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When The Lights Went Out Britain In The Seventies (2009)

by Andy Beckett(Favorite Author)

4.05 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

057122136X (ISBN13: 9780571221363)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Faber & Faber

review 1: Worth reading - an era which I was born into the tail-end of and source of endless controversies that I've never fully understood. Obviously Thatcher divides opinion with razor sharp boundaries amongst most people. This guy has a level head and remains pretty objective throughout, tracing the stories that defined Britain politically in the 70's. Also found out I was born on the day the British Treasury/government decided to accept loan from the IMF during recession. Might explain a few things. Particularly enjoyed the way he weaves together all the different political forces that interacts and entwined - from Milton Friedman-influenced neo-liberal monetarists, to Marxist miners, to anarchist festival organisers, to One-Nation Tories. The panoramic breadth of the author's v... moreisions affords him my trust though there is only sparse mention of more global and high-level activity - such as American financiers judgments on the UK (they were close to giving up on the country which would have been disastrous for the world's economy) and the importation of torture methods by the British from the Korean war. But as a focused study, it does the job well.
review 2: An excellent tour of the 70s, including much detail I've not seen before. You can really feel like you are there experiencing it. Sadly though it lacks a great ending as so did the 70s. I'm not persuaded that Callaghan's was a good government (Peter Hennesey is more persuasive and still not quite enough) but I do have more sympathy than I did at the time. Also a good reminder of how different things could have been, for good and ill and how far the pendelum has swung to the right. Please can we have a happy medium between the unions running the country and the bankers running the country. Moving a little more in the direction of the early 70s would be no bad thing. less

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