Synopses & Reviews
The late 1950s and early 1960s was a period in its own right-neither the stultifying early to midfifties nor the liberating mid- to late-sixties-and an action-packed, dramatic time in which the contours of modern Britain started to take shape.
These were the “never had it so good” years, in which mass affluence began to change, fundamentally, the tastes and even the character of the working class; when films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and TV soaps like Coronation Street and Z Cars at last brought that class to the center of the national frame; when Britain gave up its empire; when economic decline relative to France and Germany became the staple of political discourse; when “youth” emerged as a fully fledged cultural force; when the Notting Hill riots made race and immigration an inescapable reality; when a new breed of meritocrats came through; and when the Lady Chatterley trial, followed by the Profumo scandal, at last signaled the end of Victorian morality.
David Kynaston argues that a deep and irresistible modernity zeitgeist was at work, in these and many other ways, and he reveals as never before how that spirit of the age unfolded, with consequences that still affect us today.
Review
“Volumes full of treasure, serious history with a human face.” —Hilary Mantel, Observer, Summer Reads
"David Kynaston resembles a novelist impersonating a historian. His books read like fiction disguised as documentary . . . His method evokes the sumptuous messiness of human experience. He depicts history as an unfolding, ill-managed pageant . . . His books so enriching, improving and endearing . . . Shrewd, funny and ever-readable . . . In Kynastons history books, the reader can hear the people speak. He has an elocutionists sense of peoples diction." —Guardian
“He conveys 1950s life more vividly than any historian before him . . . Masterful.” —Economist on Family Britain
“This sparkling book—deeply and imaginatively researched, written with bounce, and informed by the wryest sensibility—charts the evolution of British society during the depleted and dingy years 1945-1951.” —Atlantic Monthly on Austerity Britain "Reading the many first-person accounts in this weighty, immensely detailed and sometimes evocative volume, you begin to see that, for countless people in that place at that time, life really was lived in a world devoid of color—a place of long lines, of shortages, of frustration." —Los Angeles Times on Austerity Britain "Weaves together personal reminiscences, statistical data and media accounts to paint a portrait of this critical moment in British history." —Wall Street Journal on Austerity Britain "This is a classic." —The Guardian (UK) on Austerity Britain
Synopsis
Following Austerity Britain and Family Britain, the third and fulcrum volume in David Kynaston's landmark social history of post-war Britain.
Synopsis
The late 1950s was an action-packed, often dramatic time in which the contours of modern Britain began to take shape. These were the 'never had it so good' years, when the Carry On film series and the TV soap Emergency Ward 10 got going, and films like Room at the Top and plays like A Taste of Honey brought the working class to the centre of the national frame; when the urban skyline began irresistibly to go high-rise; when CND galvanised the progressive middle class; when 'youth' emerged as a cultural force; when the Notting Hill riots made race and immigration an inescapable reality; and when 'meritocracy' became the buzz word of the day. The consequences of this 'modernity' zeitgeist, David Kynaston argues, still affect us today.
Synopsis
Modernity Britain, 1957-1963, continues David Kynaston's groundbreaking series Tales of a New Jerusalem, telling as never before the story of Britain from VE Day in 1945 to the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
About the Author
David Kynaston has been a professional historian since 1973 and has written fifteen books, including The City of London (1994-2001), a widely acclaimed four-volume history. He is the author of Austerity Britain, 1945-1951, and Family Britain, 1951-1957, the first two titles in a series of books covering the history of post-war Britain (1945-1979) under the collective title Tales of a New Jerusalem. He is currently a visiting professor at Kingston University. He lives in England.