Age of Hope
Labour, 1945, and the Birth of Modern Britain
Published on 12. October 2023
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-4729-9230-7 (ISBN)
Description
"The clue to our future lies in our past and Toye has winkled it out with elegant and devastating precision." Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda
WAS THE ATTLEE GOVERNMENT OF 1945 REALLY THE GOLDEN PERIOD OF LABOUR POWER?
2024 marks the centenary of the first Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald. What legacy of the past have they left behind? How far has each Labour administration influenced succeeding administrations? Above all, was the Attlee government of 1945 really the golden period of Labour power?
Professor Richard Toye explores Labour's exercise of power as a continuum, setting Attlee's administration in long-term historical context between the first Labour Government of 1924 and the current party under Keir Starmer. Within this context he shows why the Attlee administration matters so much and how successive Labour governments have fashioned it in their own image.
Into this story are woven the foundation of the Labour Party in 1900, the First World War, the General Strike of 1926, the Spanish Civil War and the coalition war-time government under Churchill. Also discussed are the great names of Labour history: Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee himself, Ernest Bevin, Aneurin Bevan, Hugh Gaitskell, Harold Wilson and Ellen Wilkinson.
Covering Labour's history all the way up to the present - including Wilson and Blair's attempts to wrap themselves in Attlee's mantle and Corbyn's version of Attlee focused on the NHS and the welfare state - Age of Hope is an incisive, informative look at a political party that has been fundamental in shaping modern Britain and will be equally instrumental in its future.
WAS THE ATTLEE GOVERNMENT OF 1945 REALLY THE GOLDEN PERIOD OF LABOUR POWER?
2024 marks the centenary of the first Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald. What legacy of the past have they left behind? How far has each Labour administration influenced succeeding administrations? Above all, was the Attlee government of 1945 really the golden period of Labour power?
Professor Richard Toye explores Labour's exercise of power as a continuum, setting Attlee's administration in long-term historical context between the first Labour Government of 1924 and the current party under Keir Starmer. Within this context he shows why the Attlee administration matters so much and how successive Labour governments have fashioned it in their own image.
Into this story are woven the foundation of the Labour Party in 1900, the First World War, the General Strike of 1926, the Spanish Civil War and the coalition war-time government under Churchill. Also discussed are the great names of Labour history: Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee himself, Ernest Bevin, Aneurin Bevan, Hugh Gaitskell, Harold Wilson and Ellen Wilkinson.
Covering Labour's history all the way up to the present - including Wilson and Blair's attempts to wrap themselves in Attlee's mantle and Corbyn's version of Attlee focused on the NHS and the welfare state - Age of Hope is an incisive, informative look at a political party that has been fundamental in shaping modern Britain and will be equally instrumental in its future.
Reviews / Votes
The clue to our future lies in our past and Toye has winkled it out with elegant and devastating precision. Anyone who wants to find the nuggets of hope in today's Britain as we approach a watershed election needs to read this book and see what pragmatic idealism achieved between 1945 and 1951. -- Chris Bryant, MP for Rhondda This is a stunningly original revision of the Attlee government and its impact on British society. It's the best book I've read this year. -- Frank Field, former MP for Birkenhead A hundred years since the first Labour Government, Richard Toye's readable and persuasive study argues that while arguments over the party's past have often shaped its future, Labour does best when it forgets old battles and finds a way to combine hope with pragmatism. The history of the era is highly contested, but the book does a masterly job of picking through the bitterness to understand what has worked in the past and has a reasonable chance of working in the future. -- Anne Perkins, author of 'A Very British Strike' and 'Red Queen: The Authorized Biography of Barbara Castle' This book illustrates how the key players in the Attlee Government combined their radical idealism and pragmatism to seize their moment and create such a sense of purpose and hope that was truly transformative and set the standard for all subsequent Labour administrations to live up to. -- John McDonnell, MP for Hayes and HarlingtonMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Illustrations
Black and white photographs throughout
Dimensions
Height: 243 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4729-9230-7 (9781472992307)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Continuum
€21.49
Available for download
E-Book
10/2023
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Continuum
€21.49
Available for download
Person
Professor Richard Toye is Professor of Modern History at the University of Exeter. His books include Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness (Macmillan 2007), Rhetoric: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2013), and (with David Thackeray) Age of Promises: Electoral Pledges in Twentieth Century Britain (OUP 2021). He has made numerous TV and radio appearances and has written for a wide range of publications, including the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Times Literary Supplement.