America in the British Imagination: 1945 to the Present [Hardcover]

How was American culture disseminated into Britain? Why did many British citizens embrace American customs? And what picture did they form of American society and politics? This engaging and wide-ranging history explores these and other questions about the U.S.'s cultural and political influence on British society in the post-World War II period.1. The Architect of Modern Britain: The Influence of the United States on Britain, 1945 to 1963 2. Terra Incognita: The United States in the British Imagination, 1945 to 1963 3. The British Working Class and the U.S.A., 1963-1979 4. The United States and the Politics of Thatcherism, 1979 to 1990 5. Culture Wars, 1990 to 2001 6. September 11 and After: From Hostility to Indifference, 2001-2013

Lyons presents a sweeping analysis of the impact of American culture on British society. Denim Jeans, James Dean, Bowling Alleys, Elvis Presley, Henry Ford, Hamburgers, Soul Music, and Ronald Reagan are all here in a sophisticated synthesis of the ways in which individuals, products, trends, images, myths and dreams shaped the identities of a diverse range of British icons from the Beatles to Margaret Thatcher. - Keith Gildart, Professor of Labour and Social History, University of Wolverhampton, UK and author of Images of England through Popular Music: Class, Youth and Rock 'n' Roll, 1955-1976 (2013)

Lyons offers us a genuinely original, important, and broad-ranging look at the impact of the United States on postwar Great Britain. How America influenced Britain in the realms of economics, culture, foreign policy, and politics is one of his tasks; how different groups of Britons conservatives, left-wingers, intellectuals, and ordinary people, among others - responded to that influence over time is the other. Drawing on innumerable voices across the political and demographic spectrum, Lyons has produced a book on British hostility, admiration, and ambivalence toward American power, society, and influence thalóS