Book Read: A History of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr

This was a short series on TV, describing the UK post war history through the politics and the leaders of the 1940s right through to the present day. The series was an excellent history so I bought the book, and it too is an excellent read. My postwar history knowledge certainly benefited from reading this, and for the bits I had lived through it was interesting to remember back to the country of those times (70s, 80s, and 90s).

Although the message is somewhat despairing, painting the Britain of squandered opportunity and political incompetence, Marr is never slow to describe the good things that our post war leaders had tried to achieve. The NHS formation, the misguided battles with devaluation, the reforms of Thatcher, the list is not short. The book is also good on detail and describing the feelings at certain times in history - it's either taken a team of researchers or a huge amount of work on Marr's part.

Not short at 600 pages, but something that was very readable - I'm glad I made the time to read it.