Politics of the Past

Inter-war Memories and the Making of British Popular Politics, 1939–2009

David Cowan

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2024
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781009340328
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

The inter-war period (1918–1939) is still remembered as a period of mass deprivation – the 'hungry thirties'. But how did this impression emerge? Thousands of conversations about life in the inter-war period – between parents and children around the dinner table; among workmates at the pub – shaped these understandings. In turn, these fed into popular politics. Stories about the embryonic welfare system in the early-twentieth century informed how people felt towards the National Health Service; memories of the Great Depression shaped arguments about state intervention in the economy. Challenging accounts of widespread political disengagement in the twentieth century, Politics of the Past shows how re-telling family stories about the inter-war period offered ordinary people an accessible way of engaging in politics. Drawing on six local case studies across Scotland and England, this book explains how stories about the inter-war working-class experience in industrial areas came to appear commonplace nationwide.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Series information
• Title page
• Imprints page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Glasgow: Planning the Post-war City
• 2 London: Inter-war Memories at Home
• 3 Huddersfield: Education and the Politics of Family Memory
• 4 Luton: Migration and Workplace Politics
• 5 Aberdeen: Healthcare in Older Age
• 6 Birmingham: Immigration and the Global Politics of the Past
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index