Richard Vinen

A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022'A spirited attempt at uncovering the mystery of how Birmingham has managed for so long to stand at the centre of Britain's history without anyone noticing ... This absorbing book shows us how we did it' Observer'Vinen has written a history of Birmingham, but it is also a theory of Birmingham. And also, perhaps, a theory of England.I buy it' Daily TelegraphFor over a century, Birmingham has been the second largest town in England, and central to modern history. In his richly enjoyable new book Richard Vinen captures the drama of a small village that grew to become the quintessential city of the twentieth century: a place of mass production, full employment and prosperity that began in the 1930s, but which came to a cataclysmic halt in the 1980s. For most of that time, Birmingham has also been a magnet for migration, drawing in people from Wales, Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean.

The problem with the history of twentieth-century Europe is that everyone thinks they know it. The great stories of the century - the two world wars, the rise and fall of Nazism and communism, female emancipation - seem self-evidently important. But behind the grand narratives, the politics and the ideologies, lies another history: the history of forces that shaped the lives of individual Europeans.That is the thrust of Richard Vinens magisterial survey of this uniquely destructive and creative century. It argues that there is no single history that encompasses the experience of all Europeans, but rather a multiplicity of different, partially interlocking, histories. Some of these histories are told here in a book which seeks to root the generalisations of large-scale analysis in the concrete - and sometimes incongruous - details of individual lives. Challenging, informing and revealing, this is history writing at its finest.

Britains first female prime minister remains a political figure of almost mythical proportions. Margaret Thatcher divided a political nation, became a cultural icon, and was the longest-serving prime minister of the twentieth century. Her period in government coincided with extraordinary changes in British society and in Britains place in the world. Thatchers Britaintells the story of Thatcherism for a generation with no personal memories of the 80s, as well as for those who want to revisit the polemics of their youth. It seeks to rescue Thatcher from being seen as John the Baptist for Tony Blair, stresses that Thatcherism was not a timeless phenomenon, but rooted in the 70s and 80s, and focuses our attention away from her legend, to what her government actually did during this tumultuous period in British history.

Hace poco más de una década el siglo XX parecía más simple. Se basaba en oposiciones tajantes: Oriente y Occidente, capitalismo y comunismo o izquierda y derecha; y sus fronteras eran cronológicas además de geográficas: 1945 era una divisoria entre la violencia y los grandes traumas (el tereno del historiador), por una parte, y, por otra, la estabilidad y la prosperidad ( el del politólogo).

Deeply researched yet highly readable with fresh and often provocative insights DAVID REYNOLDS A vivid and shrewd reckoning setting its assessment in the perspective of today s troubled world PETER CLARKE A compelling dual biography of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle that shines new light on two of the greatest figures of the twentieth century Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were thrown together by war They incarnated the resistance of Britain and France to the existential threat from Nazi Germany and their ultimate victory over Hitler has ensured their achievements will never be forgotten But as The Last Titans Churchill and de Gaulle shows that is only a part of a complex story Both men influenced their countries and the world around them long after the war was won There was a paradox in the parallel and intertwined lives of these extraordinary men De Gaulle tall gauche and incorruptible exhibited qualities often associated with the English Churchill short charming witty and a bon vivant resembled the quintessential politician of the French Third Republic Their working relationship was rarely smooth but they appreciated each other s stature de Gaulle said Churchill was the great artist of a great history while

Una fascinante biografía paralela que arroja luz sobre dos de las figuras más importantes de la Europa del siglo XX.A Winston Churchill y Charles de Gaulle la guerra los obligó a trabajar juntos. Encarnaron la resistencia de Gran Bretaña y Francia ante una amenaza que ponia en juego la supervivencia de sus paises y su victoria final sobre Hitler aseguro que sus logros nunca fueran olvidados. Pero, como muestra Los ultimos titanes: Churchill y De Gaulle, esto es solo una parte de una historia compleja, ya que ambos hombres influyeron en sus paises y en el mundo que los rodeaba, mucho despues del final de la guerra. Escrito con un extraordinario pulso narrativo por el historiador Richard Vinen, galardonado con el Wolfson Prize, este libro explora que hizo excepcionales a estos hombres y como fueron profundamente influidos por sus culturas nacionales. Mas alla del interes personal, el libro plantea una idea mas amplia: que tanto Gran Bretaña como Francia estan aun hoy perseguidas por la percepcion de una grandeza pasada. Vinen recorre los caminos de dos lideres que un dia dirigieron superpotencias, pero que vivieron para ver sus naciones debilitadas por dos guerras mundiales y la perdida de sus imperios.

A compelling dual biography of Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle that shines new light on two of the greatest figures of the 20th century.Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were thrown together by war. They incarnated the resistance of Britain and France to the existential threat from Nazi Germany, and their ultimate victory over Hitler has ensured their achievements will never be forgotten. But, as The Last Titans shows, that is only a part of a complex story. Both men influenced their countries, and the world around them, long after the war was won.There was a paradox in the parallel and intertwined lives of these extraordinary men. De Gaulletall, gauche, and incorruptibleexhibited qualities often associated with the English. Churchillshort, charming, witty, and a bon vivantresembled the quintessential politician of the French Third Republic. Their working relationship was rarely smooth, but they appreciated each others stature: de Gaulle said Churchill was the great artist of a great history, while Churchill recognized de Gaulle as lhomme du destin.Richard Vinen explores what made these men exceptional and how profoundly they were influenced by their national cultures. Beyond personal intrigue, Vinen makes a wider point that Britain and France are both haunted by perceptions of past greatness. He retraces the paths of two leaders who once helmed superpowers but lived to see their nations weakened by two world wars and the loss of empires.Written with extraordinary narrative verve, The Last Titans offers a fresh exploration into the lives of de Gaulle and Churchill. By bringing their two stories into one, each man is seen anew and we gain fresh insights into their achievements and their legacy today.

A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022There is unlikely to be a fuller or more informative history of Birmingham than Vinens Jonathan Coe, Financial TimesVinen has written a history of Birmingham, but it is also a theory of Birmingham. And also, perhaps, a theory of England. I buy itDaily TelegraphFor over a century, Birmingham has been the second largest town in England. In his richly enjoyable new book Richard Vinen captures the drama of a small village that grew to become the quintessential city of the twentieth century: a place of mass production and full employment that began in the 1930s, but which came to a cataclysmic halt in the 1980s. Birmingham has also been a magnet for migration, drawing in people from Wales, Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. Indeed, much of British history can be explained, in large measure, with reference to Birmingham.Vinen roots his sweeping story in the experience of individuals. This is a book about figures everyone has heard of, from J. R. R. Tolkien to Duran Duran, and also about those that everyone ought to have heard of. It captures the ways in which hundreds of thousands of people - from the Welsh miners who poured into the car factories in the 1930s to the young women who danced to reggae in the basement of Rebeccas nightclub in the 1980s - were caught up in the convulsions of social change.Birmingham is not a pretty place, and its history does not always make for comfortable reading. But modern Britain does not make sense without it.

SUNDAY TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR and FINANCIAL TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014WINNER OF THE TEMPLER MEDAL AND THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE Sunday Times Top 10 BestsellerRichard Vinens new book is a serious - if often very entertaining - attempt to get to grips with the reality of National Service, an extraordinary institution which now seems as remote as the British Empire itself. With great sympathy and curiosity, Vinen unpicks the myths of the two gap years, which all British men who came of age between 1945 and the early 1960s had to fill with National Service. Millions of teenagers were thrown together and under often brutal conditions taught to obey orders and to fight. The luck of the draw might result in two years of boredom in some dilapidated British barracks, but it could also mean being thrown into a dangerous combat mission in a remote part of the world.By any measure National Service had a huge impact on the nature of British society, and yet it has been remarkably little written about. As the militarys needs wound down and Britain ceased to be a great power, National Service came to be seen as just an embarrassment, and its culture of rank and discipline something which many British people were by the 1960s running away from. But without a proper understanding of National Service the story of post-war Britain barely makes sense. Richard Vinen provides that missing book. It will be fascinating to those who endured or even enjoyed their time in uniform, but also to anyone wishing to understand the unique nature of post-war Britain.

The long 68 saw an extraordinary range of protests across much of the western world. Some of these were genuinely revolutionary - around 10 million French workers struck and the whole state teetered on the brink of collapse. Others were more easily contained, but had profound longer term implications - terrorist groups, feminist collectives, gay rights activists could all trace important roots to 1968. Bill Clinton and even Tony Blair are, in many ways, the product of 68.THE LONG 68 is a striking and original attempt, half a century on, to show how these events, which in some ways still seem so current, stemmed from histories and societies which are in practice now extraordinarily remote from our own time.

Una fascinante biografía paralela que arroja luz sobre dos de las figuras más importantes de la Europa del siglo XX. A Winston Churchill y Charles de Gaulle la guerra los obligó a trabajar juntos. En

Richard Vinen, profesor del King’s College de Londres, trata de recuperar los acontecimientos de 1968 para la historia, situándolos en un contexto más amplio y analizando lo que quedó de positivo par