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You will not find a better informed history' - David Goodhart, Evening Standard * 'A striking new perspective on our past' - Piers Brendon, Literary Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of Britain's War Machine and The Shock of the Old, a bold reassessment of Britain's twentieth century. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIt is usual to see the United Kingdom as an island of continuity in an otherwise convulsed and unstable Europe; its political history a smooth sequence of administrations, from building a welfare state to coping with decline. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eNobody would dream of writing the history of Germany, say, or the Soviet Union in this way. 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