Now That's What I Call a History of the 1980s - by Lucy Robinson (Hardcover)

About the Book

Now that's what I call a history of the 1980s is a political and cultural History of Britain in the long 1980s in ten objects or moments. Neither a top down history, nor nostalgic celebration, it reframes the decade around local, national, and global politics of gender, race, age and sexuality.

Book Synopsis

Now that's what I call a history of the 1980s tells the story of eighties Britain through its popular culture. Charting era-defining moments from Lady Diana's legs and the miners' strike to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage and Adam and the Ants, Lucy Robinson weaves together an alternative history to the one we think we know. This is not a history of big geopolitical disasters, or a nostalgic romp through discos, shoulder pads and yuppie culture. Instead, the book explores a mashing together of different genres and fan bases in order to make sense of our recent past and give new insights into the decade that defined both globalisation and excess.

Packed with archival and cultural research but written with verve and spark, the book offers as much to general readers as to scholars of this period, presenting a distinctive and definitive contemporary history of 1980s Britain, from pop to politics, to cold war cultures, censorship and sexuality.

From the Back Cover

'Lucy Robinson shows us how history helps us to understand culture and how culture helps us to understand history. By understanding history and culture you will start to think and change your life. If you change your life, you change the world.'
Vivienne Westwood

'The eighties was a pop culture minefield that only a nimble narrator can guide you through. Now that's what I call a history of the 1980s does this with a keen cultural eye and captivating turn of phrase.'
John Robb, author of The art of darkness: A history of goth

'The chapter on my success was fabulous. Full marks to the professor.'
Roland Rat

Now that's what I call a history of the 1980s tells the story of eighties Britain through its popular culture. Charting era-defining moments from Lady Diana's legs and the miners' strike to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage and Adam and the Ants, Lucy Robinson weaves together an alternative history to the one we think we know. This is not a history of big geopolitical disasters, or a nostalgic romp through discos, shoulder pads and yuppie culture. Instead, the book explores a mashing together of different genres and fan bases in order to make sense of our recent past and give new insights into the decade that defined both globalisation and excess.

Packed with archival and cultural research but written with verve and spark, the book offers as much to general readers as to scholars of this period, presenting a distinctive and definitive contemporary history of 1980s Britain, from pop to politics, to cold war cultures, censorship and sexuality.

Review Quotes

'Lucy Robinson shows us how history helps us to understand culture and how culture helps us to understand history. By understanding history and culture you will start to think and change your life. If you change your life, you change the world.'
Vivienne Westwood

'THE CHAPTER ON MY SUCCESS WAS FABULOUS, FULL MARKS TO THE PROFESSOR (WHOEVER SHE IS). PITY THE REST OF THE BOOK WASN'T ALL ABOUT ME CUS I WOULDN'T HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP READING IT THEN.'
Roland Rat

'The eighties was a pop culture minefield that only a nimble guide can guide you through. Now that's what I call a history of the 1980s does this with a keen cultural eye and captivating turn of phrase as it unpacks the decade and redefines its times of tension and release with attendant soundtrack.'
John Robb, author of The art of darkness: A history of goth

'Forget the Filofaxes of the City boys: most of us made our connections, as Robinson puts it, on the dance floor, and some of us are still dancing. Now that's what I call a decade to remember.'
Suzanne Moore, The Telegraph

'Robinson brings pop - and popular culture - back centre stage, not so much connecting dots but offering a thematic matrix that reflects such a complex and important era in modern British history.;
Russ Bestley, Punk & Post-Punk

'The work stands out for its author's choice to take into account objects from popular culture and to use them as indicators of socio-political developments in the broad sense. It should therefore satisfy readers looking for an innovative point of view on a historical period that has already been the subject of numerous reference works.'
Guillaume Clement, French journal of British studies

'At once entertaining and diffuse, her book discloses both the strengths and weaknesses of postmodernist history. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.
D. L. LeMahieu, CHOICE (May 2024)

'Lucy Robinson shows us how history helps us to understand culture and how culture helps us to understand history. By understanding history and culture you will start to think and change your life. If you change your life, you change the world.'
Vivienne Westwood

'THE CHAPTER ON MY SUCCESS WAS FABULOUS, FULL MARKS TO THE PROFESSOR (WHOEVER SHE IS). PITY THE REST OF THE BOOK WASN'T ALL ABOUT ME CUS I WOULDN'T HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP READING IT THEN.'
Roland Rat

'The eighties was a pop culture minefield that only a nimble guide can guide you through. Now that's what I call a history of the 1980s does this with a keen cultural eye and captivating turn of phrase as it unpacks the decade and redefines its times of tension and release with attendant soundtrack.'
John Robb, author of The art of darkness: A history of goth

'Forget the Filofaxes of the City boys: most of us made our connections, as Robinson puts it, on the dance floor, and some of us are still dancing. Now that's what I call a decade to remember.'
Suzanne Moore, The Telegraph

'Robinson brings pop - and popular culture - back centre stage, not so much connecting dots but offering a thematic matrix that reflects such a complex and important era in modern British history.;
Russ Bestley, Punk & Post-Punk

'The work stands out for its author's choice to take into account objects from popular culture and to use them as indicators of socio-political developments in the broad sense. It should therefore satisfy readers looking for an innovative point of view on a historical period that has already been the subject of numerous reference works.'
Guillaume Clement, French journal of British studies

'At once entertaining and diffuse, her book discloses both the strengths and weaknesses of postmodernist history. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.
D. L. LeMahieu, CHOICE (May 2024)

About the Author

Lucy Robinson is Professor of Collaborative History at the University of Sussex