationship with Gordon Brown, his chancellor of the Exchequer. Perhaps this was not so surprising, as all through Tony Blair’s upwards rise, Gordon Brown had been considered the next in line to take over.

What more is there to say? A heck of a lot, obviously! There is much, much more about the social history in this book, for instance. I have only touched on the aspects Andrew Marr covers, but have tried to give a just a flavour of the events he goes into so deeply, and so entertainingly. Time has moved on since 2007. Tony Blair had been prime minister for 10 years, but his term ended the year this book was published. Since then, amazingly, Britain has had 4 more prime ministers: Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Teresa May and Boris Johnson. We have left the European Union, which previous prime ministers of both persusasions had fought so hard for. Issues of race, gender, enabling and the environment are even more to the fore, and we have a pandemic—a world plague—which could barely have been imagined even at the close of this book.

It strikes me that somewhere along the way, something has been lost. In these post-war years, we have gained a hardness; a cynicism. Much of this history shows the fading of those ideals, on both left and right. People are largely indifferent now, about so many big questions. As one historian put it: “Idealism has become a matter of sound bites. Ideology has gone. Politics is about getting in. Perhaps it always was.”

For a general reader, this book is perfect. It is never dull, as I had feared, but densely packed with facts and anecdotes, told in a jaunty way. A History of Modern Britain is accessible and fast-paced, moving on before we ever get bored. Some events are familiar; some unexpected. Andrew Marr uses his journalistic tools wisely. He has a pleasing lightness of touch: an ear for an amusing phrase or a potential headline, but he does not often descend into clichés. He may sometimes seem a little opinionated, but does not skew the facts, and makes every effort to be unbiased. Andrew Marr gives the impression that he has enjoyed writing this book as much as he hopes we will enjoy reading it.

So is 5 stars overgenerous for a book which does not come up to the present date? I don’t think so. Logically, a book of this type cannot stay topical for long. History is in itself selective, and tendentious. Already people will argue the facts, and Andrew Marr’s history stops at 2007. Contemporary history dates badly; the future is unknown. But in retrospect, I will be interested to see if he writes a continuation.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways this is quite a conservative history of modern Britain. My knowledge of that history isn’t brilliant, and so this did serve the purpose I read it for – to get a thumbnail overview. That said, it must be remembered this is written by a journalist, rather than an historian and I think that shows.

So, what does that mean? I think people might well disagree with me that this was conservative – I mean, there are places where he clearly supports the path taken by the Labour Party over the Conservatives – but that isn’t really what I mean. There are also parts where he is literally quite conservative – particularly in his rather standard attack on the move to more progressive education practices from the 1960s onward. What is never acknowledged in these rants – they do tend to be rants, unfortunately – is that from about the 1960s on mass education started to really ‘bite’. This meant that entire groups of people whose families had never before been educated were now being educated. He mentions that the upper classes were still being educated in pretty much the same way as they always had been – but that is precisely my point. The upper classes were arriving at school with academic capital that simply wasn’t available to the others in society confronting mass education. That teachers found they needed to ‘start where the students were at’ and to present ‘student-centred lessons’ is so often, by conservatives at least, presented as the root of all evil – but in fact, what else could have been done? The fact is that what is so often advocated as traditional values or common sense approaches to education could not be either in the case of the students affected in this entirely new world. Tradition is hardly relevant in a completely new situation.

But even this is not really the conservatism I’m referring to. Another aspect of it is the book's very close focus on the history of great men (and woman – given Thatcher) as the kind of history that truly deserves attention. The vast majority of this book is a telling of the story of the governing of Britain. And this is fine – this is one of the things I was hoping to get out of the book – but it really does position the book fairly squarely in a particular genre of history telling. The idea that history is really the story of the great and powerful.

Now, some may argue that he talks of the influence of music and fashion and the arts (particularly drama and humour) and that these add detail to the overall picture being presented. My concern is that these would, being generous, account for only under a third of the total narrative presented here (I would need to check, but I would suspect I'm being incredibly generous). And again, even in the story of the lower middle class boys going on to become The Beatles, say, we haven’t really left the realm of the great and powerful, have we?

There is a nice bit which I think shows what this book could have been. Following the war there was a severe shortage of housing. At the same time, as Van Morrison would say, “all the soldiers came marching home / Love looks in their eyes.” Britain witnessed both a housing shortage and a baby boom. So, people were forced to live with their parents and in-laws – and so Marr speculates this might help to explain the popularity of the mother-in-law joke well into the 1970s. That is the sort of thing that makes an interesting history – life situations that directly impact on the kinds of lives that can be lived in a society and therefore that help to explain the national character. However, there was far too little of this. Too much time was spent looking at the decline of the Empire, obviously important, but perhaps not really something that gives as much insight into the British character as is often believed.

This history is also conservative in quite another way. I got the impression the whole way though that how things turned out was being presented by the author as the only way things could have turned out. The Thatcher revolution was not overturned by the Labour Party once it came to power in any meaningful sense, and so the Thatcher revolution must have been both necessary and inevitable. I'm not really arguing with this, but more with what he does then in leading up to the Thatcher revolution. He uses it to explain the previous history of Britain – which is either progressing by moving towards this inevitable revolution or pointlessly acting as a counter-revolutionary force whenever it seems to be backsliding away from the vision splendid that would be Thatcher's Britain. Such post-hoc explanations make for good stories – all that journalists are finally interested in, as they tell you themselves – but I feel they make for quite poor histories.

Like I said, I was looking for a book that gave me a helicopter view of the history of modern Britain. And that is what I got with this one. This starts virtually at the end of the Second World War and ends with Gordon Brown. It is a quick read, for what it sets out to do. But there is no question it could have been so much more.

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the Brexit debate continues to rage across Great Britain, I thought it a good time to refresh my knowledge (and memory) of the key events impacting my homeland throughout, and just prior to, my lifetime. Andrew Marr is a political commentator I’ve always much admired and I’d caught the tail end of the BBC serialisation of this book when it was aired in 2007, always thereafter wishing that I’d tuned in from the beginning. The book picks up events from the end of World War II in Europe and takes us through to the end of Tony Blair’s reign as Prime Minister.

There’s quite a bit of politics here, as you might expect, but plenty of other topics are covered too, including: fashion, sport, music, scientific discoveries and much more. The first thing that struck me is just how much changed in such a relatively short space of time. In the 1940’s GB was in a terrible state, having hocked ourselves up to the eyeballs to finance the war effort; rationing wasn’t to end until 1954, not long before I was born! People were in the mood for something new, and this eventually heralded the hedonism of the Swinging Sixties. The seventies were a time I do remember but it’s sobering to realise that many of the major world events simply passed me by, so focussed was I on my own small world. In the eighties and nineties, I do recall being a bit more tuned in to what was going on around me, but not fully so, and certainly not into the political shenanigans of the day. That said, I was aware of Thatcher and the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentinian troops and the subsequent short war was probably the first time I paid close attention to the evening news bulletins.

Beyond this, the events covered in this book feel a little more familiar but there’s still quite a few political connections I’d missed and lots of detail that was new to me. It’s not a book that seeks to delve in the minutiae, rather it provides an overview and a context for the events and cultural changes of the day. I found it completely fascinating and brilliantly observed by Marr.

The final thing that struck me is just how much has changed since this book was published. The financial crash of 2008 came just after and much has changed in Britain and across the world since. When my son, currently aged 22, looks back on the first 60 years of his life will he be as surprised as I am at the rate of change (I was tempted to say ‘progress’ but I’m not sure that’s necessarily the right word)? Time, as they say, will tell.

[Szplug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrift stores fucking rock. Somebody ditches a mint condition of a relatively new publication like this, and I get to snatch it up for a buck ninety-nine. Skip the daily trip to Starbucks and it slides right by the budget counter. That's one of the Friday evening rituals after work—hit the used-book section at the Double-V and peruse the shelves for that sweet find that flicks the switch sending an I wanna DANCE! tingle coursing up and down the leg. My heart belches and my facial muscles spring into action, etching that shit-eating grin onto my features and leaving me ruing the fact that I've no one beside me to fist punch. Life's a trip, que no?

There's no other people, past or present, whose history fascinates and entertains me more than that of the good old British—not even the motherloving Romans and their supertsar Caesars. God bless those islanders, each and every one. Paternal nation to my country—and a more involved parent than that confusing and distant hussy, Mère France—and packed with legions of cherub-cheeked island eccentrics who masterfully combined Anglo-Saxon practicality, Norman cunning, and Celtic alcoholism into creating that madcap marvel which saw handlebar-mustachioed blokes in smart-looking short trousers and those helmets that resemble an overlarge dinner plate set beneath a nicely-trimmed half cantaloupe setting up shop across the four corners of the globe. One of the more enjoyable modern history books I've read in the past, oh, half-decade was Kenneth Morgan's The People's Peace: Britain Since 1945 , which concluded with the Thatcher New Right running out of steam and sharpening the knives; now I've got Marr's take on the same period, with the bonus of getting an insider's goods upon the government gaffs and political preening of the subsequent leaderships of John Major and the Boy Wonder himself, Tony Blair: the New New Right armored by its pumpkin tan, all straightening ties whilst colliding with freshly-scrubbed lampposts and New Labour flouncing into Downing with the lopsided glee of a half-cut popinjay. Furthermore, I'm sure Marr will update my understanding of British culture loping towards and away from the millennial turn—that magical temporal marker that may have been detectable within the gleaming mote in Enoch Powell's eye when he issued his grim foreboding of Rivers of Blood.

Well, now it's done. Marr is an enjoyable guide—a touch glib at times, a tad shallow in his analysis and/or understanding of the manner in which events transpired, but what the hell; dude's covering an immense and prodigiously busy time period overseeing the transition of Great Britain from the empire upon which the sun never set to one in which ol' Big Yellah settles into the sack in somewhat less than an hour (I think; whatever). I was impressed enough that I'm going to get to his earlier effort—covering the era from roughly the turn of the century through to the Second World War—as soon as I locate a nice and cheap copy on the shelves of one of my local haunts during another Friday espy-and-buy.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the UK Andrew Marr is a well-known political journalist and TV presenter, and doubtless some people will question the content of this book on the basis it was not written by a professional historian. Personally I think there is plenty of solid research in here, and the author also brings a journalist’s writing skills to the text.

Marr’s background does show through in a couple of ways though. Although he does cover social trends and the life of ordinary Britons, the bulk of the book is taken up with political figures; who held power, what they tried to achieve with what success, and what challenges they faced. The author is also quite fond of a political anecdote. I didn’t have any problem with that, the anecdotes livened up the book.

The author does his best to be politically neutral throughout, though he gives the impression he doesn’t think much of Tony Blair. On the whole I thought he gave a fair assessment of each of the major political leaders on post-war Britain. We get a vivid picture of the extraordinary cast of larger than life personalities that made up the core of the Attlee cabinet – Bevin, Bevan, Cripps, Morrison and Dalton. I read with frustration of the missed opportunities of the Wilson government in the 60s, which led on to the chaos of 1970s Britain followed by the reaction of Thatcherism in the 80s and the astonishing explosion of excess and showy consumption at the end of that decade, perfectly captured at the time by the comedian Harry Enfield and his “Loadsamoney” character. One of the biggest themes for me was the chronically troubled nature of Britain’s relationship with the Common Market/EEC/EC/EU. Basically, the same debates that we hear today, about sovereignty, the ECJ, and economic impact, have been going on since the fifties. Euroscepticism has always loomed large in British attitudes.

Away from politics, the description of ordinary life in the last 1940s is particularly compelling, and there is also some good stuff about the sixties (including a memorable quote from Michael Caine, about his mother’s reaction to her first sight of a girl wearing a mini-skirt).

This 10th anniversary edition adds in a chapter covering the Scottish Independence and “Brexit” referendums, but the additional chapter has a slightly hurried feel to it. I also noticed one surprising factual error right at the end of the original text, where the former LibDem Leader, the late Charles Kennedy, was wrongly described as MP for the Western Isles, something that was never the case. A minor mistake, but whenever I see that sort of error it makes me wonder what else might have crept in, that I don’t know about.

Overall though, I found this a fascinating read.

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book proved to be a surprisingly readable history of post-1945 Britain. While the book itself focused more strongly upon politics than social history, there were still rather good sections devoted to what set, say, the population of Britain in the 50s apart from the population in Britain today.

While at times the book was a bit verbose and dry, for the most part Andrew Marr kept the tone remarkably accessible, and extensively quoted primary sources. The wry British humor is out in force when describing certain politicians, and a few times I had to do a double-take when coming upon some unexpected wit.

This was precisely the book I was looking for in terms of historical content. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an overview of British history, though not necessarily for lighter reading. I would also recommend that anyone wishing to read it get it in hard cover or paperback format as opposed to an e-book, it would be far more easily readable and referenced in physical form.

[Sherene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a long and dense read, and yet thoroughly enjoyable in the richness of its detail, without belabouring too much any point or time in the period covered. Andrew Marr is incredibly neutral and fair in his assessment of various governments and their achievements and shortfalls. His journalistic style and sense of humour prevent the text from turning too academic and keeps the book eminently readable. This book is an ambitious feat and it has inspired me to dig deeper into many of the topics discussed. It was fascinating for me to understand better the themes that have had a direct effect on modern life and politics - the rise of consumerism, US-UK relations, various economic & monetary policies etc. Also, it was great to know more about the emergence of British music, fashion, theatre, travel, celebrity-craze and cars. Particularly of interest to me was the change in the nature and pace of immigration in the UK over the decades and the various degrees of receptiveness to outsiders the British society has shown. I now appreciate how dramatic the shifts have been over the past decade and a half - I now realise I was part of an unprecedented wave.

It couldn't be a better time for me to pick up this book. Personally, I have applied for naturalisation as a citizen in this country and it seemed appropriate for me to catch up on recent historical events in the UK. Furthermore, in these interesting times in British politics post-Brexit, it really helps to read through the modern history of Britain with balanced socio-political commentary on all the dynamics leading to the disastrous / momentous event. Furthermore, the book covers a period from post-war era to nearly Summer 2007 which was when I first visited London, to then move here the following year. It is almost eery that AM finishes the book talking about the next big challenge for the UK - climate change, a topic that still most leaders are evasive about, in light of other more urgent challenges the country has faced in recent times - the financial crisis, increasing inequality, public sector and NHS at breaking point wrt capacity, terrorism, etc. I would love for Andrew to write another book in a few years, picking up where he left off!

[Andrew Fish · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always slightly awkward when you read books out of order, but when the narrative flow and the order of production fail to coincide it leaves one with a choice: honour the chronology and suffer the perceived literary degradation, or honour the creation order and cope with time flowing backwards.

I prefer my history forwards, so when I came to read Andrew Marr's books I chose to read the newer The Making of Modern Britain before its precursor. Surprisingly for a journalist of Marr's standing, the difference in quality between the two books is striking. It's not that History is a bad book, but particularly in the early stages the mechanics of its construction are vastly more readily apparent, especially where it comes to Marr's attempts to avoid accusation of left or right-wing bias (he won't, of course, but he does attempt it) by juxtaposing attacks on one side with attacks on the other. This approach gradually drifts until, by the time he gets to the tenure of Margaret Thatcher, he either - depending on your own bias - fails to find anything much positive to say or reverts to BBC type. So, despite his clear statement of how the policies of Heath, Wilson and Callaghan made Thatcherism all but inevitable, he still sees the implied necessary medicine as an attempt to kill the body politic. Equally, he approaches the Blair/Brown years with the preconceived view of a Brownite. So Brown's motives are invariably held up to be noble and we are led to believe that ever-growing spending was both necessary and a good thing - understandable for a product of an organisation reliant on public largesse, but hardly the considered position we expect from a historian. Whether Marr would have taken the same line writing after the credit crunch is hard to say.

And there is also something of a selectivity in what Marr chooses to write about. Obviously, a single volume covering the last fifty years is never going to tread as much ground as Dominic Sandbrook will in a likely ten volumes, but it's hard not to feel that some of the selectivity is itself a political choice. So the Westland helicopter affair, which was little more than an embarrassment for Margaret Thatcher, gets over a page, whilst the loans for peerages scandal, which may well have been a criminal act, gets less than a paragraph; the IRA actions in Mainland Britain are reported, but the campaign carried out by unionists in Southern Ireland is ignored. Even the handling of something as recent and contentious as the Iraq War is twisted by selection, with Hutton's report allowed to stand alone as the definitive account of what happened and no mention of the follow-up Butler report at all. Whitewashing the history of something which was regarded as a whitewash to the extent that you don't report that people considered it a whitewash, you might say.

But despite the selective view, a thinner book can have its own value: the softer focus can bring out details which would be buried in noise in more comprehensive accounts, or elements separated by time can be drawn together in a way that renders their relationship more obvious. So Marr makes more of the problems of decolonization and its impact on the career of Enoch Powell and shows how Callaghan's unscrupulous attack on Wilson and Castle's union policies in the late 1960s would make his own Winter of Discontent almost inevitable a decade later.

Comparing to the Making of Modern Britain, one thing that is notable is that the balance of politics and social history has shifted. Here, the politics dominates, perhaps because our times are more densely political than those which went before, perhaps simply because earlier political issues have become vaguer and harder to relate to. The rise and fall of the postwar political consensus is a story still germane to our struggles today, the wrangles over the future of India seem more a settled argument.

Whatever the issues of balance and content, Marr's writing remains easy on the eye. For those who want an accessible summation of the last fifty years, this would seem a reasonable place to start. It should, however, be taken with a pinch of salt and as a stopgap before Sandbrook catches up.

[Neil Pearson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was somewhat wary that a history so close to my own life would really hit the mark - especially one focused solely on one country. How wrong I was! This book was fascinating from start to finish. Marr covers pretty much everything from the final days of World War 2 up until before Tony Blair stood down. What I probably enjoyed the most was how it added characters to all the events. Too often you hear about the change in education or the rise and fall of unions but this book makes a point of shining a light on the personalities of the politicians and people involved in these events. At times it reminds me of the political machinations of Rome at the end of the republic, which is probably how politics has always worked. It's not just about the movers and shakers though, we get to hear how the average brit changed over several decades in terms of health, wealth, appearance and attitudes.
Some may find certain parts less interesting (especially if they aren't bothered about fashion and music) but I'd be amazed if there wasn't something in the book that was of interest to most readers.
Marr has a great narrative style and his wit shines throughout. The narration by Toby Longworth is excellent - he really makes an effort to sound like Andrew Marr and does some pretty good impressions of historical figures too. Just be aware that there is an abridged version which is only 7 hours as opposed to 25 hours!

[Tony]

This was a quick tour through political & social history of Britain since WW2. It's not a dry academic book - Andrew Marr writes in an easy, almost conversational way, freely sharing his opinions. I learned plenty of stuff that I should really have known already (like, what was the Suez crisis?).

Unfortunately I listened to the abridged audio book which was just too compressed, so the narrative seemed to jump around and was a bit disjointed. (But it was still long enough for Marr's narration, complete with dodgy impersonations, to become slightly annoying.)

[Paul Fadoju · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Andrew Marr should have titled the book A history of Modern British Government. The Book was just talking about past british government and their policies. It will make a good text book for A level History and Political students than for ordinary people or immigrants who wants to learn about the Beauty of the Isle of Britain.

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a masterdoc, definitely more on the conservative side, but I have to accept that conservatism is a perspective nevertheless, and it’s impossible to look at history from all angles in one book. So, from that perspective, this book is outstanding.

While this book heavily discusses history through the lens of Westminster, Marr also takes time to explore changing pop culture, nationalism (Scottish, Welsh, British, and Irish), women’s experiences, LGBT perspectives, religious and ethnic minorities, and other societal shifts.

It is well rounded and thoroughly researched. It’s accessible, clearly written without any technical academic jargon or structures- yet still doesn’t ever stray into being too silly or unserious, especially when talking about upsetting and tragic moments.

Reading this over the last few weeks gave me a rush. I learned so much. I love being able to see what’s happening in the news today and being able to better put it in context of everything that happened before I was born and became attentive to politics.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this tie-in to the 2007 BBC series by political journalist Andrew Marr, essentially we get to look on as politics gives way to shopping in postwar UK. Taking us from Clem Attlee's stunning win over the wartime Tory government and using politics as his grammar as he plots along the way to the last days of the Blair government, Andrew Marr gives us a look at the various tectonic shifts that have formed a highly different country in 2007, when this book was written, to that of 1945. (Of course, they don't call it a "political history", because that would be death to sales and/or viewers, but that's what it is, albeit with a couple of asides about pop/rock music and fashion that are almost Henry Fielding-like digressions).

Where Marr is best is when he is bringing the more memorable political figures of this period to life. He dissects some of the internal rifts within the Attlee and Wilson cabinets, muses on the rather surprising success of the friendless Ted Heath, gets to the nub of what made Thatcher such a force to be reckoned with (her hubris, which was also why what brought her crashing down), what a mess Suez was for everyone concerned, what a media-savvy riven-hearted dog's breakfast New Labour turned out to be and, most importantly, just how much Euroscepticism there has always been on both sides of the political fence, leading us to more understanding of the suicidal impulse behind Brexit and the willingness to believe just about anything in order to attain the fondly-held dream of more British "freedom". Indeed, Marr also takes a look at the poorly-organised and rushed negotiations on getting Britain into the Common Market, which leads one to wonder whether the negotiations to get out now are likely to founder on this "odd man out" autonomy too. Not to mention the issues of Gibraltar, Scotland and Northern Ireland. How on earth Cameron felt all this was worth a gamble is going to be a question for the ages (maybe even for another edition of this book), but on the other hand perhaps this heightened insularity is true democracy after all, although I for one wouldn't be happy letting the Leave camp claim that until I hear just a couple of arguments that haven't been sewn together from long-discredited campaign ads or the bleatings of the wilfully mendacious Boris Johnson and/or Nigel Farage. And there are plenty there, if people actually look, but plenty more for not just leaping off lemming-like into poorly-planned self-exile.

Ahem, back to this edition of this book.

Along the way, during the 60-odd years this book covers, the old imperial power that was this sceptre'd isle is forced to re-examine its global influence, while occasionally striking on some novel movements to pass around to the others in the class (Beatles, monetarism, the "third way"). It has its moments, although many of them seem to have help from a deus ex machina (North Sea oil, the Falklands, bad accounting by the Treasury) and bumbles along for a while in a postwar death grip between old school Tories and firebrand socialists, giving up the last vestiges of its Empire and focusing on the things it can still give the world. It doesn't do so badly, ingenuity and scientific/mathematical prowess still forming part of its inheritance and legacy. Marr has the touch of a one-time leftie who wants you to know he has put away childish things. This works because he can be both bipartisan and snotty about the various leaders. In fact, none of them come off particularly well in the end. They all overreach (Eden, Thatcher, Heath, Callaghan, Blair) or overequivocate (Attlee, Wilson, Major). Indeed John Major seems to come off better than most because he is seen as a surprise package in every sense of the word, dancing the Euro dance much more nimbly than most if not all of his predecessors.

This is a well-written and readable account, but perhaps suffers a little from the lack of a narrative arc, tending to meander chronologically at times. The events of 2016, what with Brexit etc. probably would have given it just that narrative arc. And whither from here?

[Gavin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first half of A History of Modern Britain a bit lightweight and slightly frustrating. There was a little too much focus on Westminster personality politics and pop culture fluff (which occasionally suffered from tinges of baby boomer vanity). The political dimension is unsurprising considering the author's background but feels a little too much like a Reader's Digest style regurgitation of the various politicians' memoirs and biographies. There's a lack of any real statistical analysis that robs the early section of any genuine opportunity for insight beyond the soap opera aspects of secret deals and personal feuds in the backrooms of Parliament. Some of the most glaring omissions of hard data include; voting statistics and how various regions of the country voted in the many elections covered, information on average earnings or the prices of landmark items, and even things like unemployment statistics. Whether this focus on 'narrative' politics shows a bias from the book, the BBC, or British political life in general, it certainly leaves some noticeable gaps in this volume.

Fortunately, the last two sections, covering the late seventies to the early two-thousands, really come to life. It's surely no coincidence that the best writing in the book covers the time when Marr reached adulthood and began his career as a journalist. (He started as a trainee at The Scotsman in 1981.) There still isn't an abundance of statistical analysis but there is more here than before. I particularly enjoyed Marr's account of Neil Kinnock's fight to reform the Labour Party and his positive reappraisal of John Major's time as Prime Minister. The balanced coverage of Margaret Thatcher's time in office was refreshing and surprising, particularly given the usual extremes the Iron Lady often inspires. Publishing this book in 2007, Marr probably hadn't had enough time to properly analyze the historical impact of Blair, and certainly not for Gordon Brown, but he can't really be blamed for that and he does a great job describing Blair's rise and fall.

Overall, this is a pretty great big-picture sketch of post war British history. It covers the major events and major players in a great deal of depth. My only complaint is with the title. It may have been more suitably named A Political History of Modern Britain.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

From WWII to the aftermath of Gulf War II, From Churchill to Blair. The book covers all of my life and a few years. My political awareness of general elections goes back to Wilson's first government. It was interesting to read through so much history and try to put my memories in.
The writing style makes the book and easy (if long) read, and some of the connections it uncovers are fascinating. "There is nothing new under the sun" - even the sixties, even the eighties. Especially 'New Labour'.
I especially like the fact that the recent years are treated in the same style as the earlier years. I was expecting the style and intensity to change, if it had I would have been disappointed.
Almost all politicians set out to do one thing and end up doing something different, and sometimes being remembered for something else - completely different.
There are also some excellent insights into popular culture - its not all politics.

I would recommend you read this book if you get the chance, if only to flesh out your memories.

Britain has changed unrecognisably in the last 50 years, and the rate of change is increasing. It's good to take a few hours to find out where we came from and how we got here.

[Emily Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always been a fan of Andrew Marr. I admire his eloquence and wit, and his rich bed of knowledge with which he uses to formulate engaging political criticism. Well known journalist and presenter of his own Andrew Marr Show, he always strives to get to the heart of the matter but most politicians are so wrapped up in their own red tape that they frequently go off tangent and produce monologues that dodge and dive the real issues at stake. It would be refreshing to get a 'yes' or a 'no' reply every once in a while.

This book is a glimpse of Marr's learnings of modern Britain. The good, the bad and the ugly. Marr takes us on a journey from the early 1900s to the present day (well it was published in 2007) and much has happened since. However, the significance of politics, migration, freedom and consumerism in post-war Britain has changed this country for ever. For all its flaws, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. There is hope in democracy although our government has a long way to go to help tackle major issues and make the best decisions.

[S.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the modest Clem Atlee (with, as Winston Churchill would say, much to be modest about...) to the troubles around the Iraq war and the political coup that removed Tony Blair from power, Andrew Marr does not miss a any events that have shaped our modern nation in this dense, concise and humorous account of the last 60 years in politics (well mostly politics). It mirrors the television programme of the same name, but contains much more information as you would expect from the format. It should be a standard text for every (British) school child – recent history is every much as important to our national character as the Tudors, Victorians or the Battle of Britain and this book cleverly brings together the important events and intrigues of our post-imperial island. It took me a while to get through its 629 pages but I did not begrudge a single paragraph.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have hesitated in reviewing this. In terms of how comprehensive it is I would be toying between 2/3 stars. In terms of its scope, and in drawing links and themes across successive administrations, it is 4/5 stars. While I like the breadth, my personal preference is for analytical depth - although I would rather have breadth (with additional social commentary and analysis, even) as well as increased depth. I would gladly have whizzed through a tome three, even four, times the size for that. As it was, however, it was an interesting read and certainly gave me a clear oversight of British political history of the time.

So, basing my star rating on what the book actually is - as well as the fact that it has rekindled my interests and sparked a desire to read about many of the issues in greater depth - it is 4 (3.5) stars.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb review of the history of Britain from the Second World War. Having lived through most of the period covered by the book it is interesting to compare notes with Mr. Marr. While tending more to the Corelli Barnett school of British history and its long list of lost opportunities, I must confess to finding Marr's work accessible and good to read. He lays the right stress on the right issues, yet his oversights and lack of insight in certain areas betray his upbringing and personal viewpoint since no history is truly objective. That said, this is a book well worth reading if you you wish to undertsand the forces at work behind modern Britain.

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book kept me intrigued and glued for the first part of the British story after the Second World War till the 1960's, but then it started to read like a political story of Britain which I found difficult to follow. There was far too much focus on politicians for my taste. More analysis and less personality focus would have been better in my opinion as Andrew Marr has an interesting view on events. I don't know what kept him from elaborating more?

[Nick Harriss · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent telling of the story of post-war Britain. I read this having watched the very entertaining TV series by the author on the same topic. Although not comprehensive, it provides a good balance between depth and brevity.

Re-read (well re-listened as I got it in audiobook). Still very good,however the Dominic Sandbrook series of modern histories fill in a lot of the gaps, so I would recommend the latter once you have finished this.

[Lucy J Jeynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very helpful in filling in a strange vacuum of knowledge post 1945 which has always embarrassed me....what exactly happened re Suez? How did we end up with the power cuts and the 3 day week? All this and more, with balance.. enough facts to fill the gaps, yet brief enough on each episode to retain the attention. Should not have reached my age without knowing some of this stuff.

[Louise O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is written in the voice of Andrew Marr, and to me that is a good thing - like his TV persona, the book is intelligent, witty, pretty independent politically, great access to the inner thought and opinions of political insiders. Full of great insights into how the British political landscape has formed.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having specialised in post 1945 Britain for a masters I was sceptical whether this would add anything but it did. A brilliant mixture of the texture of how people lived and political commentary all told in the crisp style that makes Andew Marr such a pleasure as a writer and commentator.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://bettie.booklikes.com/blog

[Steve Haywood]

Part way through reading. It's good, but not easily digestible all at once. I've put it down, but will pick up again soon.

[Cold · Rating 4 out of 5]

A political history that folds in a bit of cultural/economic/social history, but mainly to explain the forces that politicians respond to. This provides a much more holistic explanation of British politics than you'd get following cabinet meetings, speeches, party conferences, electoral strategies etc.

For example, my previous mental model of Thatcher's poll tax was "wanton punishment of the Scots" or something. Marr points out the logic behind reform, while acknowledging the reform itself was botched. A small fraction of the population actually paid council tax and so they didn't suffer the consequences of budget bloat and benefited from any handouts. At least on one level, poll tax was intended to solve a real political problem by making councils accountable to all who paid the bill, which would be more democratic under a poll tax. It's by no means a defense of the policy, but it helps to understand why it was possibly implemented. The same topic helps explain why the book was missing a strand of intellectual history.

Broadly, Marr concludes that both Blair and Thatcher would flirt with intellectuals but ultimately drop intellectual ideas when it became expedient to. While this is true across politics, it underrates the importance of ideas. For example, my understanding is Thatcher engaged with neoliberal/libertarian economists (e.g. Road to Serfdom in handbag) and think tanks who also endorsed these ideas. This cold economic logic explains why she'd opt for poll tax to solve an accountability problem rather than say increased grass roots politics (as someone in the socialist tradition might).

In terms of Marr's views, he has a romantic ideal of British people as quiet, self-governing types. He 40 years of consumerism and celebrity culture have led us astray. Reframed, Marr is harking back to a time when mass media and culture was dominated by middle class tastes, and bemoans new media responding to an under-served working class. He rallies against post-19780s increase in centralism and bureaucracy, but puts forward no alternative for managing and delivering public services.

I don't know, he's just a bit cranky.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first foray into the world of political history is Andrew Marr's A HISTORY OF MODERN BRITAIN, a companion piece to his MAKING OF MODERN BRITAIN (which covers the first half of the 20th century). I had no idea what to expect from this, but I found it hugely useful: it's an educational read, dense with information, that nevertheless manages to be funny, erudite, well-researched, and fair. Marr goes out of his way to avoid political bias and always tries to present all sides of a particular story or event. Things begin with Clement Attlee in 1945 and go through right up until the last days of Tony Blair's leadership in the late 2000s. Marr explores all of the hot potatoes in the political world, as well as explaining complex (to me, at least) financial situations, culture, trends, fashions, industry and technology. The miners' strikes are covered in depth as are all of the disasters and wars and Empire dismantling. It's the kind of book I read at speed and as I finished it I was left wanting more. An invaluable read for anyone wanting to get an understanding of Britain and its place in modern history.

[David Bisset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recent history with verve and sharp commentary

It is a strange phenomenon as recent events become part of history. Andrew Matt is a superb guide. His objectivity is impeccable, but he is never dull. Professionally he has interviewed many politicians - and it shows! No one will agree with everything he says, but reading this book is an enlightening experience. His epilogue taking the story as far as Brexit is truly memorable.

[Peter Ellwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. As with his preceding, Making of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr comes up with a beguiling mix of the usual political events of the post-war period, and a nicely-chosen sprinkling of non-political moments. Whether the invention of the Mini, or the fate of James Bond’s testicles in Casino Royale: it’s easy to see how they fit in as embodiments of the change engulfing Britain after the war.

I liked his sub-theme of the rise of consumerism. I don’t know whether he is the first to present the twentieth century that way, but it scarcely matters. It’s a compelling way of seeing it, the gentle upswell of shopping as the most basic driver of national aspiration, not socialism or Tory toffs. That, incidentally, is why the rise of the Mini is a good choice. It’s not just that it was iconic; its very design embodies the rise of the proletariat, that’s the point.

It’s refreshing to take in AM’s journalistic delivery, as opposed to the sometimes drier fare of your regular historian. You might think it’s a bit of a stretch for example to enlist James Bond’s balls as a metaphor of national humiliation: but in context it really does make entire sense.

For example, his analysis of the Sixties incorporates a lot of these qualities:

“Why do the sixties seem to matter so much? Why is it that on television, in magazine articles, net debates, in books and in conversation, so much time is spent on a few events, involving a tiny number of people in a few places? […] The truth is we have never really left the sixties. We have simply repeated them, and that goes for those who were only born later. […] The essence of British culture in the early twenty first century, from drug abuse to the background music of our lives, the celebrity-obsessed media to swift changes of fashion, the pretence of classlessness, the car dependency, was all set down first between around 1958 and 1968”.

This is no more than a quick extract from several pages of powerfully convincing narrative, at which I found myself intoning “by George, he’s got it” at regular intervals. Clever you, Mr Marr.

Unwittingly, he also comes up with a lot of brilliantly foresighted comment. Unwittingly, because he wrote it in 2007 and could not possibly guess what aspects were to become national obsessions a decade later, and which would simply fall away. In the former category for example, his passing comment on Europe:

“Had Britain been involved from the start as even the French wanted, the EEC, eventually the EU, would have developed differently. There would certainly have been less emphasis on agricultural protection and more on free trade. ‘Europe might have been a little less mystical and a little more open, perhaps more democratic, though this is difficult in so many languages. At any rate, the moment passed.”

Calm, business-like and non-partisan. And, very likely, smack on.

Underpinning that is another aspect that I warmed to – the sheer sense of continuity discernible throughout the book. In fact, discernible in the books, because many of the more important themes have their roots in the pre-war years and first appear in his earlier volume too. It’s fascinating to watch them evolve; and to realise that they are still swirling around under our feet right now.

Europe is one of them for sure, immigration another. So, more generally, is the rise of the working man, quickly to transmute within this volume into the rise of the working person. A really important element of society in the 21st century, which he chronicles so well, is the demise of Edwardian male elitism and the rise of what might loosely be called democracy, but which might also turn out to become a rather messy tyranny of the (plebeian) majority. AM even quotes Burke on this subject (“Your representative owes you […] his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion”). You can’t help feeling that – a decade after the book closes – that subtle and wise view is being still further buried under a torrent of populism, tweeting and bar-room trolling in online newspapers.

One quote is instructive. In discussing the early years of Margaret Thatcher’s ascendancy he quotes from her own memoir:

“No one who lived through austerity, who can remember snoek, Spam and utility clothing, could mistake the petty jealousies, minor tyrannies, ill-neighbourliness and sheer sourness of those years for idealism and equality”.

My point here is that she was talking about the real austerity of the 1950s, not the version which parades under that name in 2016, and which people complain about as they leave for their second overseas holiday! But the line is unbroken all the same: from people who still thought that elders and betters deserved automatic respect, to today’s view that we’re all victims and it must all be the toffs’ fault somehow.

Fine piece of work. Despite its length – some 600 pages – I found myself wishing he had treated many of his topics in a tad more depth; and I’d love to see a future edition which took a look at the Gordon Brown and Cameron years too. But for the moment, it’s still a super summary of how we got here.