The audit of war : the illusion & reality of Britain as a great nation af Correlli Barnett (Bog)

Forfatter: Correlli Barnett
Sprog: Engelsk
Antal sider: 359
Forlag: Macmillan
Udgivelsesår: 1986
Titel: The audit of war : the illusion & reality of Britain as a great nation

Sammendrag: In this important and strikingly original book, the distinguished historian Correlli Barnett places Britain's decline since the Second World War in a startling new perspective. Basing his analysis on unpublished government records, he shows that Britain's wartime performance, far from marking a supreme achievement of national genius and effort, was in reality characterized by all the classic symptoms of the 'British disease'. By the time they took the bunting down from the streets after VE-Day and turned from the war to the future, the British in their dreams and illusions and in their flinching from reality had already written the scenario for Britain's post-war descent.
Correlli Barnett described his Audit or War as an 'operational study' to 'uncover the causes of Britain's protracted decline as an industrial country since the Second World War.' First published in 1986, the book swiftly became one of the most controversial and influential historical works of its time.'[The Audit of War] argued that British industry during the Second World War was scandalously inefficient, a situation Barnett blamed on an establishment more concerned with welfare than with industry, technology or the capacity of the nation to fight a war... Alan Clark records approvingly that Mrs Thatcher herself read it...' David Edgerton, London Review of Books'A stimulating polemic.' Times Literary Supplement'A formidable book, essential reading.' Asa Briggs, Financial Times
Type: Paperback