State of Emergency: Britain, 1970-1974

Description

A wonderful evocation of a Britain torn between glam and gloom In the early 1970s, Britain seemed to be tottering on the brink of the abyss. The headlines were dominated by strikes and blackouts, unemployment and inflation. As the world looked on in horrified fascination, Britain seemed to be tearing itself apart. And yet, amid the gloom, glittered a creativity and cultural dynamism that would influence our lives long after the nightmarish Seventies had been forgotten. In this brilliant new history, Dominic Sandbrook recreates the gaudy, schizophrenic atmosphere of the early Seventies- the world of Enoch Powell and Tony Benn, David Bowie and Brian Clough, Germaine Greer and Mary Whitehouse. An age when the unions were on the march and the socialist revolution seemed at hand, but also when feminism, permissiveness, pornography and environmentalism were transforming the lives of millions. It was an age of miners' strikes, tower blocks and IRA atrocities, but it also gave us celebrity footballers and high-street curry houses, organic foods and package holidays, gay rights and glam rock. For those who remember the days when you could buy a new colour television but power cuts stopped you from watching it, this book could hardly be more vivid. It is the perfect guide to a luridly colourful Seventies landscape that shaped our present from the financial boardroom to the suburban bedroom.

Dominic Sandbrook is nearing completion of his great multi-volume history of postwar Britain from the mid 1950s to the late 1980s, which began with Never Had It So Good. He has written and presented a number of highly successful BBC television series, on subjects as diverse as the joys of the Volkswagen and the history of science fiction. He writes reviews and articles principally for the Daily Mail and Sunday Times.

Superb ... vivid ... magnificent ... Anyone who was there should read it: and so should anyone who was not -- Simon Heffer Literary Review Hugely entertaining, always compelling, often hilarious -- Simon Sebag Montefiore Sunday Telegraph Thrillingly panoramic ... he vividly re-creates the texture of everyday life in a thousand telling details -- Francis Wheen Observer Masterly ... nothing escapes his gaze Independent on Sunday Splendidly readable ... his almost pitch-perfect ability to recreate the mood and atmospherics of the time is remarkable Economist There is so much to enjoy ... Neatly interweaving his interpretation of the Heath years with insightful reflections on everything from racism in television to the rise of self-sufficiency, football hooliganism and sex comedies, Sandbrook has produced a memorable portrait of Britain in an era of angst and upheaval Sunday Times Sandbrook is an inveterate demolisher of myths Independent on Sunday This epically enthralling account of the Seventies will be read with embarrassed recognition by those who lived through it and disbelieving astonishment by those who missed it Independent