Arguing that historians have been besotted by the cultural revolution of
the Sixties, Dominic Sandbrook re-examines the myths of this
controversial period and paints a more complicated picture of a society
caught between conservatism and change. He explores the growth of a
modern consumer society, the impact of immigration, the invention of
modern pop music, and the British retreat from empire. He tells the
story of the colourful characters of the period, like Harold Macmillan,
Kingsley Amis, and Paul McCartney, and brings to life the experience of
the first post-imperial generation, from the Notting Hill riots to the
first Beatles hits, from the Profumo scandal to the cult of James Bond.