Borrowed Time: The Story of Britain Between the Wars

by Roy Hattersley

Borrowed Time: Story of Britain Between the Wars * As with Hattersley's THE EDWARDIANS, this is a brilliant, masterly and richly detailed reassessment of the social and political landscape of a pivotal period - the interwar years Full description

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Roy Sydney George Hattersley, British Politian and author.

Reviews

[Geraldine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history book by a non-historian (well, no more a historian than me, although, obviously, much more of a writer).

It's interesting, informative and readable.

But the thing is, it's nothing special. I've read books covering the same period by Robert Graves (written on the eve of WWII) and by Juliet Gardner, written in our own time, and frankly, dear old Roy doesn't really add anything that I didn't already know.

I had hoped for a bit more in the way of left wing political analysis - after all, even if he is/was on the right of the Labour Party I don't think anyone could doubt his anti-Tory, anti-fascist, anti-establishment, anti-Big Capitalism credentials. Yet, there were several times when reading it I thought 'Blimey, this writer's a bit of a Left-of-Centrist...oh'.

So, worthy enough on its own merits but if you're looking to focus your interwar reading head for Graves and Gardiner!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there's one thing Britain's inter-war years don't lack, it's history. From the General Strike to the abdication crisis, the rise of cinema to the collapse of the economy, it was a time of dizzying change. So Roy Hattersley has a rich seam to mine in his examination of the twenties and thirties.

Instead of telling the story as it happened, he uses a series of essays on selected themes. This compartmentalized telling of history may appeal to some, but others may find it too tidy a view that dilutes the chaotic reality of the times.

The curtain rises on the inter-war years with the Versailles peace conference. It's here, Hattersley argues, that the seeds were sown for World War II. In the face of a French President intent on revenge, David Lloyd George is shown to have a more far-sighted view. But his desire to transform Germany from vanquished enemy into partner for peace proved to be a quarter of a century ahead of its time.

The chapter on the General Strike is as even-handed as it's possible for a former Labour cabinet minister to be, although the firebrand at the head of the mineworkers' union appears uncannily familiar: the parallels between A J Cook and Arthur Scargill are too close for comfort. Meanwhile, Hattersley's treatment of the abdication crisis offers no new information, but portrays Edward and Mrs Simpson as two unlovable people with only each other to love.

Although politics dominates the book, Hattersley also looks at other aspects of inter-war life, notably the arts and sport. Unsurprisingly for a politician, he can appear to approach every subject with an open mouth. One moment he's grumbling about the convoluted language in Ulysses, the next he’s offering a critique of Henry Moore.

Hattersley conveys his love of sport with fulsome attention to football, rugby, golf, horse racing tennis and athletics. But the seven lines devoted to coarse fishing were, perhaps, seven lines too many. As for Hattersley’s examination of the Bodyline controversy, those baffled by cricket at the start of this chapter will finish it none the wiser.

The book is at its strongest when focusing on a particular theme or character. His portraits of the first BBC director general, John Reith, and of Edward Elgar are especially insightful. The section on newspaper barons throws an unforgiving searchlight on their influence, avarice and blatant anti-Semitism.

Unhappily, a book which promises "the story of Britain between the wars" turns out to be very Anglo-centric. There’s the occasional nod towards Scotland and, apart from Lloyd George, not much about Wales. An entire chapter is devoted to Ireland, but it appears the main contribution of the Irish to English history was their effort to escape from it

The final chapter on the drift to war makes up for any flaws in the rest of the book. It's as good an examination of the subject as any previously attempted. The rift between Neville Chamberlain and his Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, is played out like a poisonous melodrama. Even as Chamberlain is turning a blind eye to Italy’s invasion of Abyssinia, Eden is making a damning assessment of Mussolini: "…an absolute gangster. His pledged word means nothing." Winston Churchill, whose presence runs like a thread through the entire book, is portrayed as brooding and bad-tempered. But in excluding Churchill from his 1935 cabinet, the often unregarded Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin has a premonition: "We must keep him fresh to be our wartime prime minister."

Hatterlsey finishes, as he started: the peacemakers at Versailles fired the starting gun for the Second World War by botching the conclusion of the First. Had Lloyd George's proposed treaty been adopted, the course of history might have been very different, and Hattersley would have written a very different book.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look Britain betwee two world wars. What is fascinating, and appalling, is how little we seem to have learned from history. The same mistakes keep getting made.

[Rue Baldry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was patchy. I really enjoyed reading a lot of it. I love Hattersley’s iconoclasm and wit, his refusal to bow to popular veneration of key figures in favour of opinions based on facts (Churchill I’d expected, Gandhi was a surprise), his prose style. He is at his best, unsurprisingly, with the political history. At times some of the Trade Union and governmental machinations got a little bogged down for someone without his experience in those areas.

His overviews of Irish (about which I know a bit) and Indian (about which I ought to know more) independence were interesting and entertaining. Covering the press and the trades unions in separate chapters while covering a period with a major industrial dispute between them got a bit choppy. The chapter on the BBC was good. There was an awful lot of space given over to aeroplane racing and none to medicine, in a book about the period including Spanish Flu and development of penicillin among other things.

The chapter with which I was least impressed was the one on literature, which is a subject I do know a fair bit about. That made me doubt what I had taken to be accuracy on the other subjects. He gives a whistle-stop tour of modernism making indefensible generalisations and critiques major works in single dismissive sentences.

Im short, this book starts off well, but doesn’t maintain the quality.

[John Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable enough, Borrowed Time doesn’t say anything other writers haven’t though Hattersley is quicker to point out the numerous times Churchill was on the wrong side of history, (the Dardanelles, the treatment of the miners and the General Strike, the abdication crisis) than most historians. I also particularly liked the chapter on the newspaper magnates, the BBC and Reith and the section on appeasement of Mussolini rather than just Hitler. Also it’s a nice signed copy, well done Wend!

[Andrew Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfectly serviceable history of the interwar period. Hattersley isn't a supreme stylist but he has researched well and communicates effectively. I felt there could have been more on the unemployed workers movement and other grassroots campaigns.

[Mohamed Namik]

want to read

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy or quick read but full of well researched and factual information about numerous issues between the wars - good way to learn the history of this period.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting book, informative and readable but there are a lot of better books out there on interwar Britain.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an alright book but I was more interested in learning about ordinary people's lives between the wars.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Roy Hattersley is much better on political history than he is on any other subject. As an ex cabinet minister and, I think, privy councillor I would hope so. I would also hope, given his background, that he would be a good deal better political historian than he actually is. I get the impression that much of it is written from briefing notes.

I'm doubly disappointed. Not only do we get a version of events that would serve the bookshelves of a youth hostel common room, but we see that our Roy was never much a man of the people. You can't fault someone for having aspirations to the opinions of a minor member of Edwardian aristocracy, unless of course, they have spent half a lifetime trying to get elected as a member of a socialist party.

He values judgement highly. He interjects the word -"rightly" on numerous occasions. His voice speaks through. The wisdom of Hattersley has been revealed. If only he could have been there at the time to advise; if only he had been given the opportunity to serve his country...

It's a history written for the current television age. Simon Schama, a proper historian, is guilty of the same habit of smearing an account of events with approval or disapproval. But with Schama you feel reliably and entertainingly informed. Hattersley comes across rather like those wise talking heads you get in histories of the new romantics or glam rock. Stuart Maconie is more literate and better informed than most of the pop stars he pontificates about and this adds some gravitas to the fluff of history. Hattersley tends to add fluff.

At its best I'm happy to give it three stars. The chapters on the press and the final chapter's countdown to war are good, concise, readable and without too much intrusion. Why he has to spout on about sport and culture I don't know. I certainly don't know any more at the end of his chapters on these than I knew at the beginning.

Sorry Roy, but at least I read it and I will donate it to a charity shop now so that it can do a little bit of good for somebody.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative book which covers all aspects of life in Britain during the interwar period of 1918-1939. It goes into the socio-economic, cultural and social history of the time.

I found the section about the period just after the First World War most interesting and also moving, knowing what the veterans experienced on their return home.

The chapter about the lead up to the Second World War was also very interesting as I hadn't really looked at these before in any depth.

This book is a worthy successor to Hattersley's "The Edwardians" and allows you to carry on the story of what occured and changed in Britian during the inter war years.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable, well informed history of this period. Despite his political background, Hattersley remains reasonably objective throughout.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great detail. Those chapters of interest to me, gave good insight into what seemed to me to be "hard" times.

[Carol Kerry-Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of the 1930s