Página InicialGruposDiscussãoMaisZeitgeist
Pesquisar O Sítio Web
Este sítio web usa «cookies» para fornecer os seus serviços, para melhorar o desempenho, para analítica e (se não estiver autenticado) para publicidade. Ao usar o LibraryThing está a reconhecer que leu e compreende os nossos Termos de Serviço e Política de Privacidade. A sua utilização deste sítio e serviços está sujeita a essas políticas e termos.

Resultados dos Livros Google

Carregue numa fotografia para ir para os Livros Google.

Seasons in the Sun por Dominic Sandbrook
A carregar...

Seasons in the Sun (original 2012; edição 2013)

por Dominic Sandbrook (Autor)

MembrosCríticasPopularidadeAvaliação médiaMenções
1604169,462 (4.21)9
In the mid-1970s, Britain's fortunes seemed to have reached their lowest point since the Blitz. As inflation rocketed, the pound collapsed and car bombs exploded across London, as Harold Wilson consoled himself with the brandy bottle, the Treasury went cap in hand to the IMF and the Sex Pistols stormed their way to notoriety, it seemed that the game was up for an exhausted nation. But what was life really like behind the headlines? In his gloriously colourful new book, Dominic Sandbrook recreates this extraordinary period in all its chaos and contradiction. Behind the lurid news stories, the late 1970s were the decisive point in our recent history. Across the country, a profound argument about the future of the nation was being played out, not just in families and schools but in everything from episodes of Doctor Whoto singles by the Clash. These years marked the peak of trade union power and the apogee of an old working-class Britain - but they also saw the birth of home computers, the rise of the ready meal and the triumph of a Grantham grocer's daughter who would change our history forever. Taking in everything from the European referendum, the IRA terror campaign and the Jeremy Thorpe trial to The Sweeney, The Generation Gameand the Bay City Rollers, Sandbrook explores how the post-war consensus collapsed under the weight of globalization, individualism and economic change. The final volume in a magnificent quartet on our post-war experience, Seasons in the Suncould hardly be a richer or more enjoyable book. 'If I were a younger man I'd emigrate.'James Callaghan… (mais)
Membro:apmulvey
Título:Seasons in the Sun
Autores:Dominic Sandbrook (Autor)
Informação:Penguin UK (2013), 840 pages
Coleções:A sua biblioteca
Avaliação:
Etiquetas:Nenhum(a)

Informação Sobre a Obra

Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974-1979 por Dominic Sandbrook (2012)

Nenhum(a)
A carregar...

Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro.

Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro.

» Ver também 9 menções

Mostrando 4 de 4
Seasons in the Sun is the fourth instalment in Dominic Sandbrook’s now five-part history of post-war Britain from 1956. It starts in March 1974 with the return to power, after a four year spell in opposition, of the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson, and ends in May 1979 with the election of Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, the radical Conservative Margaret Thatcher. In between there are strikes, runaway inflation and rising unemployment, mayhem in Northern Ireland and IRA bombs on the mainland, football hooliganism, the rise of Scottish and Welsh nationalism, punk rock, and the spectacular grande finale of the Winter of Discontent.

Sandbrook views this period as a decisive transformative moment in recent British history which ‘saw the last gasp of an old working-class collective culture and the emergence of individualism as the dominant force’ in British society. I think it is entirely uncontroversial to say this is a right-of-centre perspective on the era. Sandbrook’s analysis, however, is more nuanced than some of his critics acknowledge, and one of the great pleasures of his book is the way it repeatedly subverts received wisdom and explodes the myths of both left and right.

He argues that the post-war consensus of full employment and Keynesian economics ended not with the election of Mrs Thatcher, as widely believed, but the Labour Government of Jim Callaghan in the mid-seventies. The sexual freedoms associated with the Swinging Sixties only started for most people in the 1970s. He points out that despite its reputation for strikes by international standards Britain was not particularly strike-prone. He states that ‘punk was not very popular’ and the real soundtrack of late ‘70s Britain was disco, which crossed boundaries of race, class and generation in a way the Sex Pistols never did.

This is lively and thought-provoking stuff, but there is a questionable historical determinism running through Sandbrook’s main argument. He believes that Thatcherism, which we might handily define as aggressive free market economics combined with moral authoritarianism, was the inevitable outcome of long-term societal changes. The widespread view that Thatcher was the lucky beneficiary of the public anger unleashed by the wave of strikes in early 1979, which resulted in the sick being turned away from hospitals, the dead left unburied, and uncollected rubbish piling up in the streets, seems much more convincing. Before the Winter of Discontent most polls showed Labour ahead of the Conservatives, but after it the position was decisively reversed. Sandbrook himself acknowledges that the Conservative Party manifesto was ‘vague’ and gave no indication of the radical restructuring of British society that was to come. The election campaign itself, far from some sort of ideological shoot-out, appears to have been a relatively bland affair. It’s also worth noting that by the end of 1980 the Thatcher Government was the most unpopular since polling began and its long-term future secured only by the patriotic euphoria occasioned by Britain’s victory in the Falklands War of 1982.

Sandbrook even regards trade unionists as proto-Thatcherites. ‘What they wanted from their union’, he writes, ‘was not so much the New Jerusalem as a new Cortina’. This curiously narrow and materialistic view of trade unionism is plausible in relation to the wage militancy of the era, but breaks down when considering the bigger picture; the Grunwick dispute, for instance, to which Sandbrook devotes the best part of a chapter. The most violent industrial conflict of the decade, in which white trade unionists supported non-unionised female Asian workers who had been sacked for going on strike over their working conditions, Grunwick had nothing to do with a selfish scramble for more money or a new car: like so much other trade union activity, it was about the collective struggle for social justice.

Sandbrook is, undeniably, a great storyteller and his narrative gift makes this monster of a history book as compulsively readable as any thriller. Indeed, his account of the IMF crisis of 1976 reads just like a thriller and, rather satisfyingly, even has a twist in the tale. The chapters on the final years in the court of King Harold Wilson are very funny in a bleak sort of way. As always, he also looks at how the events and attitudes of the day were reflected in popular culture. Basil Fawlty is a recurring character and the splenetic personification of Middle England fury at strikers and the permissive society.

Seasons in the Sun (the ironic title is taken from Terry Jack’s 1974 hit single) is only one version of Britain in the ‘70s and, as an instructive counterbalance to it, I recommend When the Lights Went Out by Andy Beckett. It is nonetheless wide-ranging, provocative and - even when it had me muttering to myself in disagreement - utterly engrossing. ( )
  gpower61 | Dec 1, 2023 |
A superb account of a very difficult time in British history. Truly worth some remarkable episodes, and the breakdown in British society was clearly documented and really quite frightening. Sambrook spends more time discussing the politics of what was an extremely turbulent time and which really helps to illuminate and understand the era better. The real hero at this conjuncture in British history before the arrival of Margaret Thatcher, was James Callaghan. Sadly overlooked, he was as Sambrook points out, probably a better prime minister than history has recorded. The depictions of punk and other societal interests are well documented, including an interesting , commentary and criticism of Fawlty Towers. Even James Bond gets an entry! The 1977, the spy who loved me with Roger Moore is mentioned as one of the greatest hits of the Roger Moore era. Nothing however, can stop change and towards the end of this book, you can really see the needs and feel for change across Britain And its people. Really fascinating and interesting accounts of a turbulence and momentous times. The next big change in Britain politically, probably will be the arrival of Tony Blair. I look forward to Sam Brooks next instalment who dares wins which runs from 1979 to 1983. ( )
  aadyer | Feb 14, 2023 |
This fourth volume of Dominic Sandbrook’s immense history of the 1970s and 1980s opens with 1974, now best remembered as a year of two general elections, and, as it happens, comes into the period from which my clearer awareness of politics begins. Sandbrook catalogues the trials and success of the Labour Governments under Harold Wilson and then Jim Callaghan in close, but never intrusive detail. While he focuses on the politics of the day, he sets them against a fascinating portrayal of the prevailing social and cultural context (including the horrors, and occasional delights, of 1970s rock music and television programmes).

One figure who looms large in the political toing and froing is Tony Benn, although for much of that period he was still in his intermediate incarnation of Anthony Wedgwood Benn (the persona that he initially adopted after successfully renouncing his title of Viscount Stansgate in order to remain eligible for the House of Commons). Indeed, although he remained in the Cabinet throughout the Wilson and Callaghan administration, he represented one of the Government’s most trenchant opponents, frequently undermining, or even directly opposing, policies agreed by his colleagues. I certainly remember him as a divisive figure from that period, and one who frequently provoked the bitterest tirades from my father when his latest ‘enormity’ was announced on the television news. There was little indication then of the figurehead of respect into which he would metamorphose by the end of his political career just a few years ago.

The historian and political thinker Sanatyana famously observed that those who do not study the past may be condemned to relive it, and Sandbook’s marvellous book certainly seems to offer proof of that worthy dictum. Harold Wilson has gone down in history as being paranoid, and convinced that he was being undermined, and conspired against, by various factors within the Establishment, including MI5 and the rest of the security and intelligence services. His paranoia was not groundless, and his own Cabinet remained a hotbed of dissension, featuring broad church of left wing views. Tony Benn followed his own path on the far left, hurling money at workers’ collectives indiscriminately and with scant regard of the economic realities for their business plans (if anything so elaborate ever existed beyond the crumpled back of an envelope or fag packet), while other prominent figures (Callaghan and Denis Healey prominent –though not alone – among them) veered far further towards the right of the party (despite Healey’s youthful membership of the Communist Party). Other more stalwart figures, such as Barbara Castle and Anthony Crosland, tried to hold firm to socialist principles while conceding the pragmatic need for occasional compromise.

What emerges most clearly from Sandbrook’s account is the extent to which Wilson seemed desperate to retain power, while simultaneously acknowledging how little he enjoyed it and the extent to which high office robbed all pleasure from his life. In recent years, we have become obsessed by the extent to which political advisers and consultants, lurking in the background at Number 10, have come to exert undue influence, almost to the extent of subverting the democratic process. After all, the New Labour governments between 1997 and 2010 had the likes of Damian McBride, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls coming to the fore as special advisers (before the latter pair’s election to Parliament in their own right), while the Conservatives had their own Machiavellian figures such as Dominic Cumming and Henry de Zoete functioning behind the scenes during the Coalition and beyond. This is not a new phenomenon. Marcia Williams (later Lady Falkender) was Harold Wilson’s political adviser, and seemed to exert unprecedented control within Number 10, even to the extent of managing the Prime Minister’s diary to the exclusion of his officials. Sandbrook’s account suggests that Wilson may even have been physically scared of Ms Williams – certainly not likely to help him overcome his paranoia.

The greatest political issue in Britain today is the continuing reverberation of the country’s decision, in the referendum of 2016, to leave the European Union. Brexit dominates every political report, and has cluttered the current legislative agenda within parliament, to the extent that manifesto commitments across other departments have had to be dropped for the moment, despite the current parliamentary session being stretched to double its customary length. In 1975, the country faced its first referendum on Europe. While Edward Heath had taken the country into what was then the EEC without a referendum, leaving the elected parliament to ratify entry, in its manifestos in 1974 Labour had committed to holding a referendum to confirm that membership should continue. What struck me most sharply was the prescience of some campaigners against continued membership, pointing to the threat of eventual loss of legislative sovereignty. I still think that the referendum decision was wrong, but I was intrigued to see what I had conceived as relatively new concerns voiced by the ‘Brexiters’ had been articulated (often far more articulately) forty years earlier by the likes of Enoch Powell and Tony Benn. Harold Wilson allowed his Cabinet free reign as to their views, and took virtually no part in the campaign himself, beyond an early indication that he believed we should stay in.

Another precursor to more recent times arose in the form of referendums in Scotland and Wales about devolution and an element of home rule. Indeed, it was the Government’s insistence upon specific victory requirements (i.e. in addition to a majority of votes actually cast, that forty per cent of the whole electorate must vote in favour of devolution) that led to the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists withdrawing support from the embattled Labour administration. This in turn led to the Government losing the vote of confidence that led to the spring election in 1979 (Callaghan had decided to try to hold out until the autumn, by which time he hoped that improvements in the economy would have become more evident). ‘Turkeys voting for Christmas’ was Callaghan’s judgement.

I turned eleven in 1974, and the elections had a particular relevance for me as in September, I entered Loughborough Grammar School. This school was one of a few ‘direct grant’ schools scattered around the country. Some of each year’s intake of new pupils at these schools (around half, in the case of Loughborough Grammar School in 1974) were supported by the local authority while the remainder were subject to fees paid by their parents. During its period in opposition, the Labour Party had committed to abolishing direct grant schools, leaving great uncertainty among the parents of prospective pupils scheduled to join in September 1974. This uncertainty was, of course, replicated across many other policy areas when the general election in February proved so inconclusive.

Sandbrook deals with education in great detail, offering an entertaining insight into life at Crichton School in North London. In the early 1970s this school was experimenting in a liberal approach, under the headship of Molly Hattersley, wife of future deputy leader of the Labour Party, Roy Hattersley. I found this, too, particularly engrossing as Crichton subsequently metamorphosed into Muswell Hill’s Fortismere School (situated across the road from me as I type this) which, after sinking to seeming limitless depths of inadequacy during the 1980s, is now the flagship school of the London Borough of Haringey.

Sandbrook extends his clarity of insight into the troubles in Northern Ireland, which he covers with equanimity and neutrality, as well as documenting the emergence, and almost as meteoric decline of punk rock, while plumbing the depredations of progressive rock.

Following on from his previous books, Never had it so Good, White Heat, and State of Emergency, this volume bring a triumphant conclusion to a supreme feat of academic endeavour. His greatest success is his ability to approach complex subjects and render them accessible to the modern reader. I hope he gets around to undertaking a similar chronicle of the 1980s. ( )
  Eyejaybee | Jan 1, 2018 |
The follow up the focus is a Labour government with the Conservatives chipping away with Mrs T up front. This book still keeps with the pop culture but there is less of it and more of a focus on the politics.

It was never going to be an easy ride for the returning Prime Minister Mr Wilson and his successor Mr Callaghan.

I did feel a bit sick reading about the Winter of Discontent, I don't remember it clearly being only 11 at the time but my stomach churned at the events that I feel did shape the next decade and to be honest we still live with.
  paperlesspages | Apr 23, 2016 |
Mostrando 4 de 4
sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica
Tem de autenticar-se para poder editar dados do Conhecimento Comum.
Para mais ajuda veja a página de ajuda do Conhecimento Comum.
Título canónico
Informação do Conhecimento Comum em inglês. Edite para a localizar na sua língua.
Título original
Títulos alternativos
Data da publicação original
Pessoas/Personagens
Locais importantes
Acontecimentos importantes
Filmes relacionados
Epígrafe
Dedicatória
Primeiras palavras
Citações
Últimas palavras
Nota de desambiguação
Editores da Editora
Autores de citações elogiosas (normalmente na contracapa do livro)
Língua original
DDC/MDS canónico
LCC Canónico

Referências a esta obra em recursos externos.

Wikipédia em inglês (2)

In the mid-1970s, Britain's fortunes seemed to have reached their lowest point since the Blitz. As inflation rocketed, the pound collapsed and car bombs exploded across London, as Harold Wilson consoled himself with the brandy bottle, the Treasury went cap in hand to the IMF and the Sex Pistols stormed their way to notoriety, it seemed that the game was up for an exhausted nation. But what was life really like behind the headlines? In his gloriously colourful new book, Dominic Sandbrook recreates this extraordinary period in all its chaos and contradiction. Behind the lurid news stories, the late 1970s were the decisive point in our recent history. Across the country, a profound argument about the future of the nation was being played out, not just in families and schools but in everything from episodes of Doctor Whoto singles by the Clash. These years marked the peak of trade union power and the apogee of an old working-class Britain - but they also saw the birth of home computers, the rise of the ready meal and the triumph of a Grantham grocer's daughter who would change our history forever. Taking in everything from the European referendum, the IRA terror campaign and the Jeremy Thorpe trial to The Sweeney, The Generation Gameand the Bay City Rollers, Sandbrook explores how the post-war consensus collapsed under the weight of globalization, individualism and economic change. The final volume in a magnificent quartet on our post-war experience, Seasons in the Suncould hardly be a richer or more enjoyable book. 'If I were a younger man I'd emigrate.'James Callaghan

Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas.

Descrição do livro
Resumo Haiku

Current Discussions

Nenhum(a)

Capas populares

Ligações Rápidas

Avaliação

Média: (4.21)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3 2
3.5 3
4 10
4.5 4
5 7

É você?

Torne-se num Autor LibraryThing.

 

Acerca | Contacto | LibraryThing.com | Privacidade/Termos | Ajuda/Perguntas Frequentes | Blogue | Loja | APIs | TinyCat | Bibliotecas Legadas | Primeiros Críticos | Conhecimento Comum | 203,185,787 livros! | Barra de topo: Sempre visível