{"product_id":"modernity-britain-1957-1962","title":"Modernity Britain 1957-1962","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis edition collects both volumes of \u003c\/i\u003eModernity Britain \u003ci\u003efor the first time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003eFollowing \u003ci\u003eAusterity Britain\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFamily Britain\u003c\/i\u003e, the third volume in David Kynaston''s landmark social history of post-war Britain\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Triumphant ... A historian of peerless sensitivity and curiosity about the lives of individuals''\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''This superb history captures the birth pangs of modern Britain ... It is a part of Kynaston’s huge achievement that such moments of insight and pleasure should accompany what has become a monumental history of our recent past'' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e____________________\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid Kynaston’s history of post-war Britain has so far taken us from the radically reforming Labour governments of the late 1940s in \u003ci\u003eAusterity Britain\u003c\/i\u003e and through the growing prosperity of \u003ci\u003eFamily Britain\u003c\/i\u003e’s more placid 1950s. Now \u003ci\u003eModernity Britain 1957–62 \u003c\/i\u003esees the coming of a new Zeitgeist as Kynaston gets up close to a turbulent era in which the speed of social change accelerated.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  The late 1950s to early 1960s was an action-packed, often dramatic time in which the contours of modern Britain began to take shape. These were the ‘never had it so good’ years, when the \u003ci\u003eCarry On\u003c\/i\u003e film series got going, and films like \u003ci\u003eRoom at the Top\u003c\/i\u003e and the first soaps like \u003ci\u003eCoronation Street\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eZ Cars \u003c\/i\u003ebrought the working class to the centre of the national frame; when CND galvanised the progressive middle class; when ‘youth’ emerged as a cultural force; when the Notting Hill riots made race and immigration an inescapable reality; and when ‘meritocracy’ became the buzz word of the day. In this period, the traditional norms of morality were perceived as under serious threat (\u003ci\u003eLady Chatterley’s Lover\u003c\/i\u003e freely on sale after the famous case), and traditional working-class culture was changing (wakes weeks in decline, the end of the maximum wage for footballers).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe greatest change, though, concerned urban redevelopment: city centres were being yanked into the age of the motor car, slum clearance was intensified, and the skyline became studded with brutalist high-rise blocks. Some of this transformation was necessary, but too much would destroy communities and leave a harsh, fateful legacy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  This profoundly important story of the transformation of Britain as it arrived at the brink of a new world is brilliantly told through diaries, letters newspapers and a rich haul of other sources and published in one magnificent paperback volume for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57318152372606,"sku":"NW9781408844380","price":14.13,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781408844380.jpg?v=1778244662","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/modernity-britain-1957-1962","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}