Books
Everyone's doing their favourite books list, so I thought I'd join in. For now, political books.Political
I'll omit the obvious (e..g Animal Farm, the Ragged Trousered Philanphropist)
Classes and Cultures: England, 1918-1951 by Oxford poliical tutor Ross McKibben is by far and away the best book I have read on British politics. It is a tremendous work of scholarship, examining class relationships in Britain not just through the the labour market, but also housing, religion, sport, literature, music, television, film, food etc. Much of what happens in British politics before and subsequent to his period becomes far clearer after reading this book. For more information see the London Review of Book's review.
History in Fragments, A: Europe in the Twentieth Century by Richard Vinen is an excellent survey of twentieth-century British poltics. Vinen's survey is -- like McKibben's -- much more social & cultural-based study than many, but it's reval value is in the non-British view he shows you of many of Europe's poltical and cultural changes. For example he notes that in apart from a localised air war between Britain and Germany, in fact Europe was at peace - for the first time in years -- in August 1940. Similarly Vinen suggests that the 1980s ushered in a new era of consensus government across Europe (particularly in Spain and Portugal), the opposite view one might take if one looks at events from a purely British perspective. Or in a different area, he points out that the view that societies have got more 'liberal' continuously since 1900 is not always correct, for instance views on homosexuality hardened in the post-war era (at first) compared with the 1930s as the focus became on the family. As an example, convictions for homosexuality were far higher in post-war Germany than Nazi Germany.
posted by Matthew @ 7/28/2003 12:36:00 PM
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