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A Shellshocked Nation: Britain Between the Wars
'Britain in the 1920s and 1930s pops to life in this often very witty chronicle of that jittery time' The Times
'Alwyn Turner is the master of funny, engaging social history' Sunday Times
After the calamity of the Great War, there was a desire in Britain for escapist fun - the lights of the Jazz Age, radio comedies and the pictures were a welcome respite from the grim reality of the Great Depression. Yet the storm clouds were gathering, and Britain between the wars was a turbulent, restless place - and where the foundations of the modern nation were laid.
Combining cultural, social and political history, A Shellshocked Nation is the next instalment in Alwyn Turner's highly original history of the twentieth century, sketching a portrait of the interwar nation through its entertainments and scandals, its people and political crises. From the General Strike to the BBC, Irish Home Rule and the rise of fascism, this is the definitive story of Britain's most anxious era.
'Alwyn Turner is the master of funny, engaging social history' Sunday Times
After the calamity of the Great War, there was a desire in Britain for escapist fun - the lights of the Jazz Age, radio comedies and the pictures were a welcome respite from the grim reality of the Great Depression. Yet the storm clouds were gathering, and Britain between the wars was a turbulent, restless place - and where the foundations of the modern nation were laid.
Combining cultural, social and political history, A Shellshocked Nation is the next instalment in Alwyn Turner's highly original history of the twentieth century, sketching a portrait of the interwar nation through its entertainments and scandals, its people and political crises. From the General Strike to the BBC, Irish Home Rule and the rise of fascism, this is the definitive story of Britain's most anxious era.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
384 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 22, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 26, 2026
Who came first - Dominic Sandbrook or Alwyn Turner?
I have read all the of the DS books - waiting patiently for the promised 1980s one - and decided to give AT a go, who writes in a similar, let less comprehensive manner.
The politics of the time period is interspersed with the culture and lives of the ordinary man. This book covering the period between the first and second world wars. An appendix details all the books and films that we used for inspiration - yet apart from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (already on my TBR pile) I came away with no other future inspiration. I usually have pages from DS - but to be fair, his books cover a time period I have far more interest in.
Easy and entertaining reading - I will come back for one of AT's later period book to do a better comparison of British Social history writers.
I have read all the of the DS books - waiting patiently for the promised 1980s one - and decided to give AT a go, who writes in a similar, let less comprehensive manner.
The politics of the time period is interspersed with the culture and lives of the ordinary man. This book covering the period between the first and second world wars. An appendix details all the books and films that we used for inspiration - yet apart from Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (already on my TBR pile) I came away with no other future inspiration. I usually have pages from DS - but to be fair, his books cover a time period I have far more interest in.
Easy and entertaining reading - I will come back for one of AT's later period book to do a better comparison of British Social history writers.
April 8, 2026
A enjoyable read that gives you a good look into Britain's inter-war period! It covers a lot of ground and was very good for someone not overly familiar with the period.
The only negative that I have is that it's not chronological, it's more of a general temperature take so to speak of the period rather than a play-by-play analysis, but overall it's definitely worth a read!
The only negative that I have is that it's not chronological, it's more of a general temperature take so to speak of the period rather than a play-by-play analysis, but overall it's definitely worth a read!
March 8, 2026
Book borrowed from Stirling Library
384 pages
I borrowed the book following a positive review in a UK broadsheet newspaper
The Book is a potted Social History of Britain between the two World Wars
Verdict
Unfortunately the book is interminably dull,major events are dealt with in a few paragraphs,much is written on long forgotten entertainers of yesteryear( George Formby, Dance Band Leader Henry Hall etc),it lacks depth or substance and for me does not capture the day to day lives of of the generation who lived between the wars
I am in my late sixties and had hoped for more to enlighten men about my grandparents generation,the struggles they faced, the entertainment they enjoyed ,though to some extent covered in the book ie with adventure of holiday camps it is written in a detached way and is more concerned with facts rather than making that time period come alive, a few anecdotes, stories from that generation would have been welcomed
A disappointing read.
384 pages
I borrowed the book following a positive review in a UK broadsheet newspaper
The Book is a potted Social History of Britain between the two World Wars
Verdict
Unfortunately the book is interminably dull,major events are dealt with in a few paragraphs,much is written on long forgotten entertainers of yesteryear( George Formby, Dance Band Leader Henry Hall etc),it lacks depth or substance and for me does not capture the day to day lives of of the generation who lived between the wars
I am in my late sixties and had hoped for more to enlighten men about my grandparents generation,the struggles they faced, the entertainment they enjoyed ,though to some extent covered in the book ie with adventure of holiday camps it is written in a detached way and is more concerned with facts rather than making that time period come alive, a few anecdotes, stories from that generation would have been welcomed
A disappointing read.
February 12, 2026
A rather wonderful book that captures the spirit of a nation both at ease with itself at the end of the First World War and increasingly out of touch with a modern world as a second one approached.
It tells a story of a Britain comfortable with the being British, proud of values including the ability to laugh at ourselves and effectively immune from the extremism that others (maybe more impacted by the earlier war) had experienced.
Turner's epigraph before his epilogue perhaps captures the spirit of his book best:
"Perhaps we can that England as a whole, though
suffering vast changes, have survived more recognisably than
any other country. She is more than the ghost of her former
self - she has a good deal still left of the substance."
If that capture the spirit of the book then the journey to arrive at that point is well worth it. Highly recommended.
It tells a story of a Britain comfortable with the being British, proud of values including the ability to laugh at ourselves and effectively immune from the extremism that others (maybe more impacted by the earlier war) had experienced.
Turner's epigraph before his epilogue perhaps captures the spirit of his book best:
"Perhaps we can that England as a whole, though
suffering vast changes, have survived more recognisably than
any other country. She is more than the ghost of her former
self - she has a good deal still left of the substance."
If that capture the spirit of the book then the journey to arrive at that point is well worth it. Highly recommended.
March 26, 2026
I've enjoyed previous historical books by Alwyn Turner - "Rejoice" is excellent - but this one failed to grab me. I'm just not interested enough in the period covered, neither the politics nor the cultural side of Britain at the time. Music hall? Ooh, where's me washboard? I was also annoyed at what seemed to me to be a straining to shoehorn modern day perspectives into a distant past. I mean, how important was the immigrant experience to Brits at the time? Perhaps the rise of feminism was studied in detail further on in the book but I never reached that point and was willing to bet that the author bent over backwards to underscore just how important and fundamental the "minority" contribution was to the times. But maybe that's me, just fed up in general with the way publishing seems to be skewed at the moment and sensitive to any "woke" agendas, whether they're evident or not.
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February 27, 2026How the reader reacts to the building’s well-known factors will determine their Shellshocked experience. This follows on with the reader enjoying the option of connecting Shellshocked elements to the present day. The British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) founding and Hollywood’s international cultural influence are two instances of those topical threads.
You can find my full Shellshocked Nation review at the link below.
https://thelensofhistory.substack.com...
You can find my full Shellshocked Nation review at the link below.
https://thelensofhistory.substack.com...
March 30, 2026
Another excellent appreciation of an era from Alwyn Turner. As usual, he weaves together political commentary, stories from the media, arts and popular culture to give us an insightful glimpse into the Britain of the 1920s and 30s. It’s a shame my parents aren’t still alive as I would have liked to ask them for their recollections of ITMA, Gracie Fields and the ‘talkies’.
March 1, 2026
The latest in an excellent series of books that really brings the past to life.
April 9, 2026
So what was Britain like between the wars? Well this book is a good introduction.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews