Death of Rural England

Alun Howkins is Professor of Social History at the University of Sussex. His previous publications include Poor Labouring Men (1985) and Reshaping Rural England (1992). He wrote and presented a four-part history of agriculture for BBC2, Fruitful Earth, in 1999.

'This is an admirable book: wide-ranging, drawing on a wide variety of sources, with the literary adding elegance to the economic... It requires no prior knowledge on the part of the reader, it avoids jargon... It will be of interest to all those concerned with the recent British past and present.' - History Today, November 2003'[A] highly readable and challenging account ... it is required reading for historians, economists, and social anthropologists.' - Agricultural History Review'This well-researched volume ... give[s] a complete picture of changing rural life.' -History - The Journal of the Historical Association

• Introduction PART I ‘Blue remembered hills’: rural society, 1900–21 1 The countryside in a new century, 1900–14 2 The Great War and its aftermath, 1914–21 PART II The ‘locust years’, 1921–39 3 The misfortunes of agriculture, 1921–37 4 Landowners and farmers 5 The traditionalists: farm workers and domestic servants 6 New countrymen and women: workers and trippers PART III The second agricultural revolution, 1937–90 7 War and state agriculture, 1937–45 8 ‘Tractors plus chemicals’: agriculture and farming, 1945–90 PART IV What is the countryside for? Rural society, 1945–2001 9 A place to work and a place to play: incomers and outgoers, 1945–90 10 Defending the natural order? Environment and conservation, 1945–90 11 The countryside in crisis, 1990–2001