Table of Contents

Introduction
1: THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE WORLD
2: THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY
3: THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE
4: FAMILY AND WELFARE
5: INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE
6: INTELLECT AND CULTURE
7: POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
8: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

About the Author

Brian Harrison, Emeritus Professor of Modern British History at Oxford, has published widely in British social, political and cultural history since the 1790s. His first book, Drink and the Victorians (1971, second edition 1994), was followed by books on British reforming movements, feminism, and anti-feminism, Oxford University's history, and - in The Transformation of British Politics 1860-1995 (1996) - on how our political institutions have
evolved. After editing the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography from 2000 to 2004, Harrison was knighted in 2005 for 'services to scholarship'.

Reviews

`there is a hugely impressive breadth of reference and eye for detail on display here.'
Lawrence Black, Journal of Modern History, on Seeking a Role and Finding a Role?
`No historian is better equipped to tackle a study of modern Britain in its wondrous complexity than Harrison... Finding a role?... is a major achievement'
Frank Prochaska, Times Literary Supplement
`A brilliant work of modern history... [with] a range and depth, which should ensure that it... is regarded as a classic for years to come'
Richard Weight, History Today
`Harrison's narrative is rich in both the range of the subjects he discusses and the detail in which they are analysed'
John Callaghan, British Scholar
`These two magisterial volumes... [Seeking a Role andFinding a Role?]... offer a consistently stimulating and formidably well-informed analysis of the condition of England since 1950, as it was shaped both by the wider world and its own internal development.'
Richard Whiting, History
`This is a great and virtuosic work, an essential book that enriches our understanding and never fails to reward its reader time and time again'
Sean Moran, History, Reviews of New Books
`A sweeping assessment of British history... Comprehensive and thorough...the definitive starting point for any student or academic wishing to engage with this complex and fascinating period.'
LIMINA: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies
`Lucidly written, meticulously researched, and comprehensive in scope, the book stands out as a work of rare depth and sophistication. It is a landmark attempt to come to terms with Britain's contemporary history... Harrison has written a formidable book, replete with significance and interest. Scholars and students of modern Britain will be returning to it again and again in the years to come, both as an unrivalled source of information and as an eloquent
contribution to a historiographical debate that will run and run'
Ben Jackson, English Historical Review
`No short review can do justice to the richness and complexity of this book ... A major achievement of modern historical analysis'
D.L.LeMahieu, CHOICE