From the Bomb to the "Beatles" Book

Every generation likes to think that it is THE generation--the one that has so finely synthesised all that has gone before that it is impossible to imagine anything finer. But as this book From the Bomb to the Beatles, published to coincide with an exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum, so vividly demonstrates nothing dates as quickly as cultural taste. Tony Blair may have thought he was the figurehead of a new political era as New Labour swept to power in 1997, but it's almost inevitable that in 30 years time the lingering memory most of us will have of Cool Britannia is a few laughable fashion accessories. Indeed such is the pace of change in the 20th century that the Britain at the beginning of this book is scarcely recognisable as the same country as the one that emerged 20 years later. When the two atomic bombs were exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki to bring the Second World War to an abrupt and murderous full-stop, Britain was a country on its knees. It may have won the war but the effects--economic, social and psychological--almost guaranteed that it was going to lose any peace. Much as Britain wanted to retain a global primacy, its war-shattered population just didn't have the energy. Rationing was in place, times were still austere and most people just wanted to be left alone to rebuild their fractured lives. Small wonder then, that it was left to the US and the USSR to dominate the post-war landscape.Read More