Peter Hennessy writes like he talks, which produces a delightfully wandering narrative, peppered with quirky anecdotes, that surreptitiously delivers powerful insights . This is by far the best study of early Sixties Britain; one to please the masses and wow the scholars . Hennessy, unique among contemporary historians, understands politics from the inside out. The book is so much fun, yet still shrewd and important --Gerard DeGroot, The Times Books of the Year Professor Peter Hennessy is a fine historian of late-twentieth-century Britain. He is a master of all the published sources, and his generous personality, academic distinction and unquestioned integrity have meant that he adds to them a lifetime of the confidences and insights of most of those who have actually made our history . So, a standing ovation for Peter Hennessy, a good man who writes very good books.--Chris Patten, Tablet Hennessy is a national treasure . He is driven by a romantic, almost sensual, fascination with British history, culture, and the quirky intricacies of British democracy and the government machine.

His curiosity is insatiable, his memory infinitely capacious.--Rodric Braithwaite, Spectator [G]enially narrated. what makes him such a deft public historian is the way he stitches these patches of rich local colour into a narrative with the widest possible reach . Hennessy has such a keen associative eye and such a generous heart for the sheer oddness of everything that the narrative spins along like a comfortable chat.--Kathryn Hughes, Guardian splendid history of postwar Britain . Hennessy's writing is characterised by a wonderful mixture of wit and erudition .--Piers Brandon, Literary Review a deeply-informed book that has, nearly 60 years later, powerful resonance . The foremost chronicler of the era, Hennessy combines the intricate detail with stylistic verve.

--Philip Stephens, Financial Times This is the third in Hennessy's wonderfully insightful series of books that make up a portrait of a nation coming to terms with victory in a ravaging war and the loss of empire. Like the others - Never Again and Having It So Good - it performs a singular balancing act between social history and cabinet-room politics . No current historian is as versed as Hennessy in the internal cogs and springs of the British state, but he also has a keen eye for the luminous face of passing time. --Tim Adams, Observer a masterful survey of Britain as the decade began . For those who know him only from the radio, Hennessy is as good a writer as he is a talker . I am afraid that he is now a treasure .--David Aaronovitch, The Times flavoursome, but authoritative, account . This history is none the worse - quite the opposite - for being such a personal one; but it is the intense erudition underpinning Hennessy's intimate reflections that makes it so utterly indispensable .

--Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph fascinating . dominated by the author's personal enthusiasms, researches and memories--Max Hastings, Sunday Times.