Dinah Birch is Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University. She was previously a fellow at Trinity College, Oxford. Her works on 19th-century literature include a number of books and articles on the critic John Ruskin. She writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books, and contributes to arts programmes on radio and television. Margaret Drabble (editor of the 5th and 6th editions) is a distinguished novelist and biographer. Her many novels include Jerusalem the Golden, The Needle's Eye, The Seven Sisters, and The Sea Lady. She has also written biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson.

This is a sympathetic study of an important part of recent social history.

• Preface to Seventh Edition ; Contributors' Biographies ; Abbreviations ; Note to the Reader ; 1. Contemporary Literary Culture ; 2. Literature and History ; 3. Black British Literature ; 4. Children's Literature ; The Oxford Companion to English Literature A-Z ; Chronology ; Poets Laureate ; Literary Awards ; Index of Contributors

Dinah Birch is Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University. She was previously a fellow at Trinity College, Oxford. Her works on 19th-century literature include a number of books and articles on the critic John Ruskin. She writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books, and contributes to arts programmes on radio and television. Margaret Drabble (editor of the 5th and 6th editions) is a distinguished novelist and biographer. Her many novels include Jerusalem the Golden, The Needle's Eye, The Seven Sisters, and The Sea Lady. She has also written biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson.

This is a sympathetic study of an important part of recent social history.

• Preface to Seventh Edition ; Contributors' Biographies ; Abbreviations ; Note to the Reader ; 1. Contemporary Literary Culture ; 2. Literature and History ; 3. Black British Literature ; 4. Children's Literature ; The Oxford Companion to English Literature A-Z ; Chronology ; Poets Laureate ; Literary Awards ; Index of Contributors

Dinah Birch is Professor of English Literature at Liverpool University. She was previously a fellow at Trinity College, Oxford. Her works on 19th-century literature include a number of books and articles on the critic John Ruskin. She writes regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and London Review of Books, and contributes to arts programmes on radio and television. Margaret Drabble (editor of the 5th and 6th editions) is a distinguished novelist and biographer. Her many novels include Jerusalem the Golden, The Needle's Eye, The Seven Sisters, and The Sea Lady. She has also written biographies of Arnold Bennett and Angus Wilson.

This is a sympathetic study of an important part of recent social history.

• Preface to Seventh Edition ; Contributors' Biographies ; Abbreviations ; Note to the Reader ; 1. Contemporary Literary Culture ; 2. Literature and History ; 3. Black British Literature ; 4. Children's Literature ; The Oxford Companion to English Literature A-Z ; Chronology ; Poets Laureate ; Literary Awards ; Index of Contributors