A Northern Wind: Britain 1962-65

(Hardback)

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Description

Few historians have the power to make you feel you actually inhabit the times they are writing about. Kynaston does. Sunday Times, Books of the Decade How much can change in less than two and a half years In the case of Britain in the Sixties, the answer is: almost everything. From the seismic coming of the Beatles to a sex scandal that rocked the Tory government to the arrival at No 10 of Harold Wilson, a prime minister utterly different from his Old Etonian predecessors. A Northern Wind, the keenly anticipated next instalment of David Kynastons acclaimed Tales of a New Jerusalem series, brings to vivid life the period between October 1962 and February 1965. Drawing upon an unparalleled array of diaries, newspapers and first-hand recollections, Kynastons masterful storytelling refreshes familiar events the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Big Freeze, the assassination of JFK, the funeral of Winston Churchill while revealing in all their variety the experiences of the people living through this history. Major themes complement the compelling narrative: an anti-Establishment mood epitomised by the BBCs controversial That Was The Week That Was; a welfare state only slowly becoming more responsive to the individual needs of its users; and the rise of consumer culture, as Habitat arrived and shopping centres like Birminghams Bull Ring proliferated. Multi-voiced, multi-dimensional and immersive, Tales of a New Jerusalem has transformed how we see and understand post-war Britain. A Northern Wind continues the journey.

Reviews

Volumes full of treasure, serious history with a human face -- Hilary Mantel
No other writer evokes Britain's past so well * New Statesman *
Kynaston has created a living, breathing, talking, singing, dancing, grumbling and complaining portrait of the British . . . Groundbreaking * Literary Review *

Author Bio

David Kynaston is a professional historian and author. He has written a four-volume history of the City of London as well as a history of the Bank of England. His continuing history of post-war Britain, 'Tales of a New Jerusalem', has so far comprised Austerity Britain, Family Britain, Modernity Britain and On the Cusp. His most recent three books have been Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket (with Stephen Fay); Engines of Privilege: Britains Private School Problem (with Francis Green); and Shots in the Dark: A Diary of Saturday Dreams and Strange Times.