English History, 1914-1945 (Oxford History of England) [Hardcover]

Alan J. P. Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 1978 | ISBN-10: 0198217153 | ISBN-13: 978-0198217152 | Edition: First Edition

During ten of the 31 years between 1914 and 1945 the English people were involved in world wars; for 19 of the years they lived in the shadow of mass unemployment. These themes and the politics which sprang from them shape the narrative of this book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This concluding volume of The Oxford History of England is vintage Taylor....It is also a superb recreation of an era, solidly based on an enormous range of significant materials and studded with judgments that continually compel one to question his own too-easy generalizations."--Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences

"This is the real stuff of history."--The Economist

"Its outstanding and rare merit is its splendid narrative sweep. Taylor shows a masterly grasp of all the factors that have gone to the development of England and the Empire into the Welfare State of today."--The Christian Science Monitor

"Glitters with personality, controversy, contemporary relevance, and genuine philosophical significance--and for that reason, quite as much as for its wit and literary grace, it deserves a general reading audience as well as scholarly attention."--Theodore Roszak, The Nation

"The real power of this volume lies beyond its scope and style, in the view it takes of the general working of the historical process."--The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

A. J. P Taylor was one of Britain's most respected and influential historians. He was Professor of History and Fellow of Magdalen College, University of Oxford. He died in 1990.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 604 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First Edition edition (February 16, 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198217153
• ISBN-13: 978-0198217152
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.8 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Fails to address a crucial issue: the decline of Britain August 15, 2006

By A reader

Format:Paperback

I enjoy AJP Taylor as a prose stylist and frequently provocative historian, especially when his focus is on European history. In this foray into domestic matters, he provides a good overview of 30 tumultuous years in British history. However, it was only in reading Correlli Barnett's "Collapse of British Power" that I realized a glaring deficiency of Taylor's book.

Barnett tackles head-on the key issue of this time period: Britain's decline from a first-rate world power to its near-defeat in World War II and its subesequent loss of economic independence to the United States. Taylor skirts this crucial question, instead paying closer attention to topics more congenial to his "progressive" political stance, such as the condition of the working classes and the slow climb to power of the Labour party.

Taylor concludes his book by noting that after World War II, Britons no longer sang "Land of Hope and Glory" or "England Arise" but argues that "England had risen all the same." It is hard to agree with that contention.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not big man history, but how individuals responded to circumstances January 11, 2013

By meow tomcat

Format:Hardcover

A socialist all his life, the controversial British historian A. J. P. Taylor (1906- 1990) was a witness to the two world wars and the 19 years of near mass unemployment that threatened Britain. He was known as the People's Historian with his frequent appearances on radio and television. Taylor was incapable of making history boring because of his pithy analysis of the contending sides and issues. Delving into political, social and cultural history, this was a history that made the public proud to be British. This book outsold all the previous volumes of the Oxford history series combined. Although Taylor wrote more controversial books, this was technically speaking his finest book that spoke to the man in the street. Beautiful bibliographic essay, list of Cabinets, maps and detailed index.

Taylor acknowledges other possible interpretations when he writes "Future historians may see the war as a last struggle for the European balance of power or for the maintenance of Empire. This was not how it appeared to those who lived through it....Traditional values lost much of their force. Other values took their place. Imperial greatness was on the way out; the welfare state was on the way in. The British empire declined...." (p. 600). A general history of England in this period cannot be all things to all people. Those who want to pursue the decline of British power should check out Brian Howard Harrison's "Seeking a role: the United Kingdom, 1951- 1970" and the follow up volume "Finding a role? The United Kingdom 1970- 1990".