As a vigorous interpretation of political and social developments in Britain since the late-Victorian era, "State and Society" has rapidly become one of the most respected and widely read introductions to the history of modern Britain. In this new edition, the account is taken beyond the downfall of Margaret Thatcher up to the ending of the long-running Conservative ascendancy with Labour's victory in the watershed 1997 election. Pugh examines not only the change in the political and social spectrums but also those elements of continuity linking the Thatcher era to the Blair epoch. He closes with an assessment of the dilemmas facing Britain at the dawn of the next century.