Western Europe. Economic and social change since 1945

Western Europe: Economic and social change since 1945:

Following on from its predecessor, Paul Johnson's 'Twentieth Century Britain', this volume devised in conjunction with the Economic History Society, offers a wide-ranging, clearly structured introduction to the economic and social development of Western Europe since the Second World War.

The twenty-one chapters explain the distinctive factors that lie behind the success of Western Europe. The first section, covering the European economy since 1945, examines postwar reconstruction and early moves towards European integration, through the boom years of the 1950s and 1960s, to the threshold of monetary union. The essays in the second section look at long-term forces in economic and social change, and those in the third section examine the national economic policies of individual European countries.

The book is written for a non-specialist readership by a team of specially commissioned authors. It includes photographs, case studies, diagrams, tables and other material to enrich and diversify the text.