Book review: the new Elizabethan age. Culture, society and national identity after World War II edited by Irene Morra and Rob Gossedge

In The New Elizabethan Age: Culture, Society and National Identity after World War II, editors Irene Morra and Rob Gossedge bring together contributors to explore the emergence of a cultural ‘new Elizabethanism’ following the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at the start of the 1950s, which drew upon the historical example of the Elizabethans to express and channel a sense of dynamic modernity without relinquishing reverence for the past. While finding the central thesis of a ‘new Elizabethanism’ somewhat overdetermined across the essays, this is a stimulating and valuable collection that positions 1950s Britain as a nation in vigorous dialogue with itself over both its history and its future, writes Peter Webster.