Books in the Pride and Fall sequence series

In 1945 Britain emerged from war triumphant. On July 26, after Labour won a landslide election victory, Churchill resigned, Attlee became Prime Minister. Drawing on material from Cabinet and other Whitehall records, this title argues that what followed was an era of mistaken strategies and costly consequences.

Correlli Barnett described his Audit or War as an 'operational study' to 'uncover the causes of Britain's protracted decline as an industrial country since the Second World War.' First published in 1986, the book swiftly became one of the most controversial and influential historical works of its time.'[The Audit of War] argued that British industry during the Second World War was scandalously inefficient, a situation Barnett blamed on an establishment more concerned with welfare than with industry, technology or the capacity of the nation to fight a war... Alan Clark records approvingly that Mrs Thatcher herself read it...' David Edgerton, London Review of Books'A stimulating polemic.' Times Literary Supplement'A formidable book, essential reading.' Asa Briggs, Financial Times

Correlli Barnett's 'Pride and Fall' sequence on the decline of British power and influence in the twentieth century concludes with this majestic, controversial study.