David Kynaston 
Modernity Britain 
Book One: Opening the Box, 1957-1959

The late 1950s was an action-packed, often dramatic time in which the contours of modern Britain began to take shape. These were the  »never had it so good » years, when the
Carry On film series and the TV soap
Emergency Ward 10 got going, and films like
Room at the Top and plays like
A Taste of Honey brought the working class to the centre of the national frame; when the urban skyline began irresistibly to go high-rise; when CND galvanised the progressive middle class; when  »youth » emerged as a cultural force; when the Notting Hill riots made race and immigration an inescapable reality; and when  »meritocracy » became the buzz word of the day. The consequences of this  »modernity »
zeitgeist, David Kynaston argues, still affect us today.