What do you think?
Rate this book
Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s
The 1970s. They were the best of times and the worst of times. Wealth inequality was at a record low, yet industrial strife was at a record high. These were the glory years of Doctor Who and glam rock, but the darkest days of the Northern Ireland conflict. Beset by strikes, inflation, power cuts and the rise of the far right, the cosy Britain of the post-war consensus was unravelling – in spectacularly lurid style. Fusing high politics and low culture, Crisis? What Crisis? presents a world in which Enoch Powell, Ted Heath and Tony Benn jostle for space with David Bowie, Hilda Ogden and Margo Leadbetter, and reveals why a country exhausted by decline eventually turned to Margaret Thatcher for salvation.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2007
61 people are currently reading
392 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
September 16, 2022
This is a perfect companion to the two books I've recently read about the 1970s, by Dominic Sandbrook and Andy Beckett. Unlike them, Alwyn Turner merely summarises political events and concentrates on social and cultural history, which he does superbly well. As one reviewer says, he seems to have spent most of the decade watching television and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of soaps, TV series, comedy shows, and popular films. He's good on music too, and manages to unearth both obscure and better-known novels, using them to illustrate the zeitgeist. This book, more than the others, vividly brought back buried memories. Even if some of them would have been better remaining buried, for example Middle of the Road's hit Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep. And how distant that moral world seems, where Wimpy burger bars could ban lone women from its premises after midnight since they could only be prostitutes if they were out on their own at that time.
I realised too that what he says about the three-day week in 1973-4 and the Winter of Discontent in 1978-79 was true -- the memories had somehow become amalgamated in my mind as one occurrence, confusingly combining Edward Heath trying to face down the miners, and Jim Callaghan (not) saying "Crisis? What crisis?" as he returned from Guadeloupe to strike-bound Britain ... "so that the Labour Party became associated with all the ills of 1970s Britain, as though the pre-Thatcher Tories had never really existed".
While not outrageously one-sided, he does wear his heart on his sleeve more than the other two authors, at one point likening Margaret Thatcher to Big Daddy's domination of wrestling: "what had been a diverse and multicultural tradition was crushed by twenty-five stones of sentimentality, patriotism and predictability."
Like the other two books, Turner does bring home the negative aspects of the 1970s. But at the same time, he quotes Doris Lessing, who rightly wrote:
And he's good on the positive changes and their associated legislation: feminism, the wider acceptance of homosexuality, even the effective popular defeat of the National Front by Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League -- making it simply uncool to be a fascist.
In summary, while it's by no means a comprehensive history of the 1970s and is not intended to be, there are lots of penetrating insights, and it's an entertaining read too. I'm now moving on to Turner's Rejoice! Rejoice!, about the 1980s. It gets off to a good start with the iconic cover image of a handbagged Mrs T proudly bestriding an industrial wasteland in (I think) Middlesbrough.
I realised too that what he says about the three-day week in 1973-4 and the Winter of Discontent in 1978-79 was true -- the memories had somehow become amalgamated in my mind as one occurrence, confusingly combining Edward Heath trying to face down the miners, and Jim Callaghan (not) saying "Crisis? What crisis?" as he returned from Guadeloupe to strike-bound Britain ... "so that the Labour Party became associated with all the ills of 1970s Britain, as though the pre-Thatcher Tories had never really existed".
While not outrageously one-sided, he does wear his heart on his sleeve more than the other two authors, at one point likening Margaret Thatcher to Big Daddy's domination of wrestling: "what had been a diverse and multicultural tradition was crushed by twenty-five stones of sentimentality, patriotism and predictability."
Like the other two books, Turner does bring home the negative aspects of the 1970s. But at the same time, he quotes Doris Lessing, who rightly wrote:
While everything, all forms of social organization, broke up, we lived on, adjusting our lives, as if nothing fundamental was happening. It was amazing how determined, how stubborn, how self-renewing, were the attempts to lead an ordinary life.
And he's good on the positive changes and their associated legislation: feminism, the wider acceptance of homosexuality, even the effective popular defeat of the National Front by Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League -- making it simply uncool to be a fascist.
In summary, while it's by no means a comprehensive history of the 1970s and is not intended to be, there are lots of penetrating insights, and it's an entertaining read too. I'm now moving on to Turner's Rejoice! Rejoice!, about the 1980s. It gets off to a good start with the iconic cover image of a handbagged Mrs T proudly bestriding an industrial wasteland in (I think) Middlesbrough.
January 17, 2011
Helped to put a grown-up perspective on my childhood memories of power-cuts, candles and bin-men strikes; and also showed that plus ca change...
March 26, 2017
Much more lightweight than the Sandbrook tomes on the seventies, that said it doesn't get bogged down in the minutiae of cabinet meetings. What it does do though is give much more of a feel for the times, more social history than just the politics. Very enjoyable.
December 16, 2023
It is a bit concerning that one’s 20s and 30s have become history.
Putting that aside, a pleasant and informative read, giving a more considered view of what happened. One of the themes through the book is that the 70s were a kick back against the sixties and the “permissive” society, and the result was Margaret Thatcher was seen as a more acceptable version of a cross between Enoch Powell and Mary Whitehouse.
Well worth the read!!
For probably not very good reason, can’t remember what is was, I read “Rejoice, Rejoice”, the authors summary of the 80s, also a good read
Just for the record, I didn’t “Rejoice, Rejoice” during the 80s, living, and working, through the miners strike.
Putting that aside, a pleasant and informative read, giving a more considered view of what happened. One of the themes through the book is that the 70s were a kick back against the sixties and the “permissive” society, and the result was Margaret Thatcher was seen as a more acceptable version of a cross between Enoch Powell and Mary Whitehouse.
Well worth the read!!
For probably not very good reason, can’t remember what is was, I read “Rejoice, Rejoice”, the authors summary of the 80s, also a good read
Just for the record, I didn’t “Rejoice, Rejoice” during the 80s, living, and working, through the miners strike.
August 16, 2013
I'm afraid I'm the kind of person who has a favourite social commentator, and Alwyn Turner is mine, largely as a result of what are essentially his biographies of the '70s, '80s and '90s.
I was born in the Seventies, but was too young to remember much of the political landscape beyond endless strikes, during which I walked home from school with a torch due to power cuts (and, I now realise, a shortage of electricity), having to have a bucket of water in every room in case of fire as the emergency services were picketing the high streets, and everyone being very poor indeed.
Had I known that the country was teetering on the brink of civil war (in parliament at least) with Tony Benn and Enoch Powell effectively duelling for control of the place, I'd probably have paid more attention, rather than seeing how many Sparkle lollies I could persuade my grandparents to buy me. While the political landscape of the time is not difficult to grasp, Turner's faultless narrative dissects it so well that you find yourself actually looking forward to reports of TUC conferences and block voting by Ford workers. This is, needless to say, no mean feat.
Although centred around politics, this is by no means the only focus of the book. Turner's narrative is not only faultless as described, but shows such economy that he manages to fit in cultural aspects as diverse as flares, punk, cinema, England failing to qualify for consecutive World Cups, advertising and telly, as well as the impact of feminism, anarchism, socialism and fascism on every aspect of British life. Even the effect of Blake's Seven on the nation's attitude to the Cold War - everyone expected to end their days being vapourised by a hydrogen bomb, let's not forget - is covered.
I was tempted to read 'Crisis? What Crisis?' again immediately, just to see if I could work out how he'd written this without it being a million pages long. It's a brilliant book, not only as a commentary of the decade, but also as a way of understanding how we ended up in the shambles we are today. If you have lived in Britain for more than four seconds, for Heaven's sake read it - that goes for Turner's '80s and '90s commentaries, too.
Spoiler Alert: In the end, Margaret Thatcher gets elected and presumably everything works out fine.
I was born in the Seventies, but was too young to remember much of the political landscape beyond endless strikes, during which I walked home from school with a torch due to power cuts (and, I now realise, a shortage of electricity), having to have a bucket of water in every room in case of fire as the emergency services were picketing the high streets, and everyone being very poor indeed.
Had I known that the country was teetering on the brink of civil war (in parliament at least) with Tony Benn and Enoch Powell effectively duelling for control of the place, I'd probably have paid more attention, rather than seeing how many Sparkle lollies I could persuade my grandparents to buy me. While the political landscape of the time is not difficult to grasp, Turner's faultless narrative dissects it so well that you find yourself actually looking forward to reports of TUC conferences and block voting by Ford workers. This is, needless to say, no mean feat.
Although centred around politics, this is by no means the only focus of the book. Turner's narrative is not only faultless as described, but shows such economy that he manages to fit in cultural aspects as diverse as flares, punk, cinema, England failing to qualify for consecutive World Cups, advertising and telly, as well as the impact of feminism, anarchism, socialism and fascism on every aspect of British life. Even the effect of Blake's Seven on the nation's attitude to the Cold War - everyone expected to end their days being vapourised by a hydrogen bomb, let's not forget - is covered.
I was tempted to read 'Crisis? What Crisis?' again immediately, just to see if I could work out how he'd written this without it being a million pages long. It's a brilliant book, not only as a commentary of the decade, but also as a way of understanding how we ended up in the shambles we are today. If you have lived in Britain for more than four seconds, for Heaven's sake read it - that goes for Turner's '80s and '90s commentaries, too.
Spoiler Alert: In the end, Margaret Thatcher gets elected and presumably everything works out fine.
August 29, 2014
The 1970's was an unfortunate decade almost everywhere, but nowhere was it as unfortunate as in Great Britain.There were feckless politicians in both the Labor and the Conservative parties, a fiscal crisis resulted in a mandated three-day work week, virulent labor strikes along with power outages and work stoppages were seemingly daily occurrences, and violence in society in the form of soccer hooliganism, skinheads and IRA bombings were on the rise.
Britain was regarded as the "sick man of Europe" and the country lurched from a longing nostalgia for their days of past glory to looking for scapegoats for their problems, be it racism/anti-immigration or Europhobia leading up to a referendum whether or not the UK would remain in what was then called the EEC. Additionally, the first strains of serious devolution movements in both Wales and Scotland began to take shape.
Author Alwyn Turner captures the dismal spirit of these times inas eminently readable volume that not only outlines the politics of the decade, but also weaves social trends and pop culture into the story. Today it seems as though history may be trying to repeat itself. The UKIP party is the direct descendent of Enoch Powell's National Front, anti-immigration fervor is again on the rise - this time aimed at immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria, income inequality is widening in the kingdom, a referendum for Scottish independence is scheduled for September 19 and the politicians of both parties are as feckless as ever.
The multiple crises of the 1970's ushered in 18 years of Margaret Thatcher. Let's hope the current malaise in Britain can be cured by less punishing measures.
Britain was regarded as the "sick man of Europe" and the country lurched from a longing nostalgia for their days of past glory to looking for scapegoats for their problems, be it racism/anti-immigration or Europhobia leading up to a referendum whether or not the UK would remain in what was then called the EEC. Additionally, the first strains of serious devolution movements in both Wales and Scotland began to take shape.
Author Alwyn Turner captures the dismal spirit of these times inas eminently readable volume that not only outlines the politics of the decade, but also weaves social trends and pop culture into the story. Today it seems as though history may be trying to repeat itself. The UKIP party is the direct descendent of Enoch Powell's National Front, anti-immigration fervor is again on the rise - this time aimed at immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria, income inequality is widening in the kingdom, a referendum for Scottish independence is scheduled for September 19 and the politicians of both parties are as feckless as ever.
The multiple crises of the 1970's ushered in 18 years of Margaret Thatcher. Let's hope the current malaise in Britain can be cured by less punishing measures.
November 14, 2012
There have been a number of substantial social histories of the post-war United Kingdom (England, really) in recent times. They tend to concentrate on decades – which may be a simplification, but one which works surprisingly well. Do decades really have personalities? Does something really change when the decade changes?
(As a mental exercise, try to imagine the past with absolutely no reference to ‘years’. It’s scary...)
I have read several histories of Britain in the 1970s. I lived there, as a boy, from 1969 to 1972, so it is a time and a place that I can relate to. A fascinating era, both vibrant and disillusioned. ‘Reclaiming’ it from its detractors seems to have become almost modish. Turner’s book may not be the most comprehensive, ‘historically’ speaking, but it is by far the most enjoyable, and I think that it gives a much clearer idea of what it was like to actually be there. It does this by presenting history through the prism of the popular culture of the time: sitcoms, crime dramas, pulp fiction, films and music, etc.
Does politics really matter, in the writing of history? Did the politics create the history, or merely reflect what was happening elsewhere? Turner includes plenty of politics, perhaps too much, but he is at his best when describing the ‘real’ world, seen from a shag-piled living-room in the flickering light of a new hire-purchase colour TV...
(As a mental exercise, try to imagine the past with absolutely no reference to ‘years’. It’s scary...)
I have read several histories of Britain in the 1970s. I lived there, as a boy, from 1969 to 1972, so it is a time and a place that I can relate to. A fascinating era, both vibrant and disillusioned. ‘Reclaiming’ it from its detractors seems to have become almost modish. Turner’s book may not be the most comprehensive, ‘historically’ speaking, but it is by far the most enjoyable, and I think that it gives a much clearer idea of what it was like to actually be there. It does this by presenting history through the prism of the popular culture of the time: sitcoms, crime dramas, pulp fiction, films and music, etc.
Does politics really matter, in the writing of history? Did the politics create the history, or merely reflect what was happening elsewhere? Turner includes plenty of politics, perhaps too much, but he is at his best when describing the ‘real’ world, seen from a shag-piled living-room in the flickering light of a new hire-purchase colour TV...
January 26, 2016
The first book of Alwyn Turner's trilogy on Britain in the final decades of the twentieth century might be the best, even if I somehow contrived to read it last. This is a thoughtful and thorough analysis of a decade that is all too often written off with a series of cliches. As I was born in 1979, I have no memories of my own from the period so can only go from what I've gleaned from popular culture and folk memory. It was certainly interesting to hear how disastrous the early part of the decade had been for the Conservative party, something that seems to have slipped out of contemporary discussion. As always, Turner mixes political history with pop culture references to give a real feel for the zeitgeist of the era. All in all, I enjoyed it.
April 10, 2022
This is a political, social and cultural history of Britain in the 1970s.
The 70s in popular story telling in Britain was a time of disruption, violence and decline. But this author makes clear that this was not everyone’s experience of the era. For many it was quite a comfortable era and one of the last when a household could comfortably live on one income and where house ownership was affordable. So why the pessimism?
As the author tells it a part of it is a reckoning with the social and political consequences released by the 60s. Many of the old certainties seemed to be disrupted. Sometimes this led to the advancement or the exploration of the advancement of rights. But sometimes this led down darker ideological and social rabbit holes such as the rise of groups such as Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE). Such instances were exploited by the rising New Right under Thatcher to bring in more old school social attitudes before they got ‘out of control’. However, the push back also had consequences that were felt in the 1980s.
I will be honest I was more doubtful about this author’s credentials as a cultural commentator in the 1970s. To be fair I would say that he knows exactly what he is talking about with literature and playwright side of things. But I was astonished about how he seemed to suggest for the most part that musically the 1970s was a musical backwater. Surely the opposite is true? Now I may be biased here, I grew up in a family who loved the music of the 70s, much of which has transferred on to me. Certainly, I would level with the author that many of the artists who gave the 70s it’s music either started out in the 60s or were just as known in either decade. But I think when one looks at the sheer variety of genres going strong: soul, disco, rock, progressive rock, heavy metal, punk and ska/reggae to name but a few, it seems unfair to write it off as a musical backwater. Oddly enough though the postscript of the book belatedly and almost as an afterthought mentions how heavy metal and punk started out from the 70s and only grew stronger. As a huge fan of both, I appreciate the mention, but a bit more elaboration would have helped provide cultural context.
Politically the Britain in the 1970s was defined as a scrap between two major and tired looking political parties pulled in two directions by two mavericks; Enoch Powell on the Right Wing and Tony Benn on the Left Wing. I respected the author for giving a warts and all account of both mavericks. I grew up in a political culture which in particular much respected Benn, but there was some behaviours in the book which gave me pause for thought. Enoch Powell was also not incapable of some interesting and inciteful viewpoints at time. The main problems the British Governments of the 1970s faced was; surging inflation, surging unemployment and union militancy.
In conclusion I would say that what this book does well is to challenge readers not to just blindly accept the popular narrative of the 1970s. It is regularly seen just as an inevitable countdown until the rise of Thatcherism. Thatcherism was never inevitable and indispensable, which I believe personally is one of the saddest truth’s of this country. Yes, the union militancy at it’s worse painted our country in a bad light, but it was the picture of some of the 70s and not all of it. And considering the remedy for union militancy was prescribed as near union impotence, we can see the dangers in going for extreme solutions just as an emotional response to seemingly intractable problems. From the vantage point of decades later we can see things differently. The author does well to portray that the political use of fears of British decline and fears of runaway change were potent political forces then as they are now in the shadow of Brexit.
I think the main drawback I had with this book is that this author did not quite connect the cultural side of things as well to the political. It is often the case that the arts flourish in this country when everything else appears to be falling apart. Short-changing that cultural legacy felt like a missed opportunity.
The 70s in popular story telling in Britain was a time of disruption, violence and decline. But this author makes clear that this was not everyone’s experience of the era. For many it was quite a comfortable era and one of the last when a household could comfortably live on one income and where house ownership was affordable. So why the pessimism?
As the author tells it a part of it is a reckoning with the social and political consequences released by the 60s. Many of the old certainties seemed to be disrupted. Sometimes this led to the advancement or the exploration of the advancement of rights. But sometimes this led down darker ideological and social rabbit holes such as the rise of groups such as Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE). Such instances were exploited by the rising New Right under Thatcher to bring in more old school social attitudes before they got ‘out of control’. However, the push back also had consequences that were felt in the 1980s.
I will be honest I was more doubtful about this author’s credentials as a cultural commentator in the 1970s. To be fair I would say that he knows exactly what he is talking about with literature and playwright side of things. But I was astonished about how he seemed to suggest for the most part that musically the 1970s was a musical backwater. Surely the opposite is true? Now I may be biased here, I grew up in a family who loved the music of the 70s, much of which has transferred on to me. Certainly, I would level with the author that many of the artists who gave the 70s it’s music either started out in the 60s or were just as known in either decade. But I think when one looks at the sheer variety of genres going strong: soul, disco, rock, progressive rock, heavy metal, punk and ska/reggae to name but a few, it seems unfair to write it off as a musical backwater. Oddly enough though the postscript of the book belatedly and almost as an afterthought mentions how heavy metal and punk started out from the 70s and only grew stronger. As a huge fan of both, I appreciate the mention, but a bit more elaboration would have helped provide cultural context.
Politically the Britain in the 1970s was defined as a scrap between two major and tired looking political parties pulled in two directions by two mavericks; Enoch Powell on the Right Wing and Tony Benn on the Left Wing. I respected the author for giving a warts and all account of both mavericks. I grew up in a political culture which in particular much respected Benn, but there was some behaviours in the book which gave me pause for thought. Enoch Powell was also not incapable of some interesting and inciteful viewpoints at time. The main problems the British Governments of the 1970s faced was; surging inflation, surging unemployment and union militancy.
In conclusion I would say that what this book does well is to challenge readers not to just blindly accept the popular narrative of the 1970s. It is regularly seen just as an inevitable countdown until the rise of Thatcherism. Thatcherism was never inevitable and indispensable, which I believe personally is one of the saddest truth’s of this country. Yes, the union militancy at it’s worse painted our country in a bad light, but it was the picture of some of the 70s and not all of it. And considering the remedy for union militancy was prescribed as near union impotence, we can see the dangers in going for extreme solutions just as an emotional response to seemingly intractable problems. From the vantage point of decades later we can see things differently. The author does well to portray that the political use of fears of British decline and fears of runaway change were potent political forces then as they are now in the shadow of Brexit.
I think the main drawback I had with this book is that this author did not quite connect the cultural side of things as well to the political. It is often the case that the arts flourish in this country when everything else appears to be falling apart. Short-changing that cultural legacy felt like a missed opportunity.
January 9, 2020
1970s were one of the most formative times in British history. The post-war ‘great compromise’ between Conservative and Labour began to crack and politics became more polarised than ever, with successive governments of Heath (C), Wilson (L), and Callaghan (L) which became indistinguishable from each other in their inability to tackle economic crises, especially the ones caused by the troublesome trade unions, who had been growing more and more powerful, a bubble waiting for someone to burst. Other colourful characters also featured in during this time, like Tony Benn and Enoch Powell, both representing bogeymen from the left and the right, highly influential yet unable to muster enough power to lead their respective parties, Margaret Thatcher, who around this time was more known by the moniker “Milk Snatcher”, who began his path to power as leader of the Conservatives and Leader of the Opposition, and Roy Jenkins, who was brooding and formulated a plan for a big surprise
Not only political history, this book also covers many aspects of British society during the 1970s, numerous artists, authors, and public figures also featured in this book, my personal favourite being Mary Whitehouse and her crusade against the degenerates in television and radio. Together, those people gave a general impression of Britain during the 1970s: a time where depression, hopelessness and sense of decline reigned over the people. The author also pointed out that 1970s in Britain can be interpreted in two ways: first that 1970s were chaotic times which were to be broken by Mrs. Thatcher, or second, simply a disastrous prelude for a more uncertain times under the same Prime Minister.
Not only political history, this book also covers many aspects of British society during the 1970s, numerous artists, authors, and public figures also featured in this book, my personal favourite being Mary Whitehouse and her crusade against the degenerates in television and radio. Together, those people gave a general impression of Britain during the 1970s: a time where depression, hopelessness and sense of decline reigned over the people. The author also pointed out that 1970s in Britain can be interpreted in two ways: first that 1970s were chaotic times which were to be broken by Mrs. Thatcher, or second, simply a disastrous prelude for a more uncertain times under the same Prime Minister.
January 8, 2023
Recollections may vary
I saw this on offer, so after thinking about getting it previously, I decided to get it. I didn't realise it was part of a trilogy but I'll give the others a go on due course as this book was a decent read.
It's a bit of a depressing book in part. It gives a certain view of the 70's but I don't have recall to them as I was only born in '76. I've seen and read about the decade though. This does go some way to showing the story of the 70's from a certain perspective. To say the decade didn't really bring anything new about is a bit of a cheek. There is a lot of things that are missing but the book would be colossal if it tried to cover every aspect of the decade.
My take away from this book alone is that the 70's were bloody bleak in the UK and from the afterword the 80's were in some ways worse. Which I don't think they were personally. The 70's were a move forward from the 60's and I think built on them in terms of the media of the day. Politically it was a very divisive decade and I think this book goes well to show that; however, it seems not a lot of positive things came out of it according to this book.
Enoch Powell is a divisive person, back then and still is; he isn't the bogeyman he's made out to be here though.
I'd recommend reading this in large chunks as it may drag otherwise and you may want to give up on it. Big chunks is the way to go.
I saw this on offer, so after thinking about getting it previously, I decided to get it. I didn't realise it was part of a trilogy but I'll give the others a go on due course as this book was a decent read.
It's a bit of a depressing book in part. It gives a certain view of the 70's but I don't have recall to them as I was only born in '76. I've seen and read about the decade though. This does go some way to showing the story of the 70's from a certain perspective. To say the decade didn't really bring anything new about is a bit of a cheek. There is a lot of things that are missing but the book would be colossal if it tried to cover every aspect of the decade.
My take away from this book alone is that the 70's were bloody bleak in the UK and from the afterword the 80's were in some ways worse. Which I don't think they were personally. The 70's were a move forward from the 60's and I think built on them in terms of the media of the day. Politically it was a very divisive decade and I think this book goes well to show that; however, it seems not a lot of positive things came out of it according to this book.
Enoch Powell is a divisive person, back then and still is; he isn't the bogeyman he's made out to be here though.
I'd recommend reading this in large chunks as it may drag otherwise and you may want to give up on it. Big chunks is the way to go.
June 29, 2023
I've been seeking more popular histories in the style of Dominic Sandbrook, whose books I've really been enjoying, and I've found his equal in Alwyn Turner. Turner's decade-long explorations of British politics and culture kick off with CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?, a look at the various political problems that blighted Britain in the 1970s. It's all here: the political infighting and extremism on both sides, the unions and their power, the strikes and inflation, tempered with an intelligent exploration of popular culture often missing in highbrow studies. Turner uses examples from the films, novels, plays and music of the era to put across the cultural mindset and trends of the day, and he does it in an intensely readable way; indeed, I flew through this excellent book and look forward to its 1980s follow-up.
December 30, 2022
i couldnt really recommend this. its much less about the politics/general history of the era and more about culture like the TV/music tastes etc. there were a couple of good chapters on the politics/history but that was about it and certain areas like the Troubles are really only mentioned in cursory detail which i found very surprising.
i was also not a fan at all of Turner's writing style which essentially works by stating a fact about something and then elucidating the point by touching on soap opera characters and dialogue of what they said in that show. It felt a little juvenile at times and the book often came across as more an encyclopaedia of 1970s TV than anything else. I found the repetitiveness of this style pretty wearisome and started to skip these TV tangents.
i was also not a fan at all of Turner's writing style which essentially works by stating a fact about something and then elucidating the point by touching on soap opera characters and dialogue of what they said in that show. It felt a little juvenile at times and the book often came across as more an encyclopaedia of 1970s TV than anything else. I found the repetitiveness of this style pretty wearisome and started to skip these TV tangents.
October 18, 2020
Covers an interesting decade and I'm sure it will be a wonderful exercise in nostalgia for those old enough to remember it. I wasn't, although I was familiar with some of the material from other sources like Andrew Marr's "History of Modern Britain". I found Marr to be more comprehensive on the political developments and particularly the political characters of the era, but this has a lot more social and cultural history. Perhaps it spends too much time talking about TV soaps and plots of particular TV dramas and books which came out in the era, I would have liked more politics and news. Still, it was good enough to make me want to read the other books in this trilogy.
November 29, 2024
Great overview of the 70s
I'm on a reading journey of the decades gone by to see, or rather confirm that life wasn't as amazing as our selective memories make us think and therefore the world today is just another step as opposed to inevitable doom that the news and internet would like us to think.
Great style of writing, not as politically heavy or as detailed as Dominic Sandbrooke but that's a bad thing.
Some great insights and revealing stories that once again show how little we've come along.
I'm on a reading journey of the decades gone by to see, or rather confirm that life wasn't as amazing as our selective memories make us think and therefore the world today is just another step as opposed to inevitable doom that the news and internet would like us to think.
Great style of writing, not as politically heavy or as detailed as Dominic Sandbrooke but that's a bad thing.
Some great insights and revealing stories that once again show how little we've come along.
September 23, 2017
This book tells the depressing story of 1970s Britian through both mainstream history and the two fields of human endeavor that objectively interest me least: sports and television. The back cover claims that the text is highly entertaining and readable, but that's probably only true if you lived through the period and/or love athletics/classic sitcoms. I waded through it for about three weeks, consistently amazed that I had been reading for so long, and yet had so many pages left.
November 27, 2020
Enjoyable book having lived through the seventies,always said to be the decade taste forgot,I dont think that's the case.looking back but not with rose tinted glasses,politics havn't change just the faces that still turn out the same old rhetoric.unions did get above themselves unfortunately since then with no union representation people are treated no better.if all the employers had treated the employees decently there would have not been any need for unions,
February 22, 2022
Alwyn it Together
An outstanding book which stands as a great historical account of the 70's. It is accessible, funny, erudite and above all else, entertaining. Neither a left wing apology about our revisionism of the period, nor a right wing polemic about the lost decade, this mixes politics with cultural references ranging from Crossroads to David Bowie. It is a must read for everyone.
An outstanding book which stands as a great historical account of the 70's. It is accessible, funny, erudite and above all else, entertaining. Neither a left wing apology about our revisionism of the period, nor a right wing polemic about the lost decade, this mixes politics with cultural references ranging from Crossroads to David Bowie. It is a must read for everyone.
December 5, 2024
Sexism. Racism. Conflict in the Middle East. Inflation. Strikes. Nostalgia for the good old days. The UK looking like a joke to other countries.
Am I talking about the 70s or today? Good to read when we complain about the state of the world! The things we struggle with now have always been a challenge. I don’t think times are necessarily any better or worse now than they have ever been. Despite the doom and gloom and the world! A good, quick read to put things into perspective.
May 14, 2020
I don’t often get through a history book very quickly, since the details tend to take me a while to digest, but Turner weaves together the social, political, and economic of this period so well that I was absolutely absorbed. Great and engaging work. I look forward to reading the others in his series.
February 1, 2022
I enjoyed this excellent trawl through the 70s just as much second time around. For me, the highlights are less in the political commentary and more in the references to popular culture that I had long forgotten. Entertaining and authoritative, it challenges many of the lazy preconceptions of what was an awesome decade.
February 1, 2020
It's tough to make history so readable, especially for a decade as maligned as the 70s. But this was a page turner. A great balance of the political and cultural trends and milestones of the decade and how intertwined they are. And a great way to reflect on our own current times.
October 7, 2023
Maybe it’s my age, but I really enjoyed this journey through 70s Britain - both the things that were falling apart and the more positive stuff too. Very readable, and taking everything from high politics to popular culture.
December 15, 2024
It's a bold venture to try to cover this much ground. A balance of history and pop culture history's reflection of it:
Who knew f**king Coronation Street was such a social commentary?
Its only flaw is that it needed to be twice as long.
Who knew f**king Coronation Street was such a social commentary?
Its only flaw is that it needed to be twice as long.
August 11, 2025
3.5 A relatively even-handed summary of political events in 1970s UK supported by brief overviews of the broader social and cultural context. A useful reference, but far too concerned with politics for me.
October 8, 2018
Excellent bipartisan read on the era, it's a narrative of the decade, rather than a judgement, excellently written and an unstoppable read it's well broken down and well written. Highly recommend.
January 26, 2020
Excellent analysis of these ten years. Well worth reading for the coverage of race, gender and increasing ecological awareness as well as political and media trends.
January 27, 2020
NICE BOOK YES.
November 24, 2021
Really good read on politics, culture and power through the turbulent decade of the 1970’s
January 12, 2024
Books on the 1970s tend to divide between serious history and fluffy pop culture nostalgia. Crisis? What Crisis? brings the two strands together in a survey of ‘the high politics and low culture of the times’. This political and social history of Britain in the ‘70s pays particular attention to how the events and issues of the decade were reflected in the films, sitcoms, soap operas, popular novels and pop music of the era.
Britain in the 1970s has often been characterised as a decade-long collective nervous breakdown: strikes, the Three-Day Week, power cuts, mass unemployment, runaway inflation and IRA bombs. All this and the Bay City Rollers. Turner’s book suggests that this common characterisation is something of a caricature. He cites research carried out in 2004 by the New Economics Foundation based not on GNP but on ‘the measure of domestic progress’ - including such factors as crime, family stability, pollution & inequality of income. The startling conclusion of the survey was that Britain was a happier country in 1976 than it had been in the 30 years since.
He also points out that the 1970s was something of a golden era for British television, popular fiction and pop music. Having grown up in ‘70s Britain myself I can attest to the truth of Turner’s assertion that it was a great time and place to be young and not in the least depressing or dreary. A time when left-field ideas entered the mainstream and challenging dramas by the likes of Harold Pinter, Dennis Potter and Alan Bennett were shown even on commercial television.
The ‘70s was the decade in which the post-war consensus of full employment and the welfare state began to fracture. Many contemporary expert commentators thought that strike-torn Britain was on the verge of a socialist revolution. This book suggests that if the experts had been watching more popular television they might have been less surprised when the revolution eventually came from the Right in the shape of Margaret Thatcher. There were very few left-wing characters in popular sitcoms, for example, but they were replete with proto-Thatcherites: Basil Fawlty, the seedy landlord Rigsby from Rising Damp and Alf Garnett (intended as a satire on bigoted and reactionary attitudes working class Tory Garnett inadvertently became the idol of the reactionary bigots he was created to lampoon).
The myth of the rebel was widespread in the popular culture of the period with rule breaking detectives on the box and rule breaking footballers on the pitch. It was instructive to be reminded by Turner that, when she became leader of the opposition in 1975, Mrs Thatcher tapped into this mythology. She was admired by many as a rebel against both the old Tory establishment and the perceived new establishment of trade union leaders and bureaucrats.
Given the prevalent disunity it’s no surprise that people took refuge in nostalgia with the spirit of the Blitz being evoked in comedies like Dad’s Army (repeats of which can still be seen pretty much every day on British television. And a good thing too - it’s wonderful). Perhaps paradoxically, Thatcher’s radicalism drew on this nostalgic mood. She made a strong appeal to all those who wished to return to the - entirely mythical - united and law-abiding Britain before multiculturalism, counterculture, football hooliganism and the permissive society.
The idealism of the ‘60s had not completely disappeared by the start of the ‘70s. In fact, a number of radical and progressive movements such as gay liberation, feminism and environmentalism first entered mainstream consciousness during the decade. The environmental movement found fictional expression in the amiable sitcom The Good Life. Jack Gold’s groundbreaking television film of Quentin Crisp’s autobiography The Naked Civil Servant was a welcome departure from the usual cliched portrayals of gay men of the time. Glad To Be Gay, by the Tom Robinson Band, became a hit record despite being banned by the BBC and subsequently airbrushed out of history by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles.
Robinson was active in Rock Against Racism an alliance of punks and politicos which did much to neutralise the emergent neo-fascist National Front. Altogether less honourably, Margaret Thatcher also played her part in sidelining the Front, by echoing much of its poisonous rhetoric with her odious talk of Britain being ‘swamped by people with a different culture’.
Turner’s book is wide-ranging and eminently readable. He stays on the right side of the history/nostalgia divide and skilfully weaves together the fact and fiction, the politics and pop culture. Still, reading it I couldn’t help thinking that no history is as ancient as that of the popular culture from the day before yesterday. Who or what were: George Roper, Meg Richardson, The Likely Lads, Margo Leadbetter, Jack Regan, Hughie Green, A Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Hilda Ogden, Upstairs, Downstairs, Kendo Nagasaki, Brentford Nylons and Blake’s 7? If you don’t know, you probably didn’t live in Britain in the 1970s.
Britain in the 1970s has often been characterised as a decade-long collective nervous breakdown: strikes, the Three-Day Week, power cuts, mass unemployment, runaway inflation and IRA bombs. All this and the Bay City Rollers. Turner’s book suggests that this common characterisation is something of a caricature. He cites research carried out in 2004 by the New Economics Foundation based not on GNP but on ‘the measure of domestic progress’ - including such factors as crime, family stability, pollution & inequality of income. The startling conclusion of the survey was that Britain was a happier country in 1976 than it had been in the 30 years since.
He also points out that the 1970s was something of a golden era for British television, popular fiction and pop music. Having grown up in ‘70s Britain myself I can attest to the truth of Turner’s assertion that it was a great time and place to be young and not in the least depressing or dreary. A time when left-field ideas entered the mainstream and challenging dramas by the likes of Harold Pinter, Dennis Potter and Alan Bennett were shown even on commercial television.
The ‘70s was the decade in which the post-war consensus of full employment and the welfare state began to fracture. Many contemporary expert commentators thought that strike-torn Britain was on the verge of a socialist revolution. This book suggests that if the experts had been watching more popular television they might have been less surprised when the revolution eventually came from the Right in the shape of Margaret Thatcher. There were very few left-wing characters in popular sitcoms, for example, but they were replete with proto-Thatcherites: Basil Fawlty, the seedy landlord Rigsby from Rising Damp and Alf Garnett (intended as a satire on bigoted and reactionary attitudes working class Tory Garnett inadvertently became the idol of the reactionary bigots he was created to lampoon).
The myth of the rebel was widespread in the popular culture of the period with rule breaking detectives on the box and rule breaking footballers on the pitch. It was instructive to be reminded by Turner that, when she became leader of the opposition in 1975, Mrs Thatcher tapped into this mythology. She was admired by many as a rebel against both the old Tory establishment and the perceived new establishment of trade union leaders and bureaucrats.
Given the prevalent disunity it’s no surprise that people took refuge in nostalgia with the spirit of the Blitz being evoked in comedies like Dad’s Army (repeats of which can still be seen pretty much every day on British television. And a good thing too - it’s wonderful). Perhaps paradoxically, Thatcher’s radicalism drew on this nostalgic mood. She made a strong appeal to all those who wished to return to the - entirely mythical - united and law-abiding Britain before multiculturalism, counterculture, football hooliganism and the permissive society.
The idealism of the ‘60s had not completely disappeared by the start of the ‘70s. In fact, a number of radical and progressive movements such as gay liberation, feminism and environmentalism first entered mainstream consciousness during the decade. The environmental movement found fictional expression in the amiable sitcom The Good Life. Jack Gold’s groundbreaking television film of Quentin Crisp’s autobiography The Naked Civil Servant was a welcome departure from the usual cliched portrayals of gay men of the time. Glad To Be Gay, by the Tom Robinson Band, became a hit record despite being banned by the BBC and subsequently airbrushed out of history by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles.
Robinson was active in Rock Against Racism an alliance of punks and politicos which did much to neutralise the emergent neo-fascist National Front. Altogether less honourably, Margaret Thatcher also played her part in sidelining the Front, by echoing much of its poisonous rhetoric with her odious talk of Britain being ‘swamped by people with a different culture’.
Turner’s book is wide-ranging and eminently readable. He stays on the right side of the history/nostalgia divide and skilfully weaves together the fact and fiction, the politics and pop culture. Still, reading it I couldn’t help thinking that no history is as ancient as that of the popular culture from the day before yesterday. Who or what were: George Roper, Meg Richardson, The Likely Lads, Margo Leadbetter, Jack Regan, Hughie Green, A Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Hilda Ogden, Upstairs, Downstairs, Kendo Nagasaki, Brentford Nylons and Blake’s 7? If you don’t know, you probably didn’t live in Britain in the 1970s.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews