Politics of Water in Post-War Britain

Glen O’Hara is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He is the author of a number of books on modern Britain, including Britain and the Sea since 1600 (2010) and Governing Post-War Britain: The Paradoxes of Progress, 1951-1973 (2012).

“This offers a distinctive approach to history of the well-known struggle by women for improvements in housing amenities, alongside the ambiguous effects of improvements in such amenities for women’s role in the division of domestic labour. … the aims of this book are achieved in style. The importance of water-related issues in shaping post-war British politics is amply demonstrated, as is the possibility of using those issues to bring new understandings of Britain’s post-war history.” (Jim Tomlinson, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 56 (3), 2021)“The politics of water in post-war Britain has much to offer the fields of environmental history and political history. It represents the drawing together of a number of interdisciplinary threads to address the topic of water, and the politics it engenders,as a whole, which I am certain will prove useful and informative for the future study of water politics and environmental history as a whole.” (Jane E. Rowling, Agricultural History Review, Vol. 68 (1), 2020)“This text will appeal most to graduate students and specialists in the field, and it points to many topics deserving of further study. It is an excellent reference text and is essential reading for anyone interested in The Politics of Water in Post-War Britain.” (Matthew Osborn, Environmental History, Vol. 25 (1), 2020)

• 1. Introduction: water as history.- 2. Reconceptualising water politics in post-war Britain.- 3. The great flood of 1953.- 4. River pollution.- 5. Maritime and oceanic pollution.- 6. Water safety.- 7. Hot and cold water in the home.- 8. The fluoridation debate.- 9. Conclusions: water and society in post-war Britain.- Bibliography.