The originality of this book, according to the author himself, lies in the fact that it is “history with a context” (xv); that is, it seeks to integrate the social history of twentieth-century Britain with an examination of broader economic, political, demographic, ideological, and cultural changes. Although the questions John Benson asks—Was Britain better off at the end of the twentieth century than at the beginning? Did people benefit equally from advances? And did the improvement in material circumstances come at a cost to social and cultural life?—have been asked before, Benson seeks to answer them by looking at the ways that age, gender, ethnicity, and class influenced experiences of changing material circumstances.

Benson's book is organized in a methodic way that suggests that it is intended to serve as a text in twentieth-century British history. He begins with an introduction that is divided into two sections: “Reflections, Retrospectives and Reassessments” and “Problems, Perspectives and Hypotheses.” In the first section Benson looks back on the twentieth century from the perspective of the first years of the twenty-first century, and he suggests that scholars cannot look forward to the promise and potential of the new century until an “autopsy” (xi) has been conducted on the previous one. In “Problems, Perspectives and Hypotheses,” Benson lays out the speculations and hypotheses that guide his work. Benson seems particularly anxious to debunk the belief, apparently commonplace among historians of twentieth-century Britain, that the prosperity of the twentieth century came at the price of some nebulous sense of “social loss” (xiii).

Benson develops his main points in eight chapters divided into three parts: “The Growth of Prosperity,” “The Acceptance of Authority,” and “The Accommodation of Change.” The chapters in part 1 explore the ways that prosperity grew throughout the course of the twentieth century. Benson posits that there was a dramatic growth in prosperity for almost all segments of the population from the beginning to the end of the twentieth century. However, Benson is not content simply to regurgitate conclusions that have been reached by other historians—he also explores how prosperity was linked to levels of saving and spending, and to overall health and well-being. On the one hand, it seems clear that the growth in prosperity contributed to a concomitant growth in spending on goods other than necessities; on the other, prosperity has not necessarily led to greater savings. As incomes rose, so did spending on luxury and leisure items, which in turn inhibited personal savings. Furthermore, different groups exercised different levels of influence over spending as the century progressed. For example, by the end of the twentieth century, children began to influence family spending to a degree that was unheard of in the earlier part of the century.

Similarly, Benson wonders whether the growth of prosperity led to parallel improvements in life expectancy, health, and well-being. One might assume that health improved throughout the twentieth century because an increase in prosperity meant increasing access to health and medical care. By contrast, new trends in diet, nutrition, and popular culture, including the growth of fast food and rising consumptions of alcohol and cigarettes, might be assumed to contribute to poor health. And as life expectancy increases, people are living longer, but they are not necessarily living healthier. Benson suggests that it is not enough simply to talk about “health” or longevity but that it is necessary to distinguish between and among “health,” “ill-health,” and “good health” (55).

The chapters in part 2 examine the ways that individuals experienced the power of the various agencies of state. Specifically, Benson wonders why there were so few challenges to state power in the twentieth century. In order to answer this question, he examines the ways that government, education, religion, media, and the workplace interacted with various groups to bolster rather than challenge what Benson calls the “coercive power of the state” (85). Benson concludes that there were no challenges to state authority in the twentieth century, in part, because “no group … was able to ignore the direct control of the state, much less evade the indirect influence that the authorities were able to bring to bear upon the conduct of their citizens” (86).

In part 3 Benson discusses the “accommodation of change” (163) and questions how the political, social, economic, and cultural changes that were taking place in the twentieth century affected people in their ordinary lives. He wonders, for example, how these changes influenced marriage and family life, attitudes toward sexuality and promiscuity, concepts of dependence and independence, class and racial stereotypes, and national identity and pride. While Benson's approach is innovative, his conclusions are ambivalent at best. He suggests that there may be links between prosperity and social attitudes and behaviors but that the available evidence is not sufficient to draw strong conclusions one way or the other. Benson ultimately concludes that social history—the study of people in their daily lives and experiences—cannot be divorced from broader cultural, political, economic, or social changes.

In the three chapters in part 1, as in all subsequent chapters, Benson examines each of his main themes in general terms and with reference to age, gender, ethnicity, and class. This is perhaps where Benson's work borders on the tedious, because each chapter is organized exactly like the chapter before and reaches the same conclusions: that age, gender, ethnicity, and class all influenced the levels of prosperity enjoyed by individuals in the twentieth century, their health or ill-health, their experiences of state power and control, and twentieth-century material improvements. In structuring each chapter in exactly the same way, Benson's work becomes repetitive, and ultimately it is difficult to discern exactly what is new. Individual chapters might be useful in specific contexts, but it is difficult to envision the kind of modern British history course for which this book could serve as the basic text.