From austerity to the Swinging Sixties

Haydn Middleton

THE PAST IS SUPPOSED TO BE ANOTHER country, a place where they do things differently. By way of various cultural forms it’s also a place that can be visited — for edification, amusement, or sometimes more pernicious reasons. These two books by David Kirby and Robyn Hitchcock are effectively debriefs from two such time trips, the equivalent of two albums’ worth of their authors’ holiday snaps. One focuses its attention upon everyday life in Britain during 1947, while the other tracks the life of a single British person up to and through the calendar year of 1967. What do these two staycations tell us about those “other countries”, and do they shed any light on the Britain we now inhabit? One of the very earliest histories of our people, usually…

You're reading a preview of

The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, August/September 2024

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.