Warfare state : Britain, 1920-1970 / by David Edgerton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Edgerton, David.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain--History--20th century.

Great Britain.

History.

Great Britain--History, Military--20th century.

History, Military.

Great Britain--Politics and government--20th century.

Politics and government.

Great Britain--Economic conditions--20th century.

Economic conditions.

Physical Description:

xv, 364 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Summary:

This book challenges the central theme of the existing histories of twentieth-century Britain, that the British state was a welfare state. It argues that it was also a warfare state, which supported a powerful armaments industry. This insight implies major revisions to our understanding of twentieth-century British history, from appeasement, to wartime industrial and economic policy, and the place of science and technology in government. David Edgerton also shows how British intellectuals came to think of the state in terms of welfare and decline, and includes a devastating analysis of C. P. Snow's 'two cultures'.

This groundbreaking book offers a new, post-welfarist and post-declinist, account of Britain, and an original analysis of the relations of science, technology, industry and the military. It will be essential reading for those working on the history and historiography of twentieth-century Britain, the historical sociology of war and the history of science and technology.

Contents:

1 The military-industrial complex in the interwar years 15

2 The warfare state and the nationalisation of Britain, 1939-55 59

3 The expert state: the military-scientific complex in the interwar years 108

4 The new men and the new state, 1939-70 145

5 Anti-historians and technocrats: revisiting the technocratic moment, 1959-64 191

6 The warfare state and the 'white heat', 1955-70 230

7 The disappearance of the British warfare state 270

8 Rethinking the relations of science, technology, industry and war 305.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0521856361

0521672317

OCLC:

62795653

Publisher Number:

9780521856362

9780521672313