Author

Publication

2015-05-13 - Red Globe Press

Language

English

Word Count

106,000 words, Guess

Page Count

424 pages

Physical Format

Paperback

Identifiers

and 1 more

Classifications

  • LCCJN1129.L32 T47 2015
  • LCCD1-DX301

Description

The history of the British Labour party is a subject of abiding historical interest and obvious contemporary relevance. Of all subjects in modern history, it is one of the most fascinating but also one of the most controversial. Why was the Labour party formed? What were its aims, and how did it expect to achieve them? Why has it only ever had five periods in office? And how far can it be seen as a success or as a failure? In this stimulating new book, Andrew Thorpe tries to answer these and other questions. He shows that the party originated in the trade union movement's desire for greater representation, but that it also developed a wider significance as a political party pushing for substantial social and economic change. However, he also suggests that the successes of the party carried within them the seeds of their own undoing. The book covers the party's history from its foundation in 1900 until the election defeat of 1992, with further discussion of developments since then. The main events in the party's history are discussed, as are the leading personalities, such as MacDonald, Henderson, Attlee, Gaitskell, Wilson, Callaghan, Foot and Kinnock. This is not merely a study of 'high politics', for it tries to relate developments to wider influences within and beyond the confines of the Labour party. Andrew Thorpe's account will be valuable both to students and to any general readers who want to know where the Labour party came from and where it might be going.

Description

"Thorpe's book has established itself as the best single-volume study of the whole of the Labour Party's history. Now updated in the light of recent debates, this fourth edition brings the story up to the present with a new final chapter on the Brown and Milliband years"--

Subjects

Other Editions

  • A History of the British Labour PartyPaperbackRed Globe Press2015-05-13

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