Product Description

The history of democratic politics in Britain since the coming of universal male suffrage in 1918 is a dramatic one, crowded with events and colourful figures. As well as the great events of war and economic crises, and the quieter drama of constitutional change, this era has been studded with democratic protests of every sort: from the General Strike and the hunger marches of the 1930s, anti-Suez rallies and CND marches in the 1950s, student, feminist and green protests in the 1960s and seventies, the miners' strike and poll tax clashes of the 1980s, and the anti-Iraq War marches of the early twenty-first century. The story opens more than 350 years ago. The Levellers of the 17th century, 18th-century radicals, the Chartists and the Reform Acts are all part of the unsteady and fiercely contested progress towards a democratic constitution. Dreams, visions and ideals are important too - of George Orwell, and Enoch Powell, Milton, Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke, Churchill and Lord Salisbury, Aneurin Bevan and Tony Benn - for they have also shaped our outlook. BRITAIN SINCE 1918 is a formidable combination of narrative and analsysis: entertaining, instructive and thought-provoking.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110943 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Review
"a glittering masterpiece which will illuminate debate for many years to come." --Kenneth O Morgan, THE INDEPENDENT

Review
"a glittering masterpiece which will illuminate debate for many years to come." (Kenneth O Morgan THE INDEPENDENT )

"few will fail to enjoy this book: always elegant, often incisive, it is a genuine masterpiece of political history" (Dominic Sandbrook DAILY TELEGRAPH )

"consistently enjoyable and thought-provoking.. told with panache, authority and constant perception" (Harry Reid THE HERALD )

"there is only one great democratic republican of the 20th century, and one for whose efforts we should all be grateful: David Marquand" (Richard Reeves NEW STATESMAN )

"Beautifully written and bursting with insight as well as historical fact.. a joy to read" (Roy Hattersley THE GUARDIAN )

"a work of verve and insight whose breadth of learning is only partially concealed by the grace of its style" (Vernon Bogdanor LITERARY REVIEW )

"his style has verve, his insights are plentiful and this book is a testament to the breadth of his reading" (Robert Taylor TRIBUNE )

"comprehensive, well-written and informative" (Steve Mather MORNING STAR )

"rich, lively.. blends political ideas with political economy and what happened" (Peter Hennessy THE TABLET )

"Marquand's supremely topical essay has sent me reactionary spirits soaring" (Peregrine Worsthone THE OLDIE )

"a beautifully crafted narrative of high politics.. today's constituency of the literate but politically apathetic should take the trouble to read this life-enhancing book" (David Kynaston HISTORY TODAY )

"It is stimulating, comprehensive, elegant and effortlessly knowledgeable" (John Lloyd FINANCIAL TIMES )

"a lucid and revealing insight into the convulsions that have defined Britain for ninety years" (THE GOOD BOOK GUIDE )

"this book is the best brief political history of Briatin we have." (Austin Mitchell THE HOUSE MAGAZINE )

"a thoughtful and thought provoking book looking at the broad sweep of British politics and political ideas" (Keith Simpson TOTAL POLITICS )

"an insightful account by a former participant-observer of how we got to where we are" (Richard Gott THE OBSERVER )

"This book is a fine and highly readable political history of Britain" (POLITICAL QUARTERLY )

"Marquand's elegant prose is studded with shrewd assessments of people and events" (Mark Garnett TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT )

Review
"consistently enjoyable and thought-provoking.. told with panache, authority and constant perception"

Customer Reviews

A fine overview history
As one would expect from David Marquand, an elegantly written 20th century history supported by his deep knowledge of his subject. Covering this much ground in one book does not allow sometimes for as much detail as one might like. The book is most notable for the sweeping characterisations of the leading politicians, again not always supported by detail but the bold judgements never strike a jarring note. The book is most fascinating on the ground least travelled, the analysis of the New Labour years from 1997. The analysis of the unravelling constitutional arrangements is enthralling and it is only a shame that the book had to go to print as the economic storm began to brew.

A Very Good Book if a Little Pompous in Places.
Britain Since 1918: The Strange Career of British Democracy by David Marquand is a very good book which is well-written and quite interesting. It argues in my opinion quite effectively that the governments since 1918 can not simply be divided between Left and Right but between 4 different visions of how government and the State should operate. Due to its length it does not cover every event and personality during this time period but I don't think the work suffers from these ommissions. Overall it is a good book which is let down at times by a bit of pomposity and the whiff of political bias.

Marquand's Democracy
On the surface David Marquand's 'Britain Since 1918' is accomplished and enjoyable. Great erudition, fluent writing and brilliant character sketches of British politicians make for a fascinating read.
There is, however, a worm in the pages: an EU worm. The book is sub-titled 'The Strange Career of British Democracy', yet Marquand fails to recognise the mortal threat to democracy posed by the EU. He must know the EU was conceived as a 'supranational', hence anti-democratic federation whose member states are signed up to 'ever-closer union' and whose ultimate aim is a United States of Europe with all the apparatus of statehood. He must know the 'European Parliament' is a populist token reminiscent of Bismarck's Reichstag or the Japanese Meiji Diet designed to mask the anti-democratic structure of the governing body, the 'European Commission' in Brussels. Already over 60 per cent of British legislation originates in Brussels. When the EU reaches its ultimate goal the Westminster Parliament will have been reduced to a provincial assembly.
Marquand evidently relishes the prospect. He hails Britain's accession to the EU as Prime Minister Heath's 'one historic success'. The case against entry is dismissed without analysis as 'romantic English nationalism'. He fails to mention that Heath, in his desire to join, deceived the British people by claiming that what he knew to be an intended political union was merely a 'common market'. Harold Wilson played the same trick when he called and won a referendum on British membership of the Union. If these deliberate deceptions do not bear on the democratic process, what does? Perhaps Marquand's most credulous assertion is that 'British ministers on their travels to Brussels discovered that Community decisions were not taken by the "faceless bureaucrats" of anti-market rhetoric, but by largely amiable politicians much like themselves'.
Marquand is entitled to his pro-EU stance. He is not entitled to the de haut en bas view that membership is unequivocally good for the rest of us, or that, by implication, democracy is served by lies. At bottom this is, wittingly or unwittingly, a profoundly dishonest book.
Peter Padfield, Woodbridge, January 2009