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Divided Kingdom: A History of Britain from 1900 to the Present
by Pat Thane
(Cambridge University Press, £22.99)
ONE gets the impression from the number of books recently published about the history of Britain over the past century that many are fairly superficial rehashes of earlier work.
Original significant texts are very much the exception and, while Divided Kingdom falls into neither of these camps, it’s still strongly recommended as a clear, useful and detailed introduction in addressing the themes of period.
Although the opening chapters are somewhat dry and list-like, as the book progresses and its key themes of division and conflict develop, it becomes transparent how careful and considered Thane’s analysis really is.
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