Customer Reviews

Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles (v. 1)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the past 35 years the 1950's have been totally overshadowed by the 1960's - not just in the amount of literature, film & television dedicated to each decade's events, but also in our view of their relative "importance" - a situation that reflects the huge impacts of the 60's on the media, the arts, fashion, technology, politics and social attitudes. But, in historical terms, the 50's is an equally interesting and important subject - particularly from the UK's perspective - and in this lengthy, extremely well written, and deceptively titled "pure history" book Dominic Sandbrook shows why.

Deceptively titled? Well, even though the period covered is stated as being 1956 to 1963, in reality the book encompasses a much wider overview of political and, in particular, social history during the whole of the 50's while, quite wisely, ending pretty sharply in 1963 when "the 60's" - in terms of what the phrase has come to mean - really started. A good thing too, because what it explores in assiduous detail is UK society, and its politics, economics & arts, in a period of massive, under-estimated and often forgotten change.

And it's the sheer scale and speed of these changes that drives the book along. With a "consumer society" that, having been stalled between 1939 and the gradual lifting of austerity restrictions from 1951, spent a great deal of the 50's indulging in an orgy of "first time" buying of washing machines, refrigerators, televisions and cars - all of which transformed peoples' domestic lives and had major social & economic repercussions. With an Empire that in 1948 was the largest ever known and fundamental to the UK's economy, its international standing and its view of its place in the world, but which, by 1963 had been almost totally dismantled. With politicians grappling to control an economy made inherently unstable by the costs of maintaining the UK's increasingly anachronistic view of its military importance, the impacts of massive consumer spending, and, for the first time, major consumer debt. With an unequalled period of mass immigration from "The Colonies" throughout the 1950's causing a fundamental and permanent change to the cultural, social & economic mix of the population. With television developing, within just seven years from 1953 to 1960, into a hugely influential mass media vehicle, and with radical developments in literature & music from the mid 50's onwards pushing the boundaries of what was "acceptable" into new areas that precipitated much of what happened in the 60's, the individual & combined impact of these changes on UK society make for absolutely fascinating reading.

By the end of it all you're left in little doubt that, while "the 60's" continue to grab the headlines, it was "the 50's" (or more precisely the years from 1951 to 1963) that was a much more important period of change for the country, and that in explaining why in such a thorough and, above all, "readable" manner Dominic Sandbrook has fully achieved his goal of putting the period into its correct context. Fascinating, enjoyable and comprehensively researched, "Never Had It So Good" will change your view of the 50's, which is just about the best accolade that can be given to any history book.

I agree with the previous reviewers that the way in which the author weaves together strands of political, social, economic, and cultural history makes for fascinating reading. His account of the early days of the Beatles is, alone, worth the price of the book! I'm looking forward to reading volume 2, "White Heat."

Never Had It So Good covers Britain from the years 1956-1963. At over 700 pages it goes into quite a bit of detail. It's the first of two volumes -- the second is White Heat, which continues the story to 1970.

This book was not on my radar but after hearing author Dominic Sandbrook give an hour long talk about his most recent book, State of Emergency: The Way We Were. Dominic Sandbrook, about the early 1970s, I was hooked by his style. He weaves together political history, consumer history, music, movies, books, labor history, and social history into a single, detailed narrative. As a reader who has few qualms about skimming when things slow down or get bogged down in academic jargon, I found myself reading nearly every word of Never Had It So Good.

Starting with the major event in 1956 Britain, the Suez Crisis, Sandbrook proves his ability to make history real. Until I read his account, I did not know anything about the Suez Crisis. I was surprised to find it was fascinating and tragic in a way that the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars of today will probably seem to future generations.

While I enjoyed reading about the politics of the time, I have to admit I was more interested in the advent of television in Britain and how the long post World War II austerity that had lasted into the 1950s finally gave way to the consumerism that had been rampant in America for the past decade. Sandbrook's entertaining history of the Butlin Holiday Camps that were like summer camps for the whole family was also memorable, and so was his informative section on the music that led up to The Beatles.

Only a few sections did not hold my interest. The political battle between Harold MacMillan and Rab Butler was tedious. The Profumo Affair was THE scandal of its time, but you just had to be there, I guess.

Since so much of the period in question was televised, it was fun to look up several of the memorable events that Sandbrook mentions. I was able to find video of David Frost walking off the set of his talk show in frustration over a guest who was an obvious liar and con man, and video of the Beatles singing Moonlight Bay in straw hats on a British variety show. Sandbrook's extensive bibliography was welcome, since there are bound to be several topics in such a large book that the reader will want to read more about.

Now that my eyes have recovered from the eye-wateringly tiny print of Never Had It So Good, I am ready for White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties: 1964-1970. And I am pleased to see that Sandbrook's subsequent books are available as ebooks (with adjustable font size).