The Labour Governments, 1945-51

This book, by the author of the best-seller 'Winston Churchill' , is a concise reassessment of the first postwar British Governments based upon original sources - a task not previously attempted by any scholar. While sympathetic to Labour's aims in the 1945 general election campaign - which itself receives fresh treatment - Henry Pelling exposes areas of difficulty and weakness in the Government's strategy and uncovers the doubts and hesitations of its leaders. Much of the evidence comes from official papers recently released to the Public Record Office; but the private papers of Attlee, Morrison, Bevin and Dalton, among others, have been drawn upon to add details to the story. For the first time, too, there is a study of the importance of Marshall Aid, as well as of the friction that is occassioned behind-the-scenes with the Truman Administration and the US Congress. Highly readable, this book makes a major contribution to recent history and to a better understanding of the present political and international situation.

DR HENRY PELLING is Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and Emeritus Reader in Recent British History.
Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, and educated at Birkenhead School and St John's College, Cambridge, where he read classics initially and then (after fours years' service in the British Army during the Second World War) history. In 1949 he became a Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford, and remained there until 1966 when he returned to Cambridge. He has visited the United States on several occasions and has studied there, and has taught American history as well as British.
His first book was called The Origins of the Labour Party, an elaboration of his doctoral thesis. Other works include A Short History of the Labour Party (which has had seven editions) and a life of Winston Churchill (1974)