White Heat cover art

White Heat

A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties

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White Heat

By: Dominic Sandbrook
Narrated by: Dominic Sandbrook, Roger Davis
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About this listen

Harold Wilson's famous reference to 'white heat' captured the optimistic spirit of a society in the midst of breathtaking change. From the gaudy pleasures of Swinging London to the tragic bloodshed in Northern Ireland, from the intrigues of Westminster to the drama of the World Cup, British life seemed to have taken on a dramatic new momentum.

The memories, images and colourful personalities of those heady times still resonate today: mop-tops and mini-skirts, strikes and demonstrations, Carnaby Street and Kings Road, Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, Mary Quant and Jean Shrimpton, Enoch Powell and Mary Whitehouse, Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger.

In this wonderfully rich and compelling historical narrative, Dominic Sandbrook looks behind the myths of the Swinging Sixties to unearth the contradictions of a society caught between optimism and decline.

©2015 Dominic Sandbrook (P)2024 Hachette Audio UK 20th Century Europe Great Britain Modern Winston Churchill Royalty Socialism

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All stars
Most relevant
Well researched and packed with detail. A bit heavy on the political inside baseball of the Wilson premiership, but if you're a political junkie then this is no bad thing. My favourite section was the background to The Troubles in Northern Ireland, much of which I was unfamiliar with. The narrator does a good job with all the accents.

Interesting chronicle of a seminal decade.

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I’ve read this book several times so was pleased to see it turned into an audiobook, especially as I’ve listened to Dominic Sandbrook’s excellent books on the 70s repeatedly.

However, I’m struggling to get past the narration. I find the style off putting and feel like I’m listening to a reading of Wind In The Willows for children.

I would have much preferred Sandbrook himself or the excellent David Thorpe.

Wonderful social history let down by narration

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Why does the narrator put on ridiculous accents. When, for example, reading out something John Lennon said, it’s utterly cringeworthy. Same for his Tony Benn, Harold Wilson and every other character. Ruins an otherwise good book.

Good book ruined by awful narration

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To be perfectly honest this has been sitting in my library for quite a while since I noticed that I had rashly purchased an audiobook which was over 39 hours long. Well eventually having nothing else of note to digest I decided to give it a go and thanks to the languid delivery of the narrator I could speed it up to 1.7 X without him sounding too ridiculous. The running time was cut down to an almost reasonable length and off I went. Happily it was a thoroughly enjoyable listen. As someone born at the end of 1959 who watched endless TV in the 60s and soaked it all up the familiar names kept coming throughout the book. As a kid I clearly had no idea of the political shambles that was going on around me although hailing from Merseyside I was very much submerged in the Beatles phenomenon. I particularly savoured all the pop culture coverage in the book and thought using Dad’s Army in the epilogue was inspired. I have a lot of time for Dominic Sandbrook which is just as well. Highly recommended if you have the stamina and walk the dog a lot.

A Fascinating and Very Easy Listen

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Dominic has carved a niche as the chronicler of recent modern history. And he’s very good at it.
He wears his learning lightly, and this bumper book is never less than entirely entertaining.

One minor gripe: I’d have preferred the author himself to narrate. Guy who does makes rather half-hearted attempt to do accents which doesn’t really work + he talks slightly too quickly. I took the speed down to 0.9 - much better

Entertaining, excellent VfM

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