This is an account of how the daily lives of ordinary peoples were changed, profoundly and permanently, by these three momentous decades 1914-1945. Often depicted in negative terms Peter Dewey finds a much more positive pattern in the wealth of evidence he lays before us. His is a story of economic achievement, and the emergence of a new sense of social community in the nation, rather than a saga of disenchantment and decline.

Peter Dewey considers every aspect of the period in his rich survey, from international trade, changes in landownership and the impact of mass communications and finds a much more positive picture than is often portrayed.