Strange Survival of Liberal Britain
Politics and Power Before the First World War
The years 1895 to 1914 were formative. They heralded a new agenda which still dominates our politics. The issues of the period – economic modernisation, social welfare and social equality, secondary and technical education, a new role for Britain in the world – were complex and difficult. The late Victorians and Edwardians confronted these challenges but did not succeed in resolving them. These are also the problems of today, and we have not succeeded in resolving them either.
The period has often been seen as one of decadence, of the strange death of liberal Britain. In contrast, Vernon Bogdanor believes that the robustness of Britain’s parliamentary and political institutions and her liberal political culture were powerful enough to carry her through one of the most challenging periods of her history, and so make possible the remarkable survival of liberal Britain.
In this wide-ranging and sometimes controversial survey, one of our pre-eminent political historians dispels popular myths that have grown up about this critical period in Britain’s story and argues that it set the scene for much that is laudable about our nation today.
'This brilliant book from Britain’s most important constitutional historian upends the orthodoxy about the decadent Edwardians.' — Professor Richard Aldous, author of The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli
'Brilliant. Instantly the leading history of this turbulent and critical period in Britain’s transition towards a modern democracy.' — Professor Robert Blackburn, King’s College London
'A masterly tour de force… It purrs along like a Rolls-Royce engine as it takes the reader through the changing landscape of a crucial period in the making of modern Britain.' — Professor T. G. Otte, author of Statesman of Europe: A Life of Sir Edward Grey
'Bogdanor has the habit of unearthing gems that have been missed by others. He does it again in this magisterial work on post-Gladstonian Britain by challenging some of the long-established myths about this period that deserve to be cast aside.' — Professor Malcolm Murfett, King’s College London
'Vernon Bogdanor is an unrivalled expert on history and politics, and this book brilliantly brings together his thoughts – crisp, authoritative and lucid – on a vital, transformational period of Britain’s past.' — Nicholas Owen, associate professor of politics, University of Oxford
Vernon Bogdanor CBE is professor of government at King’s College London and was formerly professor of government at Oxford University. In 2019, he was a visiting professor at Yale University. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the British Academy and the Academy of Social Sciences and an honorary fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
