George Dangerfield (1) (1904–1986)

This is an exciting read, written with energy and humor, about a crazy time in UK politics, when the ruling Liberal Party muddled through four significant crises of which three had significant constitutional implications -- women's suffrage, the Irish push for Home Rule with the resulting army mutiny and stripping of power from the House of Lords (so I'm counting it as two crises), and the wave of strikes that swept the country. The personalities are closely and affectionately observed and the story is satisfyingly told, but what's missing from the book is a theory of why it was this set of crises that led to the death of the Liberal Party. The author doesn't rate any Labour party leaders particularly highly, and yet by the time the dust had settled after the war Labour had solidly taken over from the Liberals as the party that the Conservatives traded turns in power with. Why did that happen (instead of the UK turning into Canada with a large centrist party often squeezing out both the left and the right)? The book doesn't really address it, and you reach the end having greatly enjoyed the ride and educated about a lot of interesting issues of the time, but none the wiser on what purports to be its central question.… (plus d'informations)

This is an extremely well-written account of the issues which were bedevilling English society in the run-up to the Great War.

It is certainly an answer to the sentimental views of the war interrupting a golden afternoon of the late Edwardian / early Georgian period: Dangerfield highlights the ways in which the issues we tend to think of as part of the post-war changes -- Ireland, women's votes, the growing eclipse of the Liberals by Labour, trade unionism and radicalism -- were all present as a heady mixture leading into the war (and were suddenly suspended, in a burst of patriotism, on the outburst of war).

Well worth reading, and aimed at the general public of its time rather than the specialist (it does, now, require that one have a bit of general background to put it in context). If it has a weakness, it is that it is too short.… (plus d'informations)