cover image THE EDWARDIANS

THE EDWARDIANS

Roy Hattersly, . . St. Martin's, $35 (520pp) ISBN 978-0-312-34012-4

In this intricate, self-assured and insightfully anecdotal account of British social and political history from 1901 to 1914, Hattersley (Nelson , etc.), a former Labour MP and cabinet minister, challenges the notion of the Edwardian age as "a long and sunlit afternoon," instead presenting it as a time of massive upheaval. After dissecting the louche temperament of King Edward VII, Hattersley profiles the period's leading political protagonists, including the "young turks" A.J. Balfour and Joseph Chamberlain (each "handicapped by character weaknesses") and analyzes the politically efficacious if "unlikely partnership" of soldier Winston Churchill and Welsh solicitor David Lloyd George. Pithy chapters delineate the raging issues that fatally divided the Liberal Party: empire and the Boer War, Irish nationalism, women's suffrage, the trade union movement and the rise of the Labour Party. Throughout Hattersley emphasizes the House of Commons' transformation in this period from a "gentleman's Parliament" into a professional legislature. He also summarizes cultural and social highlights, such as the professionalization of sports; new movements in the arts; intellectual life and church politics; and of course the advent of WWI. Illuminating the motivations of individuals and the age-old tensions between prominent elite families, Hattersley also challenges the traditional leftist view of Churchill. A convincing account of a watershed epoch, Hattersley's concise yet comprehensive history casts new light on a much-misunderstood era. 16 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW . Agent, Maggie Pearlstine, U.K. (June)