A History of Modern Britain - Hardcover

As in the days when he was the BBC's chief political editor, it is the clarity of his judgements, the arresting insights and the irrepressible wit that keep us hanging on to his words. Among his other qualities, Marr is the ideal history teacher that most people never had at school . . . It is a measure of Marr's professionalism that his judgements inspire the kind of trust which Tony Blair and his allies squandered through spin and outright lies. --.

This book certainly goes for impact . . . Skipping and dipping through these six hundred-odd pages is great fun, perhaps even (I give a quote for the eventual paperback's blurb) a damned good read . . . This book will be read with pleasure, for Marr's ironic tone and ever -present pleasant presence. --Bernard Crick, Edinburgh Review

A History of Modern Britain confronts head-on the victory of shopping over politics. It tells the story of how the great political visions of New Jerusalem or a second Elizabethan Age, rival idealisms, came to be defeated by a culture of consumerism, celebrity and self-gratification. In each decade, political leaders thought they knew what they were doing, but find themselves confounded. Every time, the British people turn out to be stroppier and harder to herd than predicted. Throughout, Britain is a country on the edge - first of invasion, then of bankruptcy, then on the vulnerable front line of the Cold War and later in the forefront of the great opening up of capital and migration now reshaping the world. This history follows all the political and economic stories, but deals too with comedy, cars, the war against homosexuals, Sixties anarchists, oil-men and punks, Margaret Thatcher's wonderful good luck, political lies and the true heroes of British theatre. It accompanies a major five-part documentary series for BBC television.