Publisher's Synopsis
In a brilliantly entertaining, living history of the modern United Kingdom, Andrew Marr traces how radically we have transformed through the course of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. When the Queen stepped into her crown in 1953 at the age of twenty-five, a British expedition was summiting Mount Everest for the first time. Ian Fleming was publishing the very first Bond novel. 'British' also meant being Tibetan or a New Zealander .In this extraordinary book, bestselling author Andrew Marr gallops through our modern history, telling the story of Britain's culture, innovation, politics, arts and more through its movers and shakers. From Sylvia Plath to Elvis Costello, Frank Critchlow to Bob Geldof, Zaha Hadid to James Dyson, David Attenborough to the Beatles. How did each recent era shape the next, to land us where we are today? And where exactly is that? Praise for the author: "A fine example of popular history . . . engaging and intelligent." FINANCIAL TIMES "He has the rare gift of being able to explain complex issues in a few crisp sentences." SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
