“Louis XIV (European History in Perspective)”, by David J. Sturdy, edited by Jeremy Black

222 pages, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN-13: 978-0312214289

It turns out that there was more to the Sun King than Versailles, wars, wigs and a killer set of legs (according to him). David J. Sturdy’s Louis XIV is part of a larger academic series of books called European History in Perspective, and is really meant for the serious scholar or the history geek extraordinaire, designed as it is to provide a concise study of the defining aspects of the reign of Louis XIV: the nature of French monarchy, methods of government, the King’s relationship to his subjects and to the church, the organization of cultural life and France’s relations with the rest of Europe, are all considered. Sturdy relates Louis and his regime to the longer-term movements of French history and to some of the wider historical forces at work in 17^th Century Europe. He raises past and present historiographical controversies surrounding Louis XIV and indicates some of the major problems in interpretation which still confront historians. All-in-all, Sturdy manages to penetrate beneath the well-known events, personalities and images of the reign to gain an understanding of the historical forces and realities with which the Sun King and France had to contend; he presents a carefully organized and lucid account of the defining aspects of the reign, although, it must be said, in a rather dry and academic style that should appeal to the serious student of France, but which may turn off the more casual reader.

“White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties”, by Dominic Sandbrook

976 pages, Abacus/Little, Brown UK, ISBN-13: 978-0349118208

White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties by Dominic Sandbrook is, like its predecessor Never Had It So Good, brilliant – and, like that previous book, it takes its title from a speech given by the dominant political figure of this era; namely, Harold Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister from his narrow victory on October 15^th, 1964 to his unexpected defeat on June 18^th, 1970 (“[t]he Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry”). Wilson’s government was, perhaps, unique for its supreme arrogance, frivolity, intemperance and misapplied ideology (which is saying a lot for government); and though the PM had committed his government to reforming British society in the “white heat” of a scientific revolution, Labour rarely managed to do more than smash things up or tinker about at the edges (which seems to be a common Labour theme, then and now: promise revolution, deliver stagnation). It must be admitted, however, that Wilson and his modernizers were hampered from the get-go by public finances which had been debauched by the Tories and their chancellor, Reginald Maudling (as Jim Callaghan, the new Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer sat at his desk at No. 11 Downing Street on October 17^th, 1964, Maudling stuck his head round the door and said from under a pile of suits: “Good luck, old cock. Sorry to leave it in such a mess”).

I found White Heat to be better organized than Never Had It So Good, with each chapter coming in at a reasonable 20-pages or so, and with Sandbrook tending to alternate chapters on political and economic matters with social history, which helped the book flow seamlessly between more weighty issues to more frivolous ones between 1964 and 1970. Thus, while we get the low down on Britain East of Suez, the conflict in Rhodesia, the crisis in Aden, the Vietnam war, grammar schools, the Time of Troubles, the Bogside district of Derry, George Brown, Barbara Castle, Richard Crossman, Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn and Cecil King, we also learn all there is about Doctor Who, pop art, Terylene and Formica, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the new towns and Ronan Point, foreign holidays, mods vs. rockers, the 1966 World Cup, the Hayward Gallery, The Avengers, Biba and Till Death Us Do Part (crikey!). It all leaves little room for the pompous industrial themes of the period, from Concorde, to the AGR nuclear power stations or the motor industry (mind you, this does not deflect from Sandbrook’s achievement in cramming so much into so little; rather, it just serves to underscore all that was going on in Britain during this most turbulent of decades).

Sandbrook’s ultimate argument seems to be that, for all of the chaos and upheaval that seemed to be going on, British politics, society and culture in the so-called Swinging 60s were predominantly characterized by continuity, conservatism and conformity. The Beatles, for all their avant-garde musical showmanship, were firmly in the British mainstream traditions of the music hall and the Goons to the bohemian scene of the 50s and the satire of that era. Similarly, the Rolling Stones were apprentice country gentlemen (offstage), and Sandbrook relishes the anecdote that the bibliophile Keith Richards “was later forced to cancel several concert dates after falling off a ladder while searching for Leonardo da Vinci's book on anatomy”. Sorry, old cock, indeed. White Heat, along with its predecessor, are a pair of must-reads for anyone wishing to know more about this fascinating period in English history, especially for ignorant Yanks, like me.

“Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles”, by Dominic Sandbrook

928 pages, Abacus/Little, Brown UK, ISBN-13: 978-0349115306

Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles by Dominic Sandbrook is, in a word, brilliant. So, just what was it really like on that sceptred isle half a century ago? For Yanks like me, Britain during this time comes down to The Beatles and tea; but there was, or course, so much more to that earth of majesty between 1956 and 1963. The Suez War, smack-dab in the middle of the 50s, marked a significant national milestone and one with which Sandbrook chooses to begin his magisterial study of this other Eden. The title comes from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s perhaps most famous phrase – “[l]et us be frank about it: most of our people have never had it so good” – for which he and was widely accused of taking a complacent attitude towards the consumer society, then roaring along. In retrospect, his term as prime minister – from January 10^th, 1957 to October 18^th, 1963 – is seen by many as a benign era, comparable with the Eisenhower years in the States which partially overlap this time, which are remembered by Americans as a golden era before the Kennedy Assassination and the upheavals of the 60’s.

The eight years covered by Sandbrook were riotous and fluctuating, but for all that the author has managed to hold onto a theme of sorts, that “[t]he yearning for an alternative to the old-fashioned, complacent Conservatives who were thought to be running the country into the ground”. The revolt of the early 60s against the old Tory order was more social rather than political, with the mood being articulated by TV shows like “Beyond the Fringe” and “That Was the Week That Was”, or the magazine “Private Eye”. The mood wasn’t so much a desire to change the system – certainly not to burn it all down – but rather to open it up to more people. As a proper historian, Sandbrook avoids drawing modern parallels, but the reader can’t avoid being struck by the cunning of history. With the Tories gone, the 60s were meant to end elitism and bring a meritocracy; instead, they cleared the road for a new elite which sustains itself in power by insisting it is against the establishment and an education system which makes it all but impossible for bright working-class children to get on (sounds familiar don’t it, Yanks?).

There are hundreds of killer quotes and anecdotes in Never Had It So Good. Colin Wilson (whose demented claims to be the “major literary genius of our century” were taken seriously by literary London for a year or so – oh, never heard of him? Don’t fret about it, son), fell from grace when the father of his girlfriend burst into his flat with a horsewhip crying, “Aha, Wilson, the game is up! We know what’s in your filthy diary!” and forced Wilson to hand his mucky and grandiose ramblings to the Daily Mail. When Selwyn Lloyd was offered a post at the Foreign Office by Churchill, he replied: “But, sir, there must be some mistake. Except in war, I have never visited any foreign country. I do not like foreigners. I have never spoken in any foreign-affairs debate in the House. I have never listened to one”, to which Churchill replied, “Young man, these all seem to me to be positive advantages”. While dense with detail and overloaded with oratory, Never Had It So Good is never, ever boring as it tells the tale of Britain in this traumatic time of change and adaptation. Again, in a word, brilliant.