A Northern Wind: Britain 1962-65 — David Kynaston

The early sixties in Britain told as only David Kynaston ('the most entertaining historian alive' Spectator) can. Running from 1962 to 1965, A Northern Wind is the anticipated new volume in the landmark 'Tales of a New Jerusalem' series.

'Addictively readable . . . Kynaston's tireless research turns up plenty of gems' - Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

'A breathtaking array of treasures' - TLS

'Magisterial' - Financial Times

'Here is an intricate tapestry that conveys the essence of time' - Literary Review

How much can change in less than two and a half years? In the case of Britain in the Sixties, the answer is: almost everything.

From the seismic coming of the Beatles to a sex scandal that rocked the Tory government to the arrival at No 10 of Harold Wilson, a prime minister utterly different from his Old Etonian predecessors. A Northern Wind, the keenly anticipated next instalment of David Kynaston's acclaimed Tales of a New Jerusalem series, brings to vivid life the period between October 1962 and February 1965. Drawing upon an unparalleled array of diaries, newspapers and first-hand recollections, Kynaston's masterful storytelling refreshes familiar events - the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Big Freeze, the assassination of JFK, the funeral of Winston Churchill - while revealing in all their variety the experiences of the people living through this history.

Major themes complement the compelling narrative: an anti-Establishment mood epitomised by the BBC's controversial That Was The Week That Was; a welfare state only slowly becoming more responsive to the individual needs of its users; and the rise of consumer culture, as Habitat arrived and shopping centres like Birmingham's Bull Ring proliferated. Multi-voiced, multi-dimensional and immersive, Tales of a New Jerusalem has transformed how we see and understand post-war Britain. A Northern Wind continues the journey.