ABSTRACT

'One of the most relentlessly brilliant studies of twentieth-century Britain ... these young historians have found a marvellous theme and stuck to it. Theirs is the glory!'  Professor Arthur Marwick, History

The 1930s - remembered as the decade of dole queues and hunger marches, mass unemployment, the means test, and the rise of fascism - also saw the development of new industries, the growth of comfortable suburbia, and rising standards of living for many. In Britain in the Depression, the authors look behind the legends for an objective - and timely - reassessment, as Britain again struggles with the economic and spiritual ills of recession and unemployment.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction to the New Edition

chapter 1|7 pages

Myth and reality: Britain in the 1930s

chapter 2|24 pages

The dawn of affluence

chapter 3|25 pages

The hungry thirties

chapter 4|22 pages

The problem of unemployment

chapter 5|23 pages

The impact of unemployment

chapter 7|13 pages

Politics and the people, 1931–5

chapter 8|19 pages

The Communist Party

chapter 9|22 pages

The National Unemployed Workers' Movement

chapter 10|29 pages

Hunger marches and demonstrations

chapter 11|23 pages

The Fascist challenge

chapter 12|27 pages

The Government and public order

chapter 14|18 pages

The revolution that never was

chapter 15|19 pages

Afterword: Back to the 1930s?