Published first, the final book of the
new eight-volume Penguin History of Britain is
titled Hope and Glory: Britain 1900–1990, but its author, Peter
Clarke, admits that the period of which he writes has produced only
moments of glory.[1]
Moreover, the best he can say of the hopes is that
not all of them were misguided. He acknowledges that at the end of
the twentieth century, many British historians, having seen their
country decline from the greatest power in the world, do not believe
there is much to celebrate. Although the publisher’s jacket blurb
declares that Clarke “challenges this vision” by pointing to a much
improved standard of living for the general populace, greater social
mobility and an extended democracy, the undisguisable tone of his
story of political decline belies the feigned social optimism.
Indeed, the cover of the book, a black and white photograph of a
slightly out of focus Winston Churchill surveying the rubble of the
blitzed House of Commons, renders its title—once so rousing when
sung to the strains of Elgar—
ironic. Since the book was written,
the plebiscites for the devolution of Scotland and Wales have set in
place a process which, if it continues, means that what was once
known as Great Britain will dwindle to nothing more than the
European state of England.

Given this prospect, Penguin Books might
seem to be indulging in patriotic nostalgia rather than publishing
acumen in bringing out yet another historical series on a country