Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951--1970(New Oxford History of England)

In this, the first of two self-standing volumes bringing The New Oxford History of England up to the present, Brian Harrison begins in 1951 with much of the empire intact and with Britain enjoying high prestige in Europe. The United Kingdom could still then claim to be a great power, whose welfare state exemplified compromise between Soviet planning and the USA's free market. When the volume ends in 1970, no such claims carried conviction. The empire had gone, central planning was in trouble, and even the British political system had become controversial. In an unusually wide-ranging, yet impressively detailed volume, Harrison approaches the period from unfamiliar directions. He explains how British politicians in the 1950s and 1960s responded to this transition by pursuing successive roles for Britain: worldwide as champion of freedom, and in Europe as exemplar of parliamentary government, the multi-racial society, and economic planning. His main focus, though, rests not on the politicians but on the decisions the British people made largely for themselves: on their environment, social structure and attitudes, race relations, family patterns, economic framework, and cultural opportunities. By 1970 the consumer society had supplanted postwar austerity, the socialist vision was fading, and 'the sixties' (the theme of his penultimate chapter) had introduced new and even exotic themes and values. Having lost an empire, Britain was still resourcefully seeking a role: it had yet to find it.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1: The United Kingdom in 1951 2: The United Kingdom and the World 3: The Face of the Country 4: The Social Structure 5: Family and Welfare 6: Industry and Commerce 7: Intellect and Culture 8: Politics and Government 9: 'The Sixties' 10: Retrospect Chronology Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Brian Harrison is Emeritus Professor of Modern British History at the University of Oxford. He has published on many aspects of British history from the 1790s to the present. His books include Drink and the Victorians (1971, second edition 1994) and The Transformation of British politics 1860-1995 (1996). From 2000-2004 he edited the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Review :
`Full of surprising details and impressive insights... [a] monumentally impressive survey ' Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times `Harrison has a special gift which historians prize. He can turn the grains of history into fascinating and convincing patterns ' Peter Hennessy, Times Literary Supplement `Magnificent if demanding history... all couched in an enviable prose style... reader comes away from the text with a sense that he or she has learnt the history of a people, not just of its elite. ' Neal Blewett, Australian Book Review `The considerable strength of this book lies in its handling of social structure and institutions... Here Harrison is often at his brilliant best ' Kenneth O. Morgan, Literary Review