From Beveridge to Blair The First Fifty Years of Britain's Welfare State 1948-98

This book is designed to inform and stimulate debate by providing a concise introduction to the evolution of both the structure of Britain's welfare state and attitudes towards it. It then concentrates on five core services: health care, education, social security, the personal social services and housing. For each it examines the original vision, the attempts to implement this vision, the resulting complexities and controversies and, above all, the impact on individual 'customers'.

Margaret Jones is Research Fellow in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Bristol.

Rodney Lowe is Professor in Economic and Social History at the University of Bristol.