Dominic Sandbrook

cml387

Has anybody read Sandbrook's (continuing) history of postwar Britain.

So far he has written "Never Had It So Good", "White Heat" "State Of Emergency" and "Seasons In The Sun".

You can infer from the titles what are the eras covered in each book.

I would especially recommend "State Of Emergency". While we may be living through an economic crisis now, this is nothing compared to the problems facing the UK in the early 1970's. At least nowadays the lights stay on.

mike65

Only seen his TV work for BBC2 about the 1970s called the 70s (presumably based on Seasons in the Sun & State Of Emergency), which was quite interesting esp the parts which illustrated how Mrs T didn't actually invent working class home ownership and suchlike rather she saw what was happening on a local level and made it national policy.

donaghs

I read "Seasons in the Sun", 1974-1979. Huge book, but very interesting. Arguably industrial relations got worse in the late 70s than they did during the Heath years in "State of Emergency".
But even then, growing up the 1980s in Ireland, I remember ESB strikes seemed to be an almost biennial occurance. My parents had a drawer in the kitchen with candles and torches, and a small gas cooker in the shed - at the ready for the next strike.

I was impressed how Sandbrook was able to cover so much material but still make it readable and entertaining.

The main surprise in the "Seasons" book for me was how ridiculous a figure Tony Benn was. Hypocritical, ambitious at the expense of others, and crazy economic ideas. He's since been transformed into a cuddly elder statesman, but re-reading his "siege economy" ideas shows how bizarre those times were.

Another big idea in the book was how James Callaghan and Denis Healy's ideas and reforms pre-dated a lot of what Thatcher is credited with. I had a read some stuff on that before in a Francis Wheen book.

Overall, Sandbrook takes a very positive view of Callaghan. Presenting him as a voice of reason and saviour of the UK. Brought down by left-wing infighting which opened the door for Margaret Thatcher and the end of the post-war consensus.
Harold Wilson is the closest thing to a villain in the book. A well intentioned man, but with no ideas or strategy on how to rescue Britain from bankruptcy and industrial strife. Too consumed in day-to-day politics, keeping his party together, and arguing minor details with his private secretary Marcia. And by his second term in 1974, he was no longer an energetic man and seemed to have literally run out of steam. He suggests that Wilson may have have been showing symtoms of the early onset of the Alzheimers which later affected him in the 80s.
If you've ever seen the 1979 clip (part of C4's "TV Hell" show) of Wilson as a guest host of the Friday Night, Saturday Morning show, its clear his mental powers were failing.

cml387

donaghs wrote: »

The main surprise in the "Seasons" book for me was how ridiculous a figure Tony Benn was. Hypocritical, ambitious at the expense of others, and crazy economic ideas. He's since been transformed into a cuddly elder statesman, but re-reading his "siege economy" ideas shows how bizarre those times were.

I would guess that however badly Benn was portrayed in the Seasons book, wait until Sandbrook gets up to Labour's civil war in the early eighties.

donaghs

cml387 wrote: »

I would guess that however badly Benn was portrayed in the Seasons book, wait until Sandbrook gets up to Labour's civil war in the early eighties.

Looking forward to checking out some more of his books.

Couldn't helping thinking that due to the large time spans he covers, and the huge amount of material and minor detail he covers, did he get a few facts wrong here and there? One that comes to mind straight away is when he gets into details of pop music and punk rock in the "seasons" book. Can find the relevant quotes right now, but got that niggling feeling at a few points in the book

Little_Korean

A great series of books - I went from borrowing them from the library to buying my own copies, just so I could always have them at hand if I wanted to check something.

An examaple of how a first-rate imperial power can go from winner in a world war to subjected to endless strikes, political paralysis, terrorism, runaway inflation, etc. A depressing, but morbidly fascination narrative.

Anyone any idea as to whether Sandbrook will continue on? One gets the sense throughout the series that he was building up to the election of Thaher, which in many ways was a 'game change' for Britain in terms of how things were done.

cml387

The thirty year rule will limit his sources much past 1983.

Little_Korean

cml387 wrote: »

The thirty year rule will limit his sources much past 1983.

Ah, you're right, didn't think of that. Hopefully he'll be writing as the years pass by and more records get released