This is the reissued second edition of Marwick's classic work concerning the effects of the First World War upon British society and politics.
There has been a considerable debate among historians concerning how far, exactly when and why the state was led into intervening in daily life in Britian as a result of the war - this book is an invaulable contribution to this debate. For the general reader, it helps to explain why Britian was so redically changed by the First World War and feeds into other historical debates, for instance the reasons why the British Liberal Party declined.
The book was first issued a generation ago and although the second edition (upon which this book is based) brings to light some newer historical research, one does feel that, in some ways, it is important as one of the major contributions to the effect of the First World War upon Britain, rather than a definitive study. Helpfully, the new introduction discusses the place of Marwick's work in the context of the wider debate and suggests the areas in which Marwick's work is most valuable and where later research has taken the debate further.