Deep Into the Sixties - by David Kynaston (Hardcover)

About the Book

From the 'addictively readable' (Sunday Times) David Kynaston comes the next instalment of his landmark 'Tales of a New Jerusalem' series, this time taking on Britain in the heady throes of the Swinging Sixties.

Book Synopsis

It's the heart of the Sixties in Britain - the Beatles are enjoying unprecedented success in the charts, England wins the World Cup at Wembley and optimism and patriotism percolate through the streets. But this is not the full story of mid-Sixties Britain. Disaffection on the political left loomed as a result of the Vietnam War. The catastrophic collapse of the spoil tip in Aberfan killed over 100 people.

This is a time of looking both backwards and forwards - sweeping reforms to secondary education, the burgeoning contemporary popular culture and the invention of the teenager underpin the advent of a new generation. And yet the everyday life for many, especially beyond the thriving metropoles, bore striking resemblance to decades earlier.

Covering the period from February 1965 to July 1966, David Kynaston uses a plethora of contemporary sources, including diaries of ordinary people, to paint a rich and nuanced picture of a Britain on the brink of change. Deep Into the Sixties continues to revolutionise our conceptions of post-war Britain.

Review Quotes

"He is the most humane and even-handed chronicler of our time, and the one best qualified to carry this mightily compelling national story onwards (on A Northern Wind)" --Anthony Quinn, Guardian

"A richly evocative, thought-provoking and, above all, compassionate study of those who lived through the much-mythologized 1960s (on A Northern Wind)" --Selina Todd, TLS

"This richly flavoured, particoloured, polyvocal melange deserves a slow, luxuriant read (on Modernity Britain)" --Richard Davenport-Hines, Guardian

About the Author

David Kynaston was born in Aldershot in 1951. He has been a professional historian since 1973 and has written eighteen books, including The City of London (1994-2001), a widely acclaimed four-volume history, and WG's Birthday Party, an account of the Gentleman v. Players match at Lord's in July 1898. He is the author of Austerity Britain 1945-51 and Family Britain 1951-57, the first two titles in a series of books covering the history of post-war Britain (1945-1979) under the collective title 'Tales of a New Jerusalem'. He is currently a visiting professor at Kingston University.