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Ladataan... Family Britain: 1951-57 (2009)Tekijä: David Kynaston
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Kirjaudu LibraryThingiin nähdäksesi, pidätkö tästä kirjasta vai et. Ei tämänhetkisiä Keskustelu-viestiketjuja tästä kirjasta. http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2551939.html This is the second volume of Tales of a New Jerusalem, a series of books pulling together the findings of Mass-Observation and various other sources to create a detailed, almost week-by-week popular history of Britain. (The first volume covers 1945-51, and the third 1957-59; Kynaston's plan is to take it up to Margaret Thatcher's election in 1979.) It's a tremendous piece of work, but I'll stipulate up front that it has limitations - although the title references "Britain", it's mainly England, with some Wales and a very small amount of Scotland; Northern Ireland is mentioned precisely once. Having said that, I still found it very interesting, and if you are English or particularly interested in England it will be fascinating. Particular highlights are Kynaston's analysis of Fifties sexuality, both straight and gay (though I missed any reflection on how things might have been different during the War); his account of the political arguments around race (though here I would have liked to see some framing in terms of theory); his careful account of the major capital punishment cases (Derek Bentley and Ruth Ellis); the story, which I had not fully appreciated before, of how the Church of England's intereference in Princess Margaret's love life was a key tipping point for secularisation; the general opening up of society to new influences, with television and Elvis replacing cinema and music hall in the course of these few years; and the end of rationing and its effect on the nation's gastronomic aspirations. I know it's not the story Kynaston is trying to tell, but I'd also have liked either more or less on the politics of the day (as well as some more theoretical reflections). Enough major figures have now left memoirs, and enough records are now public, that the contemporary newspaper accounts of what was going on in government could have been backed up quite substantially by the inside story, rather than just using the views of a few individuals. The big picture in any case is fascinating enough. A superb social history of Britain in the years of recovery after the war. Kynaston uses surveys from Mass Observation, diaries and the reminiscences of the famous and the unknown to build a picture from the smallest fragments and compulsive reading it is (as was Austerity Britain before it). You learn so much more from the diary of a housewife in an industrial northern town than from any number of speeches by politicians. There are many joys to be found here; at this distance received wisdom tells us that the Coronation was a huge event in the national consciousness - and yet Kynaston produces evidence that many were unmoved. The advent of television and especially commercial television are viewed with suspicion by politicians and worthies - but there is no doubt that the people want it. Gender relations, sex, the emergence of the teenager, immigration and multiculturalism, the growing power of unions, the growth of nationalised services from ideals to lumbering bureaucracies, pop music and pop culture are all handled beautifully. The only thing missing is a discussion of national service - which would seem relevant in a post war society Overall great stuff, and am really looking forward to the next volume I loved Austerity Britain, the first in Kynaston's series that I think will go into the late 1970s. This book too was a very good and informative read, and no doubt would be even more so for someone who is British and especially someone who can remember these years. Britain was finally off rationing, but would it become the New Jerusalem dreamed of by so many who had voted in the immediate post war Labor government or would the incoming Conservative government change things? In fact I think it is clear that the Conservatives did very little to change what Labor had put in place because the majority of the British liked the new welfare state, and who can blame them after 2 world wars and a vicious global recession? But the seeds for Britain's decline were also sown, as the old factories and newly powerful unions drained Britain's industry of the lead she had since the Industrial Revolution. Yes people were made materially better, but the inherent reluctance of the British to accept that maybe things were done better on the continent or, even worse, by the Americans, meant that this decline would only be addressed by the Thatcher Revolution. Tämä arvostelu kirjoitettiin LibraryThingin Varhaisia arvostelijoita varten. I think the general reader will find this book long and somewhat disjointed. I enjoy reading the history of England but, felt as though I were an outsider reading this complex and detailed social history of Britain in the 1950's. While this book certainly belongs on the shelf I think perhaps it is more suited to the student of British history rather than a casual reader. People and events pop in and out of this volume that have not be introduced previously. My hope is that because I read this series out of sequence I'll have a better understanding of this volume once I read the 1st volume. Still, I recommend this book as it does present a history of Britain from a fresh perspective.
Like his justly acclaimed account of the Attlee years, Kynaston’s book is a deeply textured tapestry of everyday life the day before yesterday, a collage of diaries and memoirs every bit as rich and rewarding as a great Victorian novel. Even more than in his previous book, the politicians who dominated contemporary headlines are pushed offstage, making room for an eclectic collection of guides from obscure diarists and Mass-Observation interviewees to Ricky Tomlinson and Janet Street-Porter. Even Kynaston himself, a sensitive and often drily funny narrator, remains in the background: we feel we are immersed directly in the sights and smells of life in the Fifties, the apparently familiar but utterly different world of the Festival of Britain and the Suez Crisis, of Billy Wright and Stanley Matthews, of Kingsley Amis and Andy Pandy, of Gilbert Harding and the Goons. One of the strengths of Kynaston’s last book was that it gently debunked the myths of the New Jerusalem, showing how most people, far from being enthused by Attlee’s social experiments, simply plodded along in their conservative and pragmatic way. Kuuluu näihin sarjoihinTämän kirjan sarjaan kuulumaton jatko-osaAusterity Britain: 1945-51 (tekijä: David Kynaston)
Viittaukset tähän teokseen muissa lähteissä. Englanninkielinen Wikipedia (20)As in Austerity Britain, an astonishing array of vivid, intimate and unselfconscious voices drive the narrative. The keen-eyed Nella Last shops assiduously at Barrow Market as austerity and rationing gradually gives way to relative abundance; housewife Judy Haines, relishing the detail of suburban life, brings up her children in Chingford; 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, John Arlott, and Tiger's Roy of the Rovers. 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. Kirjastojen kuvailuja ei löytynyt. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumDavid Kynaston's book Family Britain, 1951-1957 was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current Discussions-Suosituimmat kansikuvat
Google Books — Ladataan... LajityypitMelvil Decimal System (DDC)941.0855History and Geography Europe British Isles Historical periods of British Isles 1837- Period of Victoria and House of Windsor 1945-1999 1950-1959Kongressin kirjaston luokitusArvio (tähdet)Keskiarvo:
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In many respects Kynaston’s book is less a narrative of these years than a panorama that allows the reader to take in details both large and small. Through them he depicts the emergence of what he calls a “proto-consumerist” society from years of rationing and deprivation. As Britain shook off the postwar austerity, its citizens embraced the burgeoning prosperity as their due after their years of sacrifice. As Kynaston demonstrates it was a reward enjoyed by a broader swath of society than ever before, yet as more people enjoyed the benefits of prosperity a growing number of concerns were expressed about the damage being done to society, of the breakdown of communities and the rebelliousness of youth.
Kynaston recounts these years in a sympathetic and perceptive manner. Seemingly nothing is too insignificant to escape his attention, while his ability to draw significance from these trivial facts supplies added depth his account of the events and developments of the era. Yet his narrative never bogs down in the facts, transitioning smoothly from one topic to another without ever losing his reader’s interest. The result is a magnificent work, a worthy sequel to his earlier volume, and one that leaves its readers eager for the next installment in his “Tales of a New Jerusalem” series. ( )