As in Austerity Britain, an astonishing array of vivid, intimate and unselfconscious voices drive this narrative. The keen-eyed Nella Last shops assiduously at Barrow Market as austerity and rationing gradually give way to relative abundance; housewife Judy Haines, relishing the detail of suburban life, brings up her children in Chingford; and, the self-absorbed civil servant Henry St John perfects the art of grumbling. These and many other voices give a rich, unsentimental picture of everyday life in the 1950s. We also encounter well-known figures on the way, such as Doris Lessing (joining and later leaving the Communist Party), John Arlott (sticking up on Any Questions? for the rights of homosexuals) and Tiger's Roy of the Rovers (making his goal-scoring debut for Melchester). All this is part of a colourful, unfolding tapestry, in which the great national events - the Tories returning to power, the death of George VI, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the Suez Crisis - jostle alongside everything that gave Britain in the 1950s its distinctive flavour: Butlin's holiday camps, Kenwood food mixers, "Hancock's Half-Hour", Ekco television sets, Davy Crockett, skiffle and teddy boys. Deeply researched, David Kynaston's "Family Britain" offers an unrivalled take on a largely cohesive, ordered, still very hierarchical society gratefully starting to move away from the painful hardships of the 1940s towards domestic ease and affluence.
Family Britain, 1951-1957 (Tales of a New Jerusalem)
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PRAISE FOR AUSTERITY BRITAIN: 'This wonderful volume is only the first in a series that will take us to 1979 and the election of Margaret Thatcher. When complete, Kynaston's skill in mixing eyewitness accounts and political analysis will surely be one of the greatest and most enduring publishing ventures for generations.' Brian Thompson, Observer 'Even readers who can remember the years Kynaston writes about will find they are continually surprised by the richness and diversity of his material ... mouth-watering' John Carey, Sunday Times 'The book is a marvel ... the level of detail is precise and fascinating' John Campbell, Sunday Telegraph 'A wonderfully illuminating picture of the way we were' Roy Hattersley, The Times
Book Description
Family Britain continues David Kynaston's groundbreaking series Tales of a New Jerusalem, telling as never before the story of Britain from VE Day in 1945 to the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
65 of 67 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Family Britain by David Kynaston is a comprehensive study of life in Britain after the Second World War. It is very well researched and although over 700 pages long it is written in a style which makes few strenuous demands on the reader - the pages can be turned quickly and effortlessly as the narrative unfolds.
It covers a wide range of domestic issues, focusing both on the poorer sections of society and those who survived the deprivations of the war from a better-off postion. The politics are carefully explained, supported by extensive quotations drawn from a wide range of sources. The author also brings into the picture vignettes of certain people who have susequently become more well-known showing where they were in their chilhood days of the 50s.
For those of us who were brought up in this period, this book provides a useful reminder of how our own lives formed part of the greater pattern of change that was unfolding. It also helps to place our own experiences into perspective. My only slight criticism is that the chapters occasionally jump from one topic to another without a clear link, but the chronlogy of the period 1951-1957 is always maintained.
It covers a wide range of domestic issues, focusing both on the poorer sections of society and those who survived the deprivations of the war from a better-off postion. The politics are carefully explained, supported by extensive quotations drawn from a wide range of sources. The author also brings into the picture vignettes of certain people who have susequently become more well-known showing where they were in their chilhood days of the 50s.
For those of us who were brought up in this period, this book provides a useful reminder of how our own lives formed part of the greater pattern of change that was unfolding. It also helps to place our own experiences into perspective. My only slight criticism is that the chapters occasionally jump from one topic to another without a clear link, but the chronlogy of the period 1951-1957 is always maintained.
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful
By Mooch
Format:Hardcover
This awesome study is the follow-up to Austerity Britain 1945-1951, and if you've read that book then you will know what to expect here. Family Britain contains the same mixture of social issues, politics, cultural developments and personal reminiscences - drawn from a wide variety of sources including Mass Observation studies and personal diaries (we continue following the lives of Nella Last, Judy Haines, Anthony Heap and the other private diarists from the first book) - with the emphasis always on how the great events and changing times affected ordinary people living ordinary lives.
(Also what may or may not become worth noting for when the paperback/s come out: Family Britain is divided into two 'books' - 'The Certainties of Place' and 'A Thicker Cut', in the same way that Austerity Britain comprised the books 'A World to Build' and 'Smoke in the Valley.')
Beginning with the Festival of Britain and ending with Eden's resignation, the book goes through the years basically chronologically, but pauses to consider the general themes and social issues of the period looking at race, class, housing, secondary schools, religion, the place of women and of course family life among many other things.
It really is a fascinating book, breathtaking in its scope and range of sources and at all times a joy to read. It was also very satisfying how the author looked at issues in order to test our conventional wisdom of the period and - pleasingly - often shows how much more complicated the true picture is (eg the place of Christianity in Britain or the state of neighbourliness and sense of community etc.... Read more ›
(Also what may or may not become worth noting for when the paperback/s come out: Family Britain is divided into two 'books' - 'The Certainties of Place' and 'A Thicker Cut', in the same way that Austerity Britain comprised the books 'A World to Build' and 'Smoke in the Valley.')
Beginning with the Festival of Britain and ending with Eden's resignation, the book goes through the years basically chronologically, but pauses to consider the general themes and social issues of the period looking at race, class, housing, secondary schools, religion, the place of women and of course family life among many other things.
It really is a fascinating book, breathtaking in its scope and range of sources and at all times a joy to read. It was also very satisfying how the author looked at issues in order to test our conventional wisdom of the period and - pleasingly - often shows how much more complicated the true picture is (eg the place of Christianity in Britain or the state of neighbourliness and sense of community etc.... Read more ›
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Annie
Format:Hardcover
I received this book as a birthday present and what a present!
A note of honesty here, I enjoy reading social history (so there is the Nerd admission up front!), particularly English social history. However, there is something extra special about this publication. Namely, while usually reading a history book I require some fiction on the go at the same time (some Stephen King let's say....just to keep the Nerd factor at an optimum....yes and I like Torchwood....), but this is unputdownable. Do not be put off by the sheer size of the book (776 pages including index), if you are looking for a narrative that will make you smile, chuckle out loud, while providing poignant moments aplenty - then get this book! David Kynaston is to be congratulated on the remarkable achievement of putting together so many different 'voices' from people. From housewives to M.P.'s, from newspaper headlines to Mass Observation findings - they all speak to you with a remarkable immediacy. Clearly this is a winner for people who remember this period of English history, but equally so for people like myself who were not even born yet. This is no mere 'sentimental' 'good old days' nostalgia. So people from a younger generation do not be put off!
Nearing the end of this book now, I am feeling decidedly tempted to get on this site and order some more books by this writer. Great stuff! .....and need I say it?
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
A note of honesty here, I enjoy reading social history (so there is the Nerd admission up front!), particularly English social history. However, there is something extra special about this publication. Namely, while usually reading a history book I require some fiction on the go at the same time (some Stephen King let's say....just to keep the Nerd factor at an optimum....yes and I like Torchwood....), but this is unputdownable. Do not be put off by the sheer size of the book (776 pages including index), if you are looking for a narrative that will make you smile, chuckle out loud, while providing poignant moments aplenty - then get this book! David Kynaston is to be congratulated on the remarkable achievement of putting together so many different 'voices' from people. From housewives to M.P.'s, from newspaper headlines to Mass Observation findings - they all speak to you with a remarkable immediacy. Clearly this is a winner for people who remember this period of English history, but equally so for people like myself who were not even born yet. This is no mere 'sentimental' 'good old days' nostalgia. So people from a younger generation do not be put off!
Nearing the end of this book now, I am feeling decidedly tempted to get on this site and order some more books by this writer. Great stuff! .....and need I say it?
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By B. M. Ross
Format:Hardcover
The content is fabulous, but the book's organization seemingly non-existent. This feels like stream-of-consciousness history: chapters with no clearly defined theme, only the vaguest of chronological sequences, a throwing together of apparently random material. For all that, it's a marvellously evocative mix of social and political, interjected with some keen analysis, and it is enjoyable to bounce suddenly from a spat between Bevan and Gaitskell, to Mrs Jones complaining about the price of tea. But the book's amorphous structure leaves my desire to LEARN things from a history book completely unfulfilled. Rather than present an understanding of the processes by which the decade evolved, it simply immerses the reader in the world of the 50s. By the time I'm finished, I'll have a much better FEELING for the decade, but I don't think I'll KNOW much more about it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good reading
As with 'Austerity Britain' this book too is proving very useful in researching a project I am doing on the mid twentieth century.
Published 1 month ago by ann vickers
2.0 out of 5 stars
HUGE disappointment
I have no idea why so many people have given this book so many stars. I found this book to be almost unreadable. Read more
Published 2 months ago by P. Burrow
5.0 out of 5 stars
Social history without the isms
This is one of the most memorable, if not the best, social history books I've ever read and has reawaken interest in the subject. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Xavi #6
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent read!
Thoroughly enjoyed this very well researched book that covered every subject that I could remember, and other incidents that I had only a scant recollection of. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Lucy Lastic
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good view of the period
A good review of this period. It was a time shared by my brother and me, thus I sent him a copy for his birthday. It was a good read for him.
Published 6 months ago by Raymondo
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant but missing something.
This is social history at its very best. The chapter on the family is my particular favourite, but the entire book is a brilliant evocation of a period of both optimism and... Read more
Published 6 months ago by CC
5.0 out of 5 stars
Family favourite
How does one write a History book? Should it be one encompassing the broad sweep of time? One content to mine a decade or one focussing on a single year looking for patterns or... Read more
Published 7 months ago by DN PERKS
2.0 out of 5 stars
excess baggage
Pity the poor "recent historian". Half his readership want to know the world of Mum and Dad, half want to read history. (And another half is both. Read more
Published 15 months ago by James-philip Harries
5.0 out of 5 stars
Family Britain
Having just completed reading this volume, I can't wait for the next one! I read Austerity Britain, as my parents were involved in the war, and I was born 2 years before the end of... Read more
Published 21 months ago by dave1510
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Land of Lost Content?
This is the second volume of David Kynaston's monumental social history of post-war Britain and, for both the history buff and the interested layman, this really is a book to... Read more
Published on 26 April 2011 by Free Radical
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