Elizabethans by Andrew Marr

My review

3/5 stars

The title of this book really caught my attention - I love studying the first Elizabethan period of history and relish the ability to be able to say that I've lived a large chunk of my life through the second grand Elizabethan age.

Andrew Marr explores the length and duration of Elizabeth II's reign through the stories of some key public figures that made their mark during that timeframe - a very interesting concept. It covered people such as David Attenborough, Jan Morris, Dusty Springfield and Marcus Rashford, and (of course) the Beckhams.

The main takeaway I got from the book was that our modern cultural debates and diversities are not actually as modern as we think they are. It was a much deeper, darker, more thought-provoking piece of writing than I anticipated - becoming more of a social commentary than a historical study as the book progressed.

I listened to the audiobook version of this and, while I found the narrator engaging, I think I would have preferred to read this in paper format. The main reason for this is because the timeline isn't completely chronological and I think I would have found the jumping around easier to follow in text.

Overall, it was an informative and thought-provoking journey.

Book blurb

David Attenborough. Marcus Rashford. Jan Morris. Diana Dors. Bob Geldof. David Olusoga. Elizabeth David. Zaha Hadid. Frank Crichlow. Quentin Crisp. Dusty Springfield. Captain Tom.

Who made modern Britain the country it is today? How do we sum up the kind of people we are? What does it mean to be the new Elizabethans?

In this wonderfully told history, spanning back to when Queen Elizabeth became queen in 1953, Andrew Marr traces the people who have made Britain the country it is today. From the activists to the artists, the sports heroes to the innovators, these people pushed us forward, changed the conversation, encouraged us to eat better, to sing, think and to protest. They got things done. How will our generation be remembered in a hundred years’ time? And when you look back at Britain’s toughest moments in the past seventy years, what do you learn about its people and its values?

In brilliantly entertaining style and with unexpected insights into some of our sung and unsung heroes, Andrew Marr offers up a first draft of the history we are all living. This is our story as the new Elizabethans – the story of how 1950s Britain evolved into the diverse country we live in today. In short, it is the history of modern Britain.

More...

You can buy the book here now. It was published by William Collins.

For more on the author, you can check out his Goodreads page.