A Strange Eventful History: Democratic Socialism in Britain - Softcover

Dell, Edmund

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006530567 ISBN 13: 9780006530565

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2001

Synopsis

A major history of the decline and fall of one of the dominant ideologies of this century.
’This powerful book should be widely debated’ KENNETH O. MORGAN, INDEPENDENT

’There are few people better placed to write a history of British democratic socialism than Dell... This knowledgeable and lively book should be read by Tories on a "know thine enemy" basis as well as by socialists who want to know where it all went wrong. What makes this book superior to others of its kind is the historical expertise that Dell displays. He places the New Labour phenomenon in its proper twentieth-century context – "Labour spent the first 18 years of the century acquiring socialism and the subsequent eight decades disembarrassing itself of it"’ ANDREW ROBERTS, DAILY TELEGRAPH

’Dell’s huge offensive is in a class of its own... He claims that Labour refused to make the hard choices necessary to ensure the country could succeed in a fiercely competitive world... and blames a commitment to socialism for much of this. This is the view of a hard-headed politician who was a much more than passive witness to many of the interventionist policies that he now ridicules....This highly readable book breaks new ground in its assessment of Labour governments by relating them to the wider international economy’ ROBERT TAYLOR, FINANCIAL TIMES

’Edmund Dell’s massive survey of the idea of socialism is brutal and severe. This strongly argued and learned book focuses on the contradictory meanings attached to British socialism...’ KENNETH O’MORGAN, INDEPENDENT

’A remarkable human being and a remarkable writer of contemporary history, who had reflected deeply and honestly on his many-sided non-academic experience’ JOHN VINCENT, SPECTATOR

About this title

Review:

Reviews for The Chancellors:

‘The best book this year’
Alan Clark

‘Fascinating’
Gordon Brown

‘Magisterial’
Norman Lamont

‘Illuminating’
TLS

‘Splendid’
Financial Times

‘Merciless’
Peter Hennessy

From the Back Cover:

’There are few people better placed to write a history of British democratic socialism than Dell... This knowledgeable and lively book should be read by Tories on a "know thine enemy" basis as well as by socialists who want to know where it all went wrong. What makes this book superior to others of its kind is the historical expertise that Dell displays. He places the New Labour phenomenon in its proper twentieth-century context – "Labour spent the first 18 years of the century acquiring socialism and the subsequent eight decades disembarrassing itself of it"’
ANDREW ROBERTS, 'Daily Telegraph'

’Dell’s huge offensive is in a class of its own... He claims that Labour refused to make the hard choices necessary to ensure the country could succeed in a fiercely competitive world... and blames a commitment to socialism for much of this. This is the view of a hard-headed politician who was a much more than passive witness to many of the interventionist policies that he now ridicules...This highly readable book breaks new ground in its assessment of Labour governments by relating them to the wider international economy’
ROBERT TAYLOR, 'Financial Times'

’Edmund Dell’s massive survey of the idea of socialism is brutal and severe. This strongly argued and learned book focuses on the contradictory meanings attached to British socialism...’
KENNETH O’MORGAN, 'Independent'

’A remarkable human being and a remarkable writer of contemporary history, who had reflected deeply and honestly on his many-sided non-academic experience’
JOHN VINCENT, 'Spectator'

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0006530567
• ISBN 13: 9780006530565
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 640