Written by leading British historians and economists, this volume looks at how fundamental changes in British labor markets throughout the 20th century transformed the lives of the British people.

Written by leading international scholars, Twentieth Century Britain investigates key moments, themes and identities in the past century. Engaging with cutting-edge research and debate, the essays in the volume combine discussion of the major issues currently preoccupying historians of the twentieth century with clear guidance on new directions in the theories and methodologies of modern British social, cultural and economic history. Divided into three, the first section of the book addresses key concepts historians use to think about the century, notably, class, gender and national identity. Organised chronologically, the book then explores topical thematic issues, such as multicultural Britain, religion and citizenship. Representing changes in the field, some chapters represent more recent fields of historical inquiry, such as modernity and sexuality.

The 20th century was a period of unrivalled change in the British labour market. Covering topics from lifetime work patterns and education to unemployment and the welfare state, this volume charts the transformation of work and pay across the 20th century. It provides the labour focused history of Britain.

This open access book demonstrates that, while occupation has been used to treat the mentally disordered since the early nineteenth century, approaches to its use have varied across different countries and in different time periods. Comparing how occupation was used in French and English mental institutions between 1918 and 1939, one hundred years after the heyday of moral therapy, the book is an essential read for those researching the history of mental health and medicine more generally. It provides an overview of the legislation, management structures and financial conditions that affected mental institutions in France and England, and contributed to their differing responses to the new theories of occupational therapy emerging from the USA and Germany during the interwar period.

This major thematic and historical overview provides a clear guide to key welfare practices and developments in the public, private, voluntary and informal welfare sectors in twentieth-century Britain, outlining the dominant ideas about welfare in the period in question. As such, it offers an effective bridge between historical and contemporary concerns, drawing out some of the more rarely articulated premises of courses in the history of social policy and illuminating the social, political and economic dimensions of its subject.

Few things tell us more of a nation's general well-being than the development of the life-expectancy of its citizens; the rising standards of health that they come to demand; and how evenly that improvement is shared throughout society. Helen Jones examines the record of twentieth-century Britain in these respects. She has much heartening progress to record - yet stark inequalities remain. Her book is thus both a review of, and contribution to, the current debates over gender, class and ethnic inequalities in standards of health in Britain today.

Increased longevity and better health are changing the nature of family life. In the context of changes in the world of work, increased divorce and a declining welfare state, multi-generation or 'beanpole families' are a potential resource for family support. Focusing on four-generation families and the two central careers of the life course - employment and care - Working and Caring Over the Twentieth Century explores this question. Based upon new research that employed biographical methods, it maps in detail from 1910 to the late 1990s the lives of men and women as great-grandparents, grandparents and parents. The book provides unique insights into processes of change and continuity in family lives and the ways in which different generations of men and women make sense of their lives.

This comprehensive study describes the major political events of the Twentieth-century in Britain in a cogent, lucid way. William D. Rubinstein presents the history, key personnel, problems and achievements of Britain's administrations, from Lord Salisbury's government in 1900 to Tony Blair's 'Cool Britannia'. Ideal for both students and general readers, Rubinstein's book provides a detailed examination of Britain's political evolution in the Twentieth-century.

This book is the first to examine the contributions of major British authors, as critics and librettists, to the rise of British opera in the twentieth century. Auden and Forster, as much as Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten, defined British opera, which emerged as a simultaneously literary and musical project. The resulting collaborations have crucial implications for the development of our understanding of opera and literature.