Customer Reviews
Readable and interesting book - By: PhilosopherKing, 20 Nov 2008 
This is an interesting & readable history of our country since the Second World War marred (pun intended) by a liberal/left-wing bias. Andrew Marr deals with a number of topics & this book is neither political nor social history but contains bits of each & more.
Much of the book is a re-hash of information that I had already gathered from elsewhere but some topics were new to me. For example, Andrew Marr spent some time discussing the rise of pop music & how this & the fashion industry seems to have originated mainly from people who went to art school rather than e.g. university or technical college.
The main strengths of the book are a clear writing style & the willingness to tackle slighly off beat subjects here & there so that one gained some knowledge & understanding of unfamiliar topics.
An average, anti-success summary of the UK - By: MR D P SHEEN, 15 Nov 2008 
In summay, Andrew tries to bring together a very complicated period of lifein the UK & diluting it to the level of the average Guardian reader (i.e. tell me what to think & that be so, & by the way I like the working class, alright guv').
Generally well researched, but so distracted by his weird "liberal" / puritanical (anti-alcohol / fun) beliefs, that you don't know what he is trying to say. If this is the future of liberal & impartial journalism then we are destined to live with a Socialist Fascist system, & having experienced this book & this Government I think this is closer to being a reality than many think (despite the arguments of ideology!)
Excellent book - By: A. D. St John-bee, 27 Sep 2008 
I took this book on holiday with me & I feel a week by the pool is a perfect way to enjoy this book.
I really enjoyed the pace of this work. I felt it gave just the right amount of detail without dwelling on unimportant facts.
For me it was constantly enthralling. As a 23 year-old I certainly learnt a great deal. The detail is far greater than the BBC series that accompanied the book. My only doubt is whether had I lived through the times discussed I would have found it a little lightweight.
History at its best - By: J. Baldwin, 26 Sep 2008 I found this book a real pleasure to read. It is a penetrating & scholarly account of Britain's post-war history. It is brilliantly researched & beautifully written - the author has a good eye for the amusing bon mot - yet it dealsin a balanced & sensible way with the key developments & personalities of the post-war era. If a better book has been publishedin the past year, then I have not come across it.
A future school textbook - and useful now. - By: A. I. McCulloch, 29 Aug 2008 This book was updated for its paperback release & having read it carefully I suspect that many of the errors referred to by other reviewers were removed at that point. Having lived out of Britain for a sizeable chunk of my adult life, I found that I had much to learn from the pages - several large gapsin my knowledge were filled in.
I found it difficult to detect any signs of bias, & Andrew Marr's easy writing style made it a pleasure to read. This is almost as far removed from the dry history textbook that I wrestled with as a young student as it is possible to be. For anyone wanting a crash course on British modern history, this could not be bettered. Well researched & referenced, this deserves to become a standard.
