The United Kingdom Since 1945: A Post-Imperial Nation is an economic and social history providing an appraisal of seventy-five years of British and Northern Irish history.
The UK emerged from the Second World War victorious but impoverished. After a period of austerity, the UK participated in the boom in the international economy that continued from the 1950s until the 1970s. Harold Macmillan, the Conservative Party Prime Minister, famously told the electorate in 1957 that the country had 'never had it so good'. With global decolonization, UK trade turned more to the European Economic Community (EEC) and less to the Commonwealth countries, with the UK joining the EEC and its successor the European Union, from 1973 until 2020. All four countries saw population growth, both from the birth rate and substantial net inward migration. But, as this volume argues, developments were not uncomplicated. The need for more housing, for example, was partly met by tower blocks, but some of these deteriorated after relatively short lives and were demolished, while others became sink estates. Urban change also saw the decline of shopping centres and small independent shops. In addition to examining this economic and social change, Chris Wrigley focuses on popular culture, from the growth in TV to developments in music and art, as well as the continued influences of declining entertainments like the music hall. The volume combines a focus on post-imperial features with a recognition of the long shadow cast by the Second World War.
The United Kingdom Since 1945 is distinctive in its long timespan and its breadth of coverage, and is the perfect introduction for all readers interested in the complex contemporary history of this diverse nation.