THE NEW LOOK: A Social History of the Forties and Fifties in Britain

Harry Hopkins (not to be confused with the other H.H.) is giving a thinkpiece on all facets of contemporary life in the British Isles. He ranges from the rise of bowling alleys to the fall of the class structure (in which he heartily rejoices), from the scarcity of nuclear weapons to the ready availability of the telly. It is a big book (512 pp including index) and jam-packed with apercus on the eccentricities of the latter-day Britons. Mr. Hopkins has relied heavily on newspaper sources and the book's bright and breezy style gives evidence that it is written by someone trained in the British school of journalism. The New ook introduces the world of nippies and clippies, spivs and teddy-boys, skiffle groups and squatters. It doesn't read like history but with all the British on Broadway, the Profumo Affair so recently past and the Election to come, it does provide perfect background reading for the curious. A chronicle of the ""New Britain"" by one who evidently feels quite at home in it.