Never Again: Britain, 1945-1951

In a lively, stirring history of the postwar epoch that molded Britain's baby boomer generation, Hennessy argues that Britain's economic decline was far from inevitable. Despite a more than adequate industrial base, postwar Britain slipped from superpowerdom, in his view, because of a refusal to abandon its dreams of global empire (notwithstanding the relinquishing of India and Palestine) and because of the increasing economic strain imposed by the Cold War. Professor of contemporary history at the University of London, Hennessy shuttles between high politics and everyday experience, illuminating the Labour Party's ascent, Britain's emergence as a nuclear power, popular culture in the pre-television era, and what he sees as the period's crowning achievement--a national welfare program encompassing universal health benefits, social security, unemployment insurance and aid for housing and education. Photos. (Apr.)