The Slump: Britain in the Great Depression - Softcover

'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.

Praise for previous editions:

?One of the most relentlessly brilliant studies of twentieth-century Britain ? these historians have found a marvellous theme and stuck to it. Theirs is the glory!?

Arthur Marwick, History

?Well-planned and highly readable?. The best account yet of the basic political statistics.?

Asa Briggs, The Guardian

The 1930s created their own legend. Even for those who did not live through them, ?the wasted years? are still haunted by the spectres of mass unemployment, dole queues and the means test, as well as by appeasement and the rise of fascism.

Today the problems of the 1930s are back in the news, with financial collapse and mass unemployment once again on the rise. In this celebrated book, John Stevenson and Chris Cook set about questioning the social and political myths of ?the devil?s decade?. They also examine, in a new afterword, the parallels between the ?slump? of the 1930s and the ?crunch? of the 21st century, exploring issues that have become as pressing today as they were over seventy years ago.