Power Failure
David Englander is unimpressed by a new textbook on the decline of imperial Britain
The Eclipse of a Great Power. Modern Britain 1870-1975 byKeith Robbins
408 pp. (Longman, 1983)
What makes a good textbook? A lively pen, scholarship and erudition, a sensitivity to period and place, enthusiasm and judgement, above all a new perspective and a fresh insight. Courage and fortitude on the part of the author will also be required; for textbooks on modern Britain are two-a- penny and there are some very good ones to choose from. Comparison is inevitable. Against the analytical power and suggestiveness of a Hobsbawm, the expository gifts of a Briggs, the mordant wit of a Taylor, or the pace and verve of a Marwick, the newcomer will be measured. The Eclipse of a Great Power does not emerge from the contrast without credit.
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