Never Again
Britain 1945-1951
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
The first volume of Hennessy's postwar history of Britain concerns an age dominated by the shadow of war. With the beginnings of the Cold War, the foundations of the new Europe and the granting of independence of former colonies, Britain was forced to negotiate a new place in the world. It was also a time of rationing and of rebuilding, marked by the founding of the NHS and the welfare state. This comprehensive history embraces both high politics and everyday experience. It recreates the mood of the time and tells us where people lived, how they worked and what they wore.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a lively, stirring history of the postwar epoch that molded Britain's baby boomer generation, Hennessy argues that Britain's economic decline was far from inevitable. Despite a more than adequate industrial base, postwar Britain slipped from superpowerdom, in his view, because of a refusal to abandon its dreams of global empire (notwithstanding the relinquishing of India and Palestine) and because of the increasing economic strain imposed by the Cold War. Professor of contemporary history at the University of London, Hennessy shuttles between high politics and everyday experience, illuminating the Labour Party's ascent, Britain's emergence as a nuclear power, popular culture in the pre-television era, and what he sees as the period's crowning achievement--a national welfare program encompassing universal health benefits, social security, unemployment insurance and aid for housing and education. Photos.
