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Book Cover for: The Death of Consensus: 100 Years of British Political Nightmares, Phil Tinline

The Death of Consensus: 100 Years of British Political Nightmares

Phil Tinline

Over Britain's first century of mass democracy, politics lurched from crisis to crisis. How does this history of broken consensus and political agony illuminate our current age of upheaval?

Historians usually focus on the dawn of a new consensus--postwar Keynesianism, or Thatcherite neoliberalism. Yet journalist Phil Tinline argues that we should be more interested in the periods of turmoil and misery in between. How did the Great Depression's specters of fascism, bombing and mass unemployment force politicians to think the unthinkable? Why do we only remember Thatcher's triumph, and not the decade-long nightmares of hyperinflation, military coups and communist dictatorship that made it possible? And how, since 2008, have we and our leaders come to be paralyzed and deeply divided once again?

Tinline brings to life two previous moments when the great compromise holding democracy together began to crumble; when the political class could agree only that the old era was dead, and imagine nothing but the ominous and the unacceptable. This lively, original account of panic, torpor and chaos reveals the birth pains of a new political settlement, giving hope that fresh ideas might yet take hold. The Death of Consensus will make you see British democracy differently.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Hurst & Co.
  • Publish Date: Sep 1st, 2022
  • Pages: 472
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.20in - 6.48in - 1.57in - 1.88lb
  • EAN: 9781787386907
  • Categories: History & Theory - GeneralEurope - Great Britain - General

About the Author

Phil Tinline is a freelance writer and documentary-maker. Over the course of twenty years working for BBC Radio, he made and presented many acclaimed documentaries about how political history shapes our lives. He has written for The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph, BBC History Magazine and the New Statesman.

Praise for this book

"Tinline has a wonderful gift of making political history fun. Carefully researched and vividly written, this book is about personalities as much as principles. He has a keen eye for telling biographical details."-- Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times"One of the most original and enjoyable books on British politics to have appeared for many years. Phil Tinline's narrative of competing nightmares is compelling."-- New Statesman'A bracing and highly accessible account of the three most shape-shifting phases in Britain's modern political history.' -- David Kynaston, author of Austerity Britain; Family Britain; and Modernity Britain"A much-needed, nuanced and compelling account. Tinline brilliantly challenges the way we view the past and inspires us to take a fresh look."--Steve Richards, author of The Prime Ministers We Never Had'At last, an original big history of British politics in the last 100 years.' -- Sir Anthony Seldon, biographer of prime ministers and co-author of The Impossible Office?'A fascinating exploration of how politicians come to think the unthinkable, The eath of Consensus is essential reading for our age of permacrisis.' -- Helen Lewis, author of Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights
"One of the most original books on British politics published this year."--The Times, 'Best Political and Current Affairs Books of 2022'

"An insightful and timely new book."-- The Spectator
"[A] fascinating analysis of the bad dreams that have fashioned Britain's dominant narratives."-- Morning Star"An excellent book about the death of successive political orders."--Prospect"Stylishly written ... In the age of Brexit and "post-liberalism", The Death of Consensus has much to communicate about how Britain has successfully navigated past moments of unnerving shift."--The Church Times"An interesting and discursive view of the continuity of national economic problems that all governments have to confront." -- Irish Legal News"An engaging anecdote-packed history." -- Foreign Affairs