State of Emergency: The Way We Were: Britain, 1970-1974

Sandbrook's epic history of Postwar Britain reaches the early seventies by which time the country seemed to be tottering on the brink of an abyss. Embracing the period of the Heath Government from 1970-74, we see the optimism of the Sixties becoming a hazy memory. Strikes, blackouts, unemployment and inflation dominated the headlines. But amid the gloom, glittered a creativity and cultural dynamism that would influence our lives for decades to come. Sandbrook recreates the gaudy atmosphere of the early Seventies. A time of:
Enoch Powell and Tony Benn,
David Bowie and Brian Clough,
Germaine Greer and Mary Whitehouse.

An age when the unions dominated. Where socialist revolution seemed at hand. But one in which feminism, permissiveness and environmentalism were transforming lives. Sandbrook also covers topics as diverse as:
miners' strikes,
tower blocks,
IRA atrocities,
celebrity footballers,
curry houses,
package holidays,
gay rights, and
glam rock.

State of Emergency is a splendid guide to the luridly colourful Seventies landscape of popular culture, social change, economics and politics. A 650-page book on an unfashionable epoch of a declining country that shaped our present.