The People's Peace: Britain since 1945 is the first comprehensive study by a professional historian of British history from 1945 to the present day. It examines the transformation of post-war Britain from the planning enthusiasm of 1945 to the rise of New Labour. Its themes include the troubles of the British economy; public criticism of the legitimacy of the state and its instruments of authority; the co-existence of growing personal prosperity with widespread social inequality; and the debates aroused by decolonization, and Britain's relationship to the Commonwealth, the US and Europe. Changes in cultural life, from the puritanical 'austerity' of the 1940's, through the 'permissiveness' of the 1960s, to the tensions and achievements of recent years are also charted.
Using a wide variety of sources, including the records of political parties and the most recently released documents from the Public Records Office, Kenneth Morgan brings the story right up to date and draws comparisons with the post-war history of other nations. This penetrating analysis by a leading twentieth-century historian will prove invaluable to anyone interested in the development of the Britain of today.
I. The Era of Advance, 1945-1961
1: The Facade of Unity
2: Labour's High Noon, 1945-1947
3: The Collectivist Retreat, 1948-1951
4: The Conservative Compromise, 1951-1956
5: The Zenith of One-Nation Toryism, 1957-1961
II. The Years of Retreat, 1961-1979
6: The Stagnant Society, 1961-1964
7: Labour Blown Off Course, 1964-1967
8: Years of Hard Slog, 1968-1970
9: The Heath Experiment, 1970-1974
10: Challenge to Consensus, 1974-1976
11: The Years of Discontent, 1977-1979
III. Thatcherism and its Aftermath, 1979-1998
12: The Foundations of Thatcherism, 1979-1983
13: High Noon for the New Right, 1983-1990
14: Fin de Siècle: New Labour in Power, 1990-2001
15: Millennial Perspectives, 2001 - 2008
16: From Crash to Brexit, 2008 - 20
Select Bibliography
Index