INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is difficult for any historian to capture the whole historical experience of a country—in this case Britain—in a narrative history: either too much has to be left out or too much has to be put in. On the other hand, it is hard not to do it that way. It is made more difficult for a historian like myself, who has a comparatively wide range of interests and who believes that these interests have a common core, nevertheless to convince the reader that they do. The aim of this book is to present a number of detailed studies of particular problems from which wider generalizations about modern British history can be made. This collection of essays, ...