Autor: Francis Beckett

Post-war Labour England wasn’t a bad place to live, but after Labour’s 2015 election defeat, the prospect of a healthier, happier and fairer country seemed more remote than ever. Who would have predi …

Each of these chapters in this book of political counterfactuals describes a premiership that never happened, but might easily have done had the chips fallen slightly differently. The contributors, e …

The first of those born in the baby boom following the Second World War came of age in the radical sixties. Not since 1918 had the young talked serious revolutionary politics as they did then. But in …

1956: a defining year that heralded the modern era.Britain and France occupied Suez, and the Soviet Union tanks rolled into Hungary. Nikita Khrushchev’s ‘secret speech’ exposed the crimes of Stalin, …

First published in 2004, this book tells the stories of four remarkable British women, whose lives were scorched by Stalin’s purges. One was shot as a spy; one nearly died as a slave labourer in Kaza …

First published in 2004, this book tells the stories of four remarkable British women, whose lives were scorched by Stalin’s purges. One was shot as a spy; one nearly died as a slave labourer in Kaza …

First published in 2010, this book explores the legacy of the baby boomers: the generation who, born in the aftermath of the Second World War, came of age in the radical sixties where for the first t …

First published in 2010, this book explores the legacy of the baby boomers: the generation who, born in the aftermath of the Second World War, came of age in the radical sixties where for the first t …

John Beckett was a rising political star. Elected as Labour’s youngest M.P. in 1924, he was constantly in the news and tipped for greatness.But ten years later he was propaganda chief for Mosley’s fa …

John Beckett was a rising political star. Elected as Labour’s youngest M.P. in 1924, he was constantly in the news and tipped for greatness.But ten years later he was propaganda chief for Mosley’s fa …

A controversial new investigation in the 1984 Miners strike and how it changed Modern Britain.The Miners’ strike was a dividing line in Modern British history. Before 1984, Britain was an industrial …

As British prime minister from 1945 to 1951, Clement Attlee built a legacy that includes today’s famous-and controversial-National Health Service, yet he is often remembered as a rather dull politica …

Fatherly friend to JFK he repaired the rift between the USA and Britain created by the Suez crisis. …

In the 1930s he established himself as a wide-ranging Shakespearean actor. His marriage in 1940 to Vivien Leigh (his second wife) seemed to complete the image of the romantic star. From the mid-40s h …

This highly controversial and compelling book exposes the government”s city academies project: the ways in which companies and rich individuals have been persuaded to sponsor academies, their real r …

This highly controversial and compelling book exposes the government”s city academies project: the ways in which companies and rich individuals have been persuaded to sponsor academies, their real r …

An accessible, concise biography about Aneurin "Nye" Bevan, the man and politician behind the creation of the UK National Health Service.The creation of the National Health Service was the …