20th century Britain: Economic, cultural and social change, third edition.NicoleRobertson, JohnSingleton, and AvramTaylor (eds.), (Abingdon: Routledge, 2023. pp. 402. 70B/W illustrations ISBN 9780367426569, Pbk. £33.99)
Year: 2024
Type: book-review
Abstract: Having been an undergraduate student in the late 2000s, I can recall the set textbook for learning about British economic and social history was the then recently published second edition of 20th century Britain.That book unlocked important themes and debates that came to shape my understanding of the previous century -that the hunger marches of the 1920s and 1930s were accompanied by affluence and prosperity in the South East and the English Midlands, about the impact of suburbanization and mass car ownership, and regarding debates over Britain's relative economic 'decline' and Commonwealth migration and multiculturalism in the second half of the twentieth century.The new third edition of the book still includes familiar topics, but it also benefits from the inclusion and bringing to the fore of previously overlooked subjects.These steps are achieved through a format that incorporates 17 thematic chapters that span the century.They are supplemented by seven 'Britain in focus' chapters which concentrate on events more tightly tied to particular time periods.Stephanie Ward provides an important commentary on the experience of interwar unemployed, concentrating on areas of South Wales devastated by the depression in mining and steelmaking districts.Anandi Ramamurthy overviews the role of Asian Youth Movements in anti-racist activism in English cities during the 1970s and 1980s, whilst Neil Rollings reviews Britain's relationship with Europe, concentrating on the period between EU accession in 1973 and Brexit in 2016.Rollings' chapter along with Marcus Collins' discussion of the contention that the 1960s amounted to a 'cultural revolution' exemplify the focus on debate in the textbook.Within individual chapters, historiographical controversies are profiled in 'Debates and interpretations' sections ranging from the timing and impact of youth culture to prime ministerial power.They are accompanied by 'In focus' sections that provide a more definitions-centred assessment of a subject such as terms like the Gini coefficient and austerity.These features certainly make the textbook an appealing teaching aid for undergraduates.They neatly avoid the pitfall of a textbook approach in implying unanimity in historical perspectives, instead challenging
Source: The Economic History Review
DOI: 10.1111/ehr.13382
Author: Ewan Gibbs
Institution: University of Glasgow
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4402002571