Nostalgia and the Post-War Labour Party: Prisoners of the Past

Description: Through a detailed examination of the party's post-war development, this book outlines how nostalgia has shaped the party's trajectory. It argues that Labour's nostalgically-informed identity has determined the extent to which the party has been able to respond effectively to the changing nature of Britain.

Review Quotes:

'The struggle to try and get the Labour Party "face the future", as our 1945 manifesto was titled, has -- irony of ironies -- its own rich history. Richard Jobson's fascinating study, Nostalgia and the post-war Labour Party, documents this thoroughly.'
Bridget Phillipson MP, New Statesman

'A serious contribution to the understanding of struggles within the Labour Party [which] raises significant questions about how parties engage with their own past to their advantage and disadvantage and how the past informs and sometimes perhaps restricts current politics. Most importantly, it shows that nostalgia is not simply an issue for the right, for Brexit and Trump voters, but is a charge that the left too has to deal with.'
Tobias Becker, History Workshop Journal