For a hundred years, Britain's decline as a great power has gone hand in hand with the relative decline of the British economy. Andrew Gamble's much acclaimed book provides a historical account of Britain's rise and fall and a succinct introduction to the main explanations of decline and political strategies for reversing it. The fourth edition has been updated throughout and a new concluding chapter assesses the state of debate and of the British economy after the Thatcher decade.

The Thatcher era was a turbulent and controversial period in British politics. Andrew Gamble's authoritative account - now revised and updated to cover Thatcher's fall and legacy - analyses the ideology, statecraft, and economic and social programme of the Thatcher Government. He explores rival interpretations of Thatcherism and assesses the evidence for claims that the Thatcher Government transformed British politics. A new conclusion considers the Conservative Party after Thatcher.

This major reassessment of the relevance of Marxism in the social sciences decisively rebuts claims that it has been consigned to the dustbin of history by the collapse of communism and apparent triumph of capitalism and liberal democracy. The book first considers how Marxism has engaged with various critiques including Postmodernism, New Right theory and Feminism before assessing its continuing utility as a framework for analysis of a range of substantive issues from class and the state to culture, ecology and globalization.

This book is a concise guide to the main doctrines and trends in Western social and political thought since the French Revolution. Clearly and simply written, the book includes brief biographical details of major individual thinkers as well as an annotated bibliography which gives guidance to further reading.