Synopses & Reviews
This impressively researched and controversial book presents an alternative account of the development of one of the greatest states of the twentieth-century. It represents the culmination of David Edgerton's long-standing research on the relationship between science, technology, the military and the British state. Edgerton seeks to put the warfare state back into the history of twentieth-century Britain by restoring militarism, science and technology to that history and by challenging conventional accounts that centre on the notion of the welfare state and the narrative of British decline.
Review
"Edgerton is not arguing, simply, that we must reject interpretations of recent history which focus either upon long economic decline or on the rise of a welfare state and replace them with another over-simple paradigm...Rather he convincingly suggests that we should incorporate both perspectives into our reading of history and ask why each was so significant at certain times. This book asks fundamentally important questions about how we construct our understandings of the recent British past and contributes to a significant re-thinking of British history."
- History Today"This is one of the most important general books on British twentieth century history to be published for a long time. Its significance lies not only in the substantive, highly revisionist argument about the nature of the British state and the assessment of why previous accounts have gone astray, but also a persuasive case that this argument about the state makes us re-think almost every aspect of mid-twentieth century Britain.... While the book has general importance, it is grounded in very detailed research and analysis, and draws in particular on an understanding of science and technology that few historians could match."
- Twentieth Century British History, Jim Tomlinson, University of Dundee
Synopsis
'This groundbreaking book challenges the central theme of the existing histories of twentieth-century Britain, that the British state was a welfare state. It argues that it was also a warfare state, which supported a powerful armaments industry, and analyses the relations of science, technology, industry and the military.\n
'
Synopsis
Alternative account of the development of one of the greatest states of the twentieth century.
Table of Contents
1. The military-industrial complex in the interwar years; 2. The warfare state and the nationalisation of Britain, 1939-1955; 3. The expert state: the military-scientific complex in the interwar years; 4. The new men and the new state, 1939-1970; 5. Anti-historians and technocrats: revisiting the post-war technocratic moment; 6. The warfare state and the 'white heat', 1955-1970; 7. The disappearance of the British warfare state; 8. Rethinking the relations of science, technology, industry and war in the twentieth century.