Wales Since 1939

This book is the first overview of Wales in the period from the Second World War to the early years of devolution. Drawing upon in-depth research, it offers an incisive account of an important phase in British history from the perspective of a nation that is too often overlooked. The period since 1939 saw more rapid and significant change than any other time in Welsh history. Wales developed a more assertive identity of its own and some of the apparatus of a nation state. Yet its economy floundered between boom and bust, its traditional communities were transformed and the Welsh language and other aspects of its distinctiveness were undermined by a globalizing world. Wales was also deeply divided by class, language, ethnicity, gender, religion and region. Its people grew wealthier, healthier and more educated but they were not always happier. This ground-breaking book examines the story of Wales since 1939, giving voice to ordinary people and the variety of experiences within the nation. This is a history of not just a nation, but of its residents' hopes and fears, their struggles and pleasures and their views of where they lived and the wider world. A significant contribution to ideas on national identity and to public debates on Welshness and Britishness in a devolved UK, Wales since 1939 embraces topics ranging from the Aberfan disaster, the miners' strikes and the flooding of Tryweryn to the impacts of consumerism, rugby and popular music. It will appeal to anyone interested in the recent history of both Wales and Britain, and in British social and political history more generally.