Innovation

Innovation concludes the series with the history of England from the end of the Boer War and the accession of Edward VII to the close of the twentieth century. It encompasses two world wars, women’s suffrage, the rise of Labour, the creation of the welfare state and National Health Service, the decline of empire and the changing constitutional role of the monarchy.

Ackroyd follows the century’s social and cultural transformations as closely as its governments and conflicts. The decline of the landed elite, suburban expansion, slum clearance, mass media, the culture of the 1960s and the politics of Thatcher and Blair reveal a country repeatedly redefining class, authority and national identity.