The Welsh background, educational experience and personal life of Wales’s leading historian The wide range of his historical writing on Welsh history, British history, Labour history, Contemporary history and biography (including books on Lloyd George, Keir Hardie, James Callaghan and Michael Foot) Insight into life in an Oxford college, and work as a university Vice-Chancellor in Wales at a critical time. His career as a working Labour member of the House of Lords and a major member of the Labour Party, and his hopes for the future
Britain since 1945: The People's Peace is the first comprehensive study by a professional historian of British history from 1945 to the present day. It examines the transformation of post-war Britain from the planning enthusiasm of 1945 to the rise of New Labour. Its themes include the troubles of the British economy; public criticism of the legitimacy of the state and its instruments of authority; the co-existence of growing personal prosperity with widespread social inequality; and the debates aroused by decolonization, and Britain's relationship to the Commonwealth, the US and Europe. Changes in cultural life, from the puritanical 'austerity' of the 1940's, through the 'permissiveness' of the 1960s, to the tensions and achievements of recent years are also charted. Using a wide variety of sources, including the records of political parties and the most recently released documents from the Public Records Office, Kenneth Morgan brings the story right up to date and draws comparisons with the post-war history of other nations. This penetrating analysis by a leading twentieth-century historian will prove invaluable to anyone interested in the development of the Britain of today.
A wide-ranging and comprehensive analysis of modern Welsh history by the acclaimed historian Kenneth O. Morgan. Taking as its starting-point 1880, the book covers all aspects of the nation's history from political, social, economic and religious development to literary, intellectual, and sporting achievement.
It meets the need of the target market both as a historical and commentary based on lifelong research and as the work of a working member of the House of Lords involved in the contemporary political process at a central level. This is an integrated range of studies, focussing on Wales, by a long-established, internationally-recognised academic authority and member of the House of Lords Few other historians since the 1960s (when I was an acknowledged pioneer from 1963 onwards) have focussed on the history of 19th and 20th century Wales
This book examines the pattern of political and social change in Britain during the period of the Lloyd George coalition government 1918-22, and provides a reassessment of this major administration and its importance for its personality, David Lloyd George.
First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, Kenneth Morgan's Very Short Introduction to Twentieth-Century Britain examines the forces of consensus and of conflict in twentieth-century Britain. The account covers the trauma of the First World War and the social divisions of the twenties; fierce domestic and foreign policy debates in the thirties; the impact of the Second World War for domestic transformation, popular culture and the loss of empire; the transition from the turmoil of the seventies to the aftermath of Thatcherism and the advent of New Labour. Throughout, cultural and artistic themes are woven into the analysis, along with the distinct national experiences of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The profound tension that shook the United Kingdom are juxtaposed against equally deep forces for stability, cohesion, and a sense of historic identity. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
The British labour movement has always venerated the collective ideal: solidarity, mass endeavour, the common good. Yet, it also draws constant inspiration from the ideas and achievements of single individuals. From Hardie to Bevan, from Benn to Kinnock and Scargill, Labour's progress or decline has always been inextricably bound with its major personalities and the concept of leadership. Labour People opens up a gallery of vivid portraits, covering nine decade of Labour's stormy history. Drawing on extensive original material, and in some cases, personal acquaintance, it presents the parliamentary leaders, trade union officials, intellectuals, machine apparatchiks, prophets, planners, and pioneers of four main chronological periods. Noted labour historian Kenneth Morgan begins his survey of Labour's greats with the founding fathers who shaped the turn-of-the-century labour policies, and moves on to the young economic planners of the 1940s and the post World War II revisionists, ending with current profiles of Britain's formidable mining leaders. Setting these portraits in a historical and comparative framework, this book provides a panoramic vista of the history, ideas, strengths, and limitations of the British Labour movement in the 20th century.
Originally published in 1971, this book traces the revival, triumph, division and decline of the British Liberal Party in the late 19th & 20th centuries. It does so by focusing on the career of David Lloyd George, itself the decisive agent for change in this period. The first part of the book is an extended critical essay; the second part consists of primary documentary material which is intimately linked to the commentary in the first section. The major phases of the period are covered: The tension between the Old Liberalism and the New; the challenges confronting the Liberal government of 1905-15; the impact of world war and Lloyd George’s wartime premiership; the Lloyd George coalition in 1918-22 and the reasons for its downfall; and the slow decline of the Liberals between 1922 and 1929.
This is the story of the life, professional achievements and personal background, challenges and achievements of Wales’s leading historian. During his long career, Kenneth O. Morgan has been a prolific writer and, through his pioneering work, has become a leading authority on Welsh History, British History and Labour History. This autobiography also details Morgan’s often entertaining and unconventional personal experiences, and the eminent people he has met along the way – from his work in television, radio and the press as election commentator and book reviewer, to his involvement in the Labour Party from the late 1950s onwards and the close relations he developed with such Labour leaders as James Callaghan, Michael Foot, Douglas Jay and Neil Kinnock. In addition to being a respected author, Morgan has held the position of University Vice-Chancellor in Wales, is an active Labour peer, and continues to lecture at universities around the world – all achieved while juggling his life as a husband and father. In this revealing memoir, published in the year of his eightieth birthday, Morgan reflects on marriage and bereavement, on re-marriage, parenthood, friendship, religion and morality, his reactions to the historical changes he has witnessed, from attending a village school in rural Wales and wartime air-raids, through school in Hampstead and study in Oxford University and in Wales, down to entry into the House of Lords. Despite past traumas, this memoir still conveys invigoratingly a senior scholar’s idealism, abiding sense of optimism and belief in progress. Contents. List of Illustrations Foreword Chapter 1 A Divided Consciousness Chapter 2 Education, Education, Education Chapter 3 History-Making: A Welsh Historian Chapter 4 History-Making: A British Historian Chapter 5 History-Making; A Labour Historian Chapter 6 History-Making: A Contemporary Historian Chapter 7: History-Making: A Biographer Chapter 8: Experiences: The House of Lords Chapter 9: Experiences: Travelling Chapter 10: Experiences: Old and New Labour Chapter 11 My History
In his preface, Kenneth Morgan writes. 'Keir Hardie is by any test a decisive figure in the making of twentieth-century Britain. More than any other man. he was the maker of the modern Labour Party. . . Yet already he seems an elusive, almost forgotten figure . . .' It is Kenneth Morgan's supreme achievement to rescue Keir Hardie from his status as a sort of mythical figurehead and to present him as a more interesting, complex and credible person. In the context of the emerging Labour movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, we see Keir Hardie as pacifist, internationalist, feminist, radical and socialist; a great man if always somewhat out of step with his time. 'Deeply sympathetic, impeccably scholarly and beautifully written. . . It brings out the full complexity of Hardie's character and the full range of his interests. Hardie is brought back to life' A . J. P. Taylor 'Excellent . . . the first complete biography by a professional historian' Asa Briggs, Times Literary Supplement 'Written with tempered sympathy and considered judgement. With grace and assurance, this book is an imposing achievement' Stephen Koss
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