A History of Modern Britain

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Cover of A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr 1405005386title:

A History of Modern Britain

author:Andrew Marr
format:Hardcover Buy A History of Modern Britain Now
publisher:Macmillan
released:May 17, 2007
isbn:1405005386
isbn-13:9781405005388
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Customer Reviews

Pacy and very, very readable - Rated 4/5
This book's great advantage is that Marr was trained a journalist, not a historian. So his pace is rapid, his prose snappy and it doesn't get boring. Even in the boring bits.

This does focus a lot on the politics, but, unlike some other reviewers, I rather liked the divergences into fashion or food or theatre. I find that always brings history to life rather more than politicians in suits talking about things.

There are mistakes in the book that I spotted, which suggests there are likely to be rather more that I didn't. Sloppy, but not terminal. And let that not spoil too much what is an excellent run through the history of the last sixty years. If you are looking for an entertaining, single volume history that is readable throughout, this is the one.


Totally absorbing - Rated 5/5
Brilliant. Extremely well written with sentences that you want to re-read to relish the taste of them in your mouth. Well reserached and with interesting anecdotes as well as facts. Puts the late 20th century (and the first years of the 21st) into its historical context. I found it un-put-downable.


Interesting and entertaining if rather depressing... - Rated 5/5
I'm not much of a reader but has always had an interested in history and so this seemed to fit the bill for a book on modern history that would be readable and informative. And so it was. I was amazed by how little I know of Britain's recent history but it was interesting when I got to the 70s to note names appearing that I could remember being mentioned when I was a boy, but also a historical narrative of the 80s when I lived though it!

My only disappointment was the seemingly never-ending series of failures and disasters that seem to follow the historical journey of Britain - hardly a fault of the book but depressing all the same when it seemed there was hardly ever a political decision taken that didn't cost the country millions or was a missed opportunity to improve the lives of ordinary Britons. You're left wondering what sort of country we would be living in now if occasionally some politicians got it right for a change!


Marr-velous history - Rated 4/5
Andrew Marr is a knowledable, yet easy to understand man. So is this book. Its strength is that it is accesible to the average reader and gives a broad sweep of modern British history with some fascinating behind the scenes insights. Its weakness is that there are glaring gaps of significant national events that have no mention. It also gets bogged down sometimes in economics. For a good, general historical read however, Marr-velous.


Reasonable 'journalistic' overview, but how many typos!?! - Rated 3/5
This is an enjoyable, easy-to-read overview of postwar Britain but Marr does seem to get away with some shockingly wooly points that would have caused my history teacher's red pen to run out of ink!

The first chapters, about Britain's politics immediately after WW2 up to the 60s I thought were excellent, but as soon as he gets into economics, pop music etc it does become pretty sloppy tabloid generalisation. As a typical upper-middle class BBC journo and well-known chum of Gordon Brown he's also painfully PC, especially jarring in a history book, re. the unqualified good of multiculturalism, the NHS and welfare state, the liberal reforms of the 60s onwards etc. There's also a very sniffy attitude to the developments of business, the UK economy and consumerism.

Also it would be really useful in a future edition to occasionally include in the margins what year he's talking about. In an overview, thematic history it's very hard to follow exactly when specific things are happening, and Marr rarely gives any dates in his text.

Then there's the typos - I'm not that much of a pedant but I was seeing a glaring one every few pages! In a history book from a respected BBC journo this is really poor, and does make you wonder if some of the facts and quotes are in fact accurate, given that there was so little scrutiny in the editing process.

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