Twentieth-Century Britain

Catalog description

This class will examine the dramatic transformation of Great Britain from world power in 1900 to a reluctant partner in the European Union in 2000. Topics to be covered include: the world wars, Britain’s relationship to Ireland, decolonization and the growth of the commonwealth, the rise of the welfare state, Thatcherism, British pop culture, the changing demographic face of the UK, and British politics from Salisbury to Blair. Readings will include fiction and non-fiction and the class will use film and musical evidence to explore Britain’s changing place in the world. EUR