The Penguin Social History of Britain

Social consensus 1945-57: British journey; that topic all-absorbing - class; the Welfare State; hearth, home and street corner; the culture of austerity; consensus re-examined. Roads to freedom 1958-73: affluence, appliances and work; critiques, boutiques and work; the end of Victorianism; social structure and social strains; false optimism. The time of the troubles 1973-82: gloom on the man-made island 1973-80; class, race and nationalism; living standards; "Gimme a Man After Midnight"; tolerance and confrontation; the Winter of Discontent and the summer of fire bombs. Privatization, polarization and IT: the processes of change; the geography of "post-industrialization" - mainland Britain and Northern Ireland; the "enterprise economy"; workers, yuppies and hooligans; social policy and social life; the hallmark of a civilization - "an ace caff with quite a nice museum attached". A society at odds with itself 1989-95: divisive bequests - cultural and political; social reform with a sting; class, race, identity.