20th century Britain: Economic, cultural and social change, third edition.NicoleRobertson, JohnSingleton, and AvramTaylor (eds.), (Abingdon: Routledge, 2023. pp. 402. 70B/W illustrations ISBN 9780367426569, Pbk. £33.99)

Having been an undergraduate student in the late 2000s, I can recall the set textbook for learning about British economic and social history was the then recently published second edition of 20th century Britain. That book unlocked important themes and debates that came to shape my understanding of the previous century – that the hunger marches of the 1920s and 1930s were accompanied by affluence and prosperity in the South East and the English Midlands, about the impact of suburbanization and mass car ownership, and regarding debates over Britain's relative economic 'decline' and Commonwealth migration and multiculturalism in the second half of the twentieth century. The new third edition of the book still includes familiar topics, but it also benefits from the inclusion and bringing to the fore of previously overlooked subjects. These steps are achieved through a format that incorporates 17 thematic chapters that span the century. They are supplemented by seven 'Britain in focus' chapters which concentrate on events more tightly tied to particular time periods. Stephanie Ward provides an important commentary on the experience of interwar unemployed, concentrating on areas of South Wales devastated by the depression in mining and steelmaking districts. Anandi Ramamurthy overviews the role of Asian Youth Movements in anti-racist activism in English cities during the 1970s and 1980s, whilst Neil Rollings reviews Britain's relationship with Europe, concentrating on the period between EU accession in 1973 and Brexit in 2016. Rollings' chapter along with Marcus Collins' discussion of the contention that the 1960s amounted to a 'cultural revolution' exemplify the focus on debate in the textbook. Within individual chapters, historiographical controversies are profiled in 'Debates and interpretations' sections ranging from the timing and impact of youth culture to prime ministerial power. They are accompanied by 'In focus' sections that provide a more definitions-centred assessment of a subject such as terms like the Gini coefficient and austerity. These features certainly make the textbook an appealing teaching aid for undergraduates. They neatly avoid the pitfall of a textbook approach in implying unanimity in historical perspectives, instead challenging students to understand a range of positions in historical debates. Nevertheless, each chapter also provides a substantive overview of important trends, facts, and events. In contrast to when the previous edition was published in 2007, the twentieth century feels much further away in the 2020s. Along with the development of historiography, this distance also shapes the context of the textbook. The twentieth century is understood in its pages primarily as a period marked by progress. This was, as authors unanimously agree, highly uneven and far more marked in some periods and some parts of society than others. Nevertheless, the average person living in Britain in 2000 could expect to enjoy a far higher standards of living, a longer and healthier life, and fewer work hours in better conditions than they would have a century earlier. This sensibility provides a helpful baseline and importantly contextualizes debates over relative decline and Britain's economic performance. It also contextualizes other discussions, such as Martin Chick's chapter on environmentalism, which documents both the removal of smog and the worse atmospheric pollutants from British life but also the rising awareness of environmental peril with regards to climate change which was shaping policy by the late 1990s. Environmental history is just one of the newer influences in British history which mark this textbook out from its predecessor. In the introduction, the editors note that Ireland has often been absent from accounts of the twentieth century. Richard Toyce's chapter on the British political system addresses this, making events in Edwardian Ireland and the armed conflict in Northern Ireland rightfully central subjects. Paul Ward's chapter on national identity also addresses the subject of the future of the Union in the post-imperial context after the Second World War, identifying distinct Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English trajectories. Jim Tomlinson's chapter on the managed economy similarly emphasizes that the 'managed economy' of the mid-twentieth century was marked by a unitary British framing which devolution has fundamentally challenged. A longer chronology is also at work in this book than shorter definitions of Britain's twentieth century, which have often run from 1914 to the Thatcher and Major governments. Although the 'In focus' chapters end in the 1980s, the thematic chapters often extend into the New Labour period and even the 2010s when it comes to addressing Brexit, whilst they often begin their focus in the late Victorian or early Edwardian era rather than at the First World War. This longer twentieth century enriches discussion on the meaning of Britain's imperial and post-imperial economic and political order as well as patterns of increasing then decreasing and once again increasing levels of economic inequality. Overall, I am confident this new edition will enliven discussions in classrooms and be a useful guide to students engaging with increasingly diverse and maturing perspectives on Britain's twentieth century.