Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
High and popular culture; family, race, gender and class relations; sexual attitudes and material conditions; science and technology - the diversity of social developments in Britain from 1945 to 2002 are thoroughly explored in this new edition of aclassic text.
'Something of a tour de force... Without serious distortion or omission he moves dexterously through a wide variety of sources, ranging from poetry through film and novels to opinion polls.. it is astonishing how much he gets in' Times Educational Supplement
'An enjoyable, readable, usable achievement which leads the field' John Vincent, Sunday Times
About the Author
John Ciardi was a distinguished poet and professor, having taught at Harvard and Rutgers universities, and a poetry editor of The Saturday Review. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1955 he won the Harriet Monroe Memorial Award, and in 1956, the Prix de Rome. He died in 1986.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction: "How It Was," "What Went Wrong?," or "From Consensus to Divided Society and Half-way Back?"
Part One: Social Consensus 1945-57
1. British Journey
2. That Topic All-Absorbing: Class
3. The Welfare State
4. Hearth, Home, and Street Corner
5. The Culture of Austerity
6. Consensus Re-examined
Part Two: Roads to Freedom 1958-73
7. Afflunce, Appliances, and Work
8. Critiques, Boutiques, and Pop
9. The End of Victorianism
10. Social Structure and Social Strains
11. False Optimism
Part Three: The Time of Troubles 1973-82
12. Gloom on the Man-Made Island 1973-80
13. Class, Race, and Nationalism
14. Living Standards
15. "Gimme a Man After Midnight"
16. Tolerance and Confrontation
17. The Winter of Discontent and the Summer of the Fire Bombs
Part Four: Privatization, Polarization and IT 1982-9
18. The Processes of Change
19. The Geography of "Post-Industrialization": Mainland Britain and Northern Ireland
20. The "Enterprise Economy"
21. Workers, Yuppies, and Hooligans
22. Social Policy and Social Life
23. The Hallmark of a Civilization: "An Ace Caff with Quite a Nice Museum Attached"
Part Five: A Society at Odds with Itself 1989-97
24. Divisive Requests: Cultural and Political
25. Social Reform with a Sting
26. Class, Race, Identity
Part Six: A Faltering Return Towards Consensus? 1997-2002
27. The Odd Shape of the Nation
28. Service with a Scowl
29. The Pleasures and Pains of Life
Notes on Sources and Guide to Further Reading
Index