This comprehensive survey of English history during the first half of the twentieth century has three main themes: the political and social consequences of the replacement of the Liberal Party by the Labour Party; the continuous development of the welfare state; and the changes in England's imperial and international position caused by the ambitions of Germany and Japan and by the emergence of the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R as world powers. The leading personalities of the period are brilliantly portrayed and the issues challengingly presently.