No Turning Back: The Peaceful Revolutions of Post-War Britain

In No Turning Back, Paul Addison charts the vastly changing character of British society since the end of the Second World War, tracing a series of peaceful revolutions that have completely transformed the country. He shows, for instance, that much of the sexual morality preached if not practiced for centuries has been dismantled with the creation of a "permissive society." The employment and career chances of women have been revolutionized. A white nation has been transformed into a multiracial one. An economy founded on manufacturing under the watchful eye of the "gentlemen in Whitehall" has morphed into a free market system, heavily dependent on finance, services, and housing, while a predominantly working class society has evolved into a predominantly middle class one. Throughout, Addison infuses his narrative with the personal point of view of someone who has lived through it all and seen the Britain of his youth turn into a very different country, but who in the final reckoning still prefers the present to the past.