A landmark book from a remarkable new historian, on a subject that has
never been more important - or imperilledToday, everybody seems to agree
that something has gone badly wrong with the British welfare state. In
the midst of economic crisis, politicians and commentators talk about
benefits as a lifestyle choice, and of 'skivers' living off hard-working
'strivers' as they debate what a welfare state fit for the twenty-first
century might look like.
This major new history tells the story
of one the greatest transformations in British intellectual, social and
political life: the creation of the welfare state, from the Victorian
workhouse, where you had to be destitute to receive help, to a moment
just after the Second World War, when government embraced
responsibilities for people's housing, education, health and family
life, a commitment that was unimaginable just a century earlier. Though
these changes were driven by developments in different and sometimes
unexpected currents in British life, they were linked by one
over-arching idea: that through rational and purposeful intervention,
government can remake society. It was an idea that, during the early
twentieth century, came to inspire people across the political spectrum.
In exploring this extraordinary transformation, Bread for All explores
and challenges our assumptions about what the welfare state was
originally for, and the kinds of people who were involved in creating
it. In doing so, it asks what the idea continues to mean for us today.
Bread for All : The Origins of the Welfare State - Chris Renwick
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£9.99