All In It Together
England in the Early 21st Century
Published on 17. June 2021
978-1-78283-786-2 (ISBN)
Description
'Turner's seductive blend of political analysis, social reportage and cultural immersion puts him wonderfully at ease with his readers' David Kynaston
'Reading Alwyn Turner's account of life in the first two decades of the 21st century is a bit like trying to recall a dream from three nights ago ... uncannily familiar, but the details are downright implausible ' Kathryn Hughes, Guardian
Weaving politics and popular culture into a mesmerising tapestry, historian Alwyn Turner tells the definitive story of the Blair, Brown and Cameron years. Some details may trigger a laugh of recognition (the spectre of bird flu; the electoral machinations of Robert Kilroy-Silk). Others are so surreal you could be forgiven for blocking them out first time around (did Peter Mandelson really enlist a Candomble witch doctor to curse Gordon Brown's press secretary?).
The deepest patterns, however, only reveal themselves at a certain distance. Through the Iraq War and the 2008 crash, the rebirth of light entertainment and the rise of the 'problematic', Turner shows how the crisis in the soul of a nation played out in its daily dramas and nightly distractions.
'Reading Alwyn Turner's account of life in the first two decades of the 21st century is a bit like trying to recall a dream from three nights ago ... uncannily familiar, but the details are downright implausible ' Kathryn Hughes, Guardian
Weaving politics and popular culture into a mesmerising tapestry, historian Alwyn Turner tells the definitive story of the Blair, Brown and Cameron years. Some details may trigger a laugh of recognition (the spectre of bird flu; the electoral machinations of Robert Kilroy-Silk). Others are so surreal you could be forgiven for blocking them out first time around (did Peter Mandelson really enlist a Candomble witch doctor to curse Gordon Brown's press secretary?).
The deepest patterns, however, only reveal themselves at a certain distance. Through the Iraq War and the 2008 crash, the rebirth of light entertainment and the rise of the 'problematic', Turner shows how the crisis in the soul of a nation played out in its daily dramas and nightly distractions.
Reviews / Votes
Up there with the best ... Reading it is almost like an out-of-body experience, in which you realise that your life and times will one day be as ancient to others as the Neolithic period is to us ... All In It Together zings along with such telltale facts and figures, often with an injection of black humour ... Wonderfully shrewd ... Brilliant -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday * Hugely engaging ... Turner's genius lies in finding the odd little stories that get under the nation's skin and reveal what people were really thinking ... He writes with a tremendous sense of fun. The result is a rare thing: not just a serious work of contemporary history, but an unashamed, 24-carat hoot -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times * Astute and entertaining -- Philip Johnston * Telegraph * Alwyn Turner's colourful books about modern British history are always great, but a particular achievement is All in It Together ... balanced and thoughtful - impressive * GQ * Turner's seductive blend of political analysis, social reportage and cultural immersion puts him wonderfully at ease with his readers -- David Kynaston Reading Alwyn Turner's account of life in the first two decades of the 21st century is a bit like trying to recall a dream from three nights ago. The theme and the mood feel uncannily familiar, but the details are downright implausible ... His great skill lies in spotting themes that we might have missed the first time around -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian * Turner may be an anorak, but he is an acutely intelligent anorak -- Francis Wheen * New Statesman * Turner writes with great fluidity, his tone underpinned by a prevailing sense of irony: even the footnotes are enjoyable ... This is a serious undertaking by a popular historian -- Charlotte Henry * TLS * For the first draft of very recent history, there's no more entertaining writer than Alwyn Turner ... a gloriously funny romp ... amid the welter of anecdotes he also has a thoroughly compelling argument about the loss of trust, the rise of populism and the emergence of Nigel Farage as the most influential politician of the age -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times Books of the Year *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Reflowable
Illustrations
3/4 photographs scattered throughout
ISBN-13
978-1-78283-786-2 (9781782837862)
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
Book
06/2021
Profile Books Ltd
€44.76
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Person
Alwyn Turner is best known for his trilogy of books about Britain in the last decades of the 20th century: Crisis? What Crisis? (2008), Rejoice! Rejoice! (2010) and A Classless Society (2013). He has appeared on Panorama, The Moral Maze, Today and Richard and Judy, and written for the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and the Financial Times.
