Reconstruction, affluence and Labour politics: Coventry, 1945-1960 - 41 (1st)

Of all British cities, it is perhaps Coventry which has come to symbolise best the country's experience of World War II and the post-war period.

An important engineering centre, Coventry immediately found itself geared up to produce armaments, a specialisation which inevitably brought considerable attention from the German Air Force, which in 1940 and 1941 destroyed much of the city centre.

In the 1950s the city emerged as a boom town and as an exemplar of a new type of city, in step with the demands and aspirations of a modern, more democratic and equitable age.

Yet this book is more than just a case study. By examining the experience of Coventry in particular, the author poses questions of significance to Britain's post-war development in general.