Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize
Winner of the NCR Award for Non-Fiction

From the high politics of Court and Cabinet room to the kitchen or the queue, Peter Hennessy's Never Again: Britain 1945-51, the first part of his Post-War Trilogy, recreates life in early post-war Britain.

'Hennessy conjures up the Attlee years more vividly than any previous writer' Ben Pimlott, Guardian

At the end of the Second World War Britain was in flux. It was an age of rationing and rebuilding; when hope for a better future contrasted with the horror of war.

Fresh ideals emerged during the common experience of the conflict and the new, widespread belief that everyone should be treated equally led to the creation of the 'welfare state' and the NHS, despite tough economic circumstances. Internationally, Britain was finding a place in a world increasingly overshadowed by Cold War with the Soviet Union.

'A joy to read' Sunday Times

'Hennessy is never for a moment dull' Philip Ziegler, Daily Telegraph

'Hennessy is the antithesis of the dry-as-dust academic historian. He laughs a great deal, and punctuates his writing with cheery and illuminating anecdotes' Ian Aitken, Guardian

'A sympathetic, highly readable, meticulously researched account of the Cabinet room politics and popular habits of life and recreation during the high noon of Labourism' Roy Jenkins, Observer

About the Author
Peter Hennessy is one of Britain's most celebrated historians, 'who has himself become something of a national institution' (Ben Pimlott). He is Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary University of London. His previous books include this book's two immediate predecessors, Never Again: Britain 1945-1951 (1992, winner of the Duff Cooper Prize and the NCR Prize for Non-fiction) and Having it so Good: Britain in the Fifties (2006, winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing). His other books include Cabinet (1986), Whitehall (1989), The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945 (2000), The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst (2002, 2010) and, co-authored with James Jinks, The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945 (2015, winner of the Duke of Westminster's Award for Military Literature and the Mountbatten Maritime Award). He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003 and created an independent crossbench life peer as Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield in 2010.


Book Information
ISBN 9780141016023
Author Peter Hennessy
Format Paperback
Page Count 592
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 404g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 25mm