British Society Since 1945

by Arthur Marwick, John Ciardi (Translator)

High and popular culture; family, race, gender and class relations; sexual attitudes and material conditions; science and technology - the diversity of social developments in Britain from 1945 to 2002 are thoroughly explored in this new edition of aclassic text. 'Something of a tour de force... Without serious distortion or omission he moves dexterously through a wide variety of sources, ranging from poetry through film and novels to opinion polls.. it is astonishing how much he gets in' Times Educational Supplement 'An enjoyable, readable, usable achievement which leads the field' John Vincent, Sunday Times

Genres: History, Nonfiction

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Arthur John Brereton Marwick (1936-2006) was a Scottish social historian, who served for many years as Professor of History at the Open University. His research interests lay primarily in the history of Britain in the twentieth century, and the relationship between war and social change.

Reviews

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for my Contemporary British Lit class in graduate school. I read this in 2008.

Spanning from the mid 20th century to the early 2000s, Marwick does a splendid job writing about the history of Britain- especially decriminalizing homosexuality in 1967. Read this alongside connections made to Elizabeth Bowen’s novel “Eva Trout”.

[Pam Keevil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very clear, easily digestible and accessible account of aspects of UK life since 1945 with revealing insights on class, the NHS and the policies of successive governments. A must if you want to understand more about where we are and why we are here with the social and political challenges we face.

[E G Melby · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a source text- this is invaluable. Need to check for updated, newer edition. Some of it was a bit dry, but to be expected when covering so much ground.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though informative, I found this book to be too heavy on statistics and extremely dense. There was way too much information that I couldn't really keep track of. Instead of breaking up it up by time periods, I wish the author would've divided the book by topic.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry like the british society its trying to inform its readers about. Overall I learned a lot though. Good introduction to modern british history.

[Netsen7Bookdragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gives a good picture of the British society after WW2, you see all the aspects in how the land changes up to 2000.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that in depth, but a nice intro to modern British society.