Modern British History: The Essential A-Z Guide

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

An invaluable and opinionated guide to modern Britain, designed to inform both the general reader and the student about our culture and society, politics and economics. Modern British History is a comprehensive, entertaining survey of the events, people and themes that make us who we are, written by two of the country's leading scholars of the subject. In 200 concise essays, covering topics as diverse as pornography and the poll tax, the Blitz and New Labour, the authors explore the interwoven culture, society, politics and economics of the recent past. Bombarded by information as never before, we all need to appreciate the extent to which seemingly disparate events connect with other. This Essential A - Z guide offers a consistent line of argument with a refreshing disrespect for old orthodoxy. Read separately, its entries are a mine of useful information; taken together, they build a vivid, compelling and controversial picture of Britain at the start of the twenty-first century.

Reviews

Highly entertaining and informative * Times Literary Supplement *
200 snappy and stylish essays on the topics that dominated British life since 1900 * Independent *
It is enormous fun... This is a "reference book with attitude"... [And] how can you not admire a book which, in a passing mention of Coco Chanel, describes her as "the Nazi-sympathising French couturier" -- Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *

Author Bio

Mark Garnett is the co-author of Whatever Happened to the Tories (1997), Keith Joseph: A Life (2001), and Splendid! Splendid! The Authorized Biography of Willie Whitelaw (2002). Richard Weight is a cultural and social historian, currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Boston. A regular broadcaster and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of the Arts, he is the author of Patriots: National Identity in Britain 1940-2000 (2002).