This text aims to fill the gap left by an absence of left-wing views of the history of Britain since World War II. Structured chronologically, it follows the broad phases of government since 1939 - the Atlee years, the Churchill government, Eden and Macmillan, the Wilson years and Thatcherism. Leading historians consider how these different governments have dealt with Britain's attempts to free itself from the entanglements of the past and its struggle towards the 21st century. The book takes issue with recent right-wing accounts of the period and proposes a coherent alternative of Britain's history since World War II.